It’s likely you’re going to find yourself in a behavioral job interview sometime in your job search.  Do you know how to handle it? 

Behavioral interviews focus on past job behavior and performance (what did you do in a given situation) with the idea that this information will predict your future behavior and performance.  Behavioral interviews are really much more informative for employers than a “what do you know how to do?” interview, and more and more hiring managers are using some version of it.  (Here’s a previous post on STAR Interviews.)

What do you need to know? 

1)  Have stories or examples ready that explain your skills/performance in many different situations.  What happened when you had an unhappy customer?  How have you increased sales?  How did you deal with _____________?  Here’s a link to sample behavioral interview questions. 

2)  Quantify your examples whenever possible.  You increased sales by how much?  You were responsible for bringing in _______ dollars in revenue.  You saved the company _______ dollars by doing/changing/introducing _________________.   Salespeople (in all areas of medical sales, pharmaceutical sales, laboratory sales, clinical diagnostics sales, DNA products sales, biotechnology sales, imaging sales, pathology sales, or medical supplies and equipment sales) are good at having these numbers at hand, but people in marketing, tech support or service areas in healthcare will need to work harder.

Behavioral interviews are excellent opportunities for those job seekers with a brag book.  Brag books are collections of examples that illustrate your stories:  letters from happy customers or managers, awards, sales training certificates, projects you’ve completed, etc.  How to Get Into Medical Sales – Volume I:  The Documents explains brag books in more detail, and also teaches you about other critical aspects of your job search and interview process (like resumes and cover letters, technology sheets, and 30/60/90-day sales plans) so that all your work results in the job offer you want.

This video will explain all of this in more detail.  I hope it helps you have a successful job interview.

You Should Also Check Out This Post:

• How to Answer Interview Questions About the Least Favorite Part of Your Last Job
• How to Answer Interview Questions About the Future You
• How to Answer Interview Questions About What You Could Have Done Differently
• How to Answer Interview Questions About Why You Were Not Promoted
• How to Answer Interview Questions About Going Against Corporate Directives

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