Approach for behavioral interview - HR interviews

Before you approach any interview you should remember that the most potent way of cracking any behavioral interview is practice , but the question is what to practice and how to put your points in a framework such that your answer just flows out in front of the interviewer and that it seems as if the answer is prompt, however to make it sound so it is imperative that you do lots of practice. We interviewed a couple of students last week and formulated a framework which you can put to use and be successful in the next interview you attend.
The framework is simple : its a STAR

S - Situation: - Any situation or incident in your life which can explain the interviewers question
T- Task: - Any Situation which is similar to the task mentioned.
A- Action: - Course of action you opted to resolve the situation/task
R- Result: - Mention the results of your actions and the outcomes of the same, interviewer will highly appreciate if you can quantify the results and give him some figures which resulted out of your course of action.

Every answer you give to the interviewer should have these attributes and should address them in entirety. Follow this simple framework and prepare your answers based on the this framework for the questions written below.


Question : Tell me something about yourself ?

Answer :- This approach to this question should be a simple reverse chronological approach an example :

Sir I am xxx pursuing my marketing majors from yyyy institute of management. Prior to coming here I was working at zzz consulting helping pharma and healthcare industries to increase their customer footfall and increase their profitability via better customer segmentation. I have key interest in (something related to the job profile and a one liner for your achievement in that field) . Apart from that my hobbies are playing ping pong and chess(Achievements if any). I was born and brought up in Punjab and that's the place where I have spent most of my life. However I am open to travel anywhere, in fact I love traveling and public speaking I believe they help me in learning more about myself.


Question:- Why this particular industry?
Answer: - What ever may be the industry you are applying to, i strongly advise that you use the following keywords. Trust me it helps :
1. Variety in job.
2. Steep learning curve

The following questions are perfect for the STAR framework for an HR interview. Streamline your answer on the lines of star framework. Remember that for each attribute of this framework you should prepare a one liner ie a line for situation , a line for task, a line for Action and so on ..

Question: - Tell me of a time when you were a team player?
Question: - Tell me of a time when you persuaded a group?
Question: - Tell me of a recent crises you handled?
Question: -  Your biggest failure

There can be innumerable questions which can be answered using this framework.

Question: - What do you know about our company?
Answer :- The main intention behind asking this question is to know how serious you are for that company or for that job and whether or not you have done your homework. To answer this question you should know the promoters /founders of the company. Revenue and last year profits. It is advisable that you know about the domain which brings most revenues for the firm and which other fields is the company looking to foray into.
For this info it is advisable that you read atleat one of the whitepapers of the company. Read its last year's balanced sheet and if you can find out some insights the better carry it to the interview panel and present your findings by highlighting them.

Question: - Which other industries are you looking into?
Answer: - Look for the related or like- industries to answer this question. For instance if you are sitting for a bank you may answer : Other industries which excite me are Insurance and capital markets, although banking would be first priority but if not banking then ill try to get into these industries.

Question: - If you go back to your previous organisation what would be the changes you would bring to it?
Answer: - Talk in terms of improving the employee engagement and if you have insights about operation of that industry and its best practices than it would be fruitful to bring it out here.

Question: - Tell me something about your previous boss? What you like and what you dislike about him?
Answer: - The person who is taking your interview today may be your x-boss some day and so I would say that no matter how horrible your stay have been with your previous boss talk only about his positives and the impact he had on your career progression.

Last but not the least be cheerful while replying to the interviewers question, show some vitality and if possible subtle humor, everyone prefers having people with cheerful disposition in their team.

All the very best. Have a happy job hunting.

If you need any help then feel free to comment us below. We assure to write back to you in 24 hours.
Also if you have some material which may be useful for other fellas who are preparing for interview, please share it with us at expertmasterji@gmail.com