{"id":22777,"date":"2016-12-07T14:00:33","date_gmt":"2016-12-07T19:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/?p=22777"},"modified":"2022-02-09T11:42:23","modified_gmt":"2022-02-09T16:42:23","slug":"mba-career-news-strategically-answering-behavioral-interview-questions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/mba-career-news-strategically-answering-behavioral-interview-questions\/","title":{"rendered":"MBA Career News: Strategically Answering Behavioral Interview Questions"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"MBA<\/a>In this new blog series, our mbaMission <\/span>Career Coaches<\/span><\/a> offer invaluable advice and industry-related news to help you actively manage your career. Topics include building your network, learning from mistakes and setbacks, perfecting your written communication, and mastering even the toughest interviews. To schedule a free half-hour consultation with one of our mbaMission Career Coaches,<\/span> click here<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Behavioral questions and prompts (e.g., \u201cTell me about a time when you\u2026\u201d) can help a hiring manager understand your ability to do a job, because your answers are a good predictor of your future success. Expect behavioral questions to focus on the competencies required for you to excel in your target role. <\/span><\/p>\n

Our top five tips for successfully addressing behavioral questions are as follows:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Brainstorm your six to eight biggest accomplishments.<\/strong> Make note of which competencies (e.g., leadership, teamwork, analytics, persuasion) each story addresses or can be tweaked to address.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Start your story with a headline (i.e., a road map) that shows you are directly answering the question.<\/strong> And consider concluding your story by describing what you learned from the experience and\/or how the experience makes you more interested in or qualified for the role.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
  3. Use a structured framework to answer the question in a concise manner (roughly 90 to 120 seconds).<\/strong> Consider using the Situation-Actions-Result framework:
    \n<\/span><\/span>\u2022 Situation\u00a0\u2013<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0Give enough information that the hiring manager has sufficient context to understand your actions. (This part should account for approximately 10%\u201315% of your answer time.)
    \n\u2022 Actions\u00a0\u2013<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0Describe the actions you took. Make sure your actions illustrate the attribute you are demonstrating. Speak in terms of \u201cI\u201d versus \u201cwe.\u201d (This part should account for roughly 70% of your answer time.)
    \n\u2022 Result\u00a0\u2013<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0What happened? Quantify your impact. What did you accomplish? How did your actions benefit the group, department, company, or client? (This part should account for approximately 10%\u201315% of your answer time.)<\/li>\n
  4. Prepare for follow-up questions\/prompts such as these:<\/strong><\/strong>
    \n-What happened after that?
    \n-What did you say?
    \n-How did you feel about that?
    \n-Why did you decide to do that?
    \n-What was your thought process?
    \n-Tell me more about your interaction with X.
    \n-How did you achieve X?<\/li>\n
  5. Practice, practice, and practice (out loud)!<\/strong> Think about your content as well as your delivery (word choice, confidence, nonverbal cues, etc.).<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    <\/p>\n

    Use these sample behavior questions\/prompts to get started:<\/p>\n