Behavioral interviewing is a technique used by many companies when searching for potential employees. This type of interview uses specific questions to discover how an interviewee has and would react in specific situations.

More traditional interviewing techniques usually focus directly on your resume. You are asked questions about your education, previous work experience, and so on. The questions are all very straightforward.

However, the behavioral interview is based on the logic that how you acted in past situations is a good indication as to how you would react in future situations. I have had the opportunity of participating in such an interview. Some of the employment related situations I was presented with include:

• Explain a situation where you had to work on a project with other team members that disagreed and how you handled it.
• Describe a situation where a problem occurred and how you fixed it.
• Describe a situation where you had to work under pressure and how you handled it.

Your answers to such questions will provide the interviewer with the information he or she needs to know to determine if you are suitable for the position. So instead of asking you what you would do, you are asked to describe a situation that has occurred and what you did do.

Of course the questions that you are asked by the interviewer are not just random questions off the top of the head. The questions are carefully chosen based on the skills that are required for the position. For example, if the job you have applied is a management position, you can expect to be asked how you have handled employee disagreements in the past (or something along those lines).

So how exactly does one prepare for a behavioral interview? Unfortunately, since the questions do not have straightforward answers, it makes preparing a little more difficult. You will also not know what questions you will be presented with. The best thing to do is identify the skills required for the position and think of different situations in the past when you have had to use those skills.