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The Evolution of Interviews
John Sullivan is a working project manager who writes and speaks on project and career issues.
Sometime in the last 20 years, employers changed their interviewing technique because what they heard often did not match what they got after hiring. “Employers were hiring the best talkers and not the best ‘doers’,” says Arlene S. Hirsch of Hirsch & Associates (a Chicago-based career and psychological counseling firm) and the author of The Wall Street Journal Premier Guide to Interviewing.
Interviews have evolved into three major types: behavioral, panel and case. Each requires specific answers to general questions and your preparation for each must evolve as well.
The Behavioral Interview
Behavior-based interviews “have been around for 10 to 15 years,” says Hirsch, and “are based on the assumption that past behavior is the best predictor of future success.” A behavioral interview uses general, open-ended questions that ask you to recall a situation or problem and explain your response. “These are designed to get at the specific accomplishments,” says Hirsch. The questions will have general themes like success and failure and focus on topics like persuasion, conflict management and interpersonal relations.
Prepare by reviewing your resume and creating a story around selected accomplishments. Each story should have a beginning (a restatement of the problem), a middle (the actions …
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Conformity's an obsession with me. - George Costanza |