The beginning of the interview is like any other, you exchange pleasantries, talk about your qualifications and experience and then the interviewer starts asking you those really weird questions. "Give me a specific example of a time when you could not handle a important deadline." You search the depths of your memory for an example which answers that question and turns that failure into a success as suggested by your favourite book on interview skills, but are unable to come up with a satisfactory answer. The problem is most books offer you advice on succeeding in traditional interviews and not behavioral interviews.
Behavioural interviews came into vogue when industrial psychologists realised that traditional interviews are often ineffective in analysing the candidate is suitability for a job. The questions asked are hypothetical and the candidates end up giving hypothetical answers. For example the interviewer may ask "How would you handle and irate customer?" You know what the interviewer is looking for and respond "I will take him to the side, politely ask him the details of the problem and do my best to help him out." While this answer may sound satisfactory, it is a hypothetical answer and may differ form what you may actually do in such a situation. The same question asked by an interviewer using behavioural interview techniques would be "Give me a specific example of an incident when you handled an irate customer. What was the problem and the end result". Your mind begins to race as you think of a response to this question.
Now imagine an interview which is full of these questions and worse, most of the questions are negative "Tell me about a time when your mistake cost your company dear in terms of time and money." You are in a fix trying to figure out a situation that doesn't sound too bad. If you try to dodge the question the interviewer probes further and asks an even more uncomfortable question in an effort to get to the truth.
The basic premise behind behavioral interviewing is that your past is the best predictor of the future. In essence, if you ask behavioral-oriented questions, you're no longer asking questions that are hypothetical, but are now asking questions that must be answered based upon fact. The interviewer determines the capabilities and traits (often referred to as probes) that are essential for success in a position. Probes include: Assertiveness, Clarification, Commitment to Task, Dealing with Ambiguity, Decision Making, Interaction, Leadership, Management Skills, Communication Skills, Organizational Skills, Problem Solving, Team Building and others. Each probe lists various questions that are designed to determine whether the candidate has the ability or not based on specific past experiences.
With a behavioral question, the interviewer is looking for results and not just a list of responsibilities and activities. The interviewer gets to listen to things like names, dates, places, the outcome and especially what the individual's role was in achieving that outcome. Candidates can prepare for behavioral interviews by identifying specific examples for each of the above probes. Most staffing representatives consider the probe associated with interaction, particularly in the office environment to be very important. The relationships people have and how they get along with each other is of particular significance.
When preparing, identify an unsuccessful example for each probe because you will probably be asked to give an example of a time when things didn't work out as planned. One way to end an answer to a negative probe is to say something like "the mistake caused me to delay the project, but it helped me to develop a project tracking system which would minimize the chance of that happening again." Remember, mistakes are what help us learn. Whatever you do, don't tell the interviewer that you really can't think of any mistakes that you made.
More and more companies are adopting behavioral interviews because they are very effective in identifying the best candidate for the opening. An understanding behavioral interview is the key to preparing for one. Preparing for Behavioral interviews can significantly help you in traditional interviews because you can give the traditional interviewer a specific answer to a theoretical question. Example: "How would you address an irate customer?" You: "I can give you a specific example. I was the sales manager and a really irate customer came in yelling at everyone. He was upset because.... I invited him to my office and..." When you give specific examples to interview questions, you establish credibility and believability, and that can ultimately translate into a job offer.
Everywhere, I look around there are challenges burdening people. Some are trivial, some are heart-breaking. Some are losing loved ones to disease, some are struggling to make ends meet, some are trying to hold onto the small family business, and some are simply caught in the mad chase of life, yielding to what we’ve knocked ourselves into thinking is the utopia.
As a writer, I’m constantly selling myself to editors, trying to convince them not only is the idea intriguing, but that I’m the right person for it. Why would I be the right person for a story? Because I’ve gotten all the accolades, because I’ve published in so many “leading” publications, because I have the resources and contacts for this kind of story? Rarely, does passion, love, fervor for the story come into play. Why can’t I write because I write decently and genuinely love what I write about? Why so many other pressures? Why do I have to prove myself constantly? It’s the endless selling of oneself in today’s world, the endless marketing, the endless chase to the top. Technology has only helped us do that in many ways – all the social media platforms, I’m advised, are ways to market oneself. Use them widely and you could be a global “name.”
But they don’t understand. I don’t want to be a global name. I just want to write stories that feed my soul. I just want to do some good. I want to use my hands to build something. I want to use these platforms to learn from others. Can I not be silent and listen to what others are saying? Must I also chime in? Must I also constantly bother others?
I have young students in high school come to me, seeking advice on how to get into a particular institution, how to market themselves for different colleges, how to get the top spot at an internship, how to do the “right” activities that will get them into the right school, then the right internship, and then the right job. I’m exhausted. I’m exhausted hearing them and I’m exhausted by the chase, by the quest for the ideal.
And yet, that ideal is what’s breaking around me. Friends in comfortable jobs complain of boredom, stagnation, bureaucracy, lack of creativity, inactivity, and so much more. Why don’t they leave? They can’t, they say. Why not? You’ll survive on less money, I tell them. But how can I let go of all these years of hard work, how can I let go of this “title,” that I’ve worked so hard for, they respond, anguished by the thought of even abandoning the so-called “ideal” world.
They’re not bad people, not even greedy really. They’re just caught in what increasingly we’re told is the right path, the way to succeed. Eventually, it’s the house, the family, the school tuitions, the bills, the car that begin to burden them and it’s too late. Their burdens are far too heavy to escape, to fly freely.
So, the cycle of consumerism sets in. The little purchases fill a void; it’s the tech gizmos, the vacation home, the fancy dinners out, the extra car. But, why? Do they really love these things? I doubt it. Rather they bring a short moment of excitement, a short excursion from the mundane, the thrilling detour that quickly loses its charm.
I recall the rabbit in Alice in Wonderland, the one that endlessly exclaimed, “I’m late. I’m late. I’m so very late.” It’s as if we’re all too late, too wound up in what we’re told, chasing something; then, smack, somewhere along the way we realize, that in our tardiness, we’ve lost track of time. For now, the days have slipped by, the years have too. We must be content with what we’ve built. We must make ourselves fit into the box, be it the lifestyle we constructed, the job we took up, the “dream” that we achieved.
But why not be free? Why not savor time? Why not dismiss what we’re told? Why not put all that energy, fuel, money into something that helps others? Why not let the chase be for a different cause – for a gentler, kinder, more people-friendly dream?
Why not be a kite once in a while and fly against the wind? Why not be free from the burdens that we’ve placed on ourselves? Why not get others to join us?
After all, I hear that “kites rise highest against the wind, not with it.” Or so Churchill tells us
chow \CHOU\, noun:
1. Food, especially hearty dishes or a meal.
verb phrase:
1. "Chow down:" to eat; eat a meal, especially the main meal of the day.
The chow callers were screaming that there was one minute left before morning meal formation.
-- James Webb, A sense of honor
It was almost time for the chow-wagon to show-up.
-- George W. Adams, Under the Southern Cross
Chow originates among Chinese workers in California around the Gold Rush, shortened from the pidginchow-chow, derived from cha, Chinese for "mixed."
