Behavioral Interviewing
Imran Ahmed, Ph.D.
This blog is based on a presentation from the author.
Purpose of Presentation
- Interviewing Best Practices
- Your 90-Second Commercial
- Behavioral Interviewing Basics
- Sample Behavioral Interview Questions
- The STAR Method Response Strategy
- References and Resources
Failure to Prepare is Preparation to Fail
Are you ready for your interview?
The “10” Cardinal Rules of Good Interviewing
- Do your homework
- Be in your most presentable state
- Prepare your 90-Second Commercial
- Keep your response brief
- Stop talking when you’ve answered the Q
- Don’t be modest
- Don’t exaggerate
- Never defend or argue
- Do not blame or badmouth
- Connect the dots for interviewer
The 90-Second Commercial “Tell me about yourself?”
- What is my personal brand- How do I want to be known/recognized?
- Which of my strengths are relevant to the position I am targeting?
- What value do I bring to the organization?
- Which of my accomplishments best demonstrate my strengths/value?
- What jobs in my career support the type of position I am targeting?
Branding Statement/Target Position
- I’m a (functional job title) with expertise in (function/industry). My key strengths include (top strengths or value)
- I am an experienced pharmaceutical scientist with a proven track record of providing product and technology to advance new chemical entities to proof of concept, registration and market launch
- I am highly skilled in the design and development of ophthalmic and sterile dosage forms for human and animal health drugs with strong technical management, team leadership and organizational skills
Most Recent Position
- My most recent position was (job title & company name) where I was responsible for (job function). While I was there, I (share 1-2 accomplishment highlights)
- Most recently I have supervised and managed a group of 15-20 formulation scientists with single point of accountability for technical strategy, resource deployment, training, performance management and talent development
- During the past 3 years that I have been in this role my Group has successfully delivered drug products for 5 Proof of Concept studies and 2 market registrations
- Reason for Leaving: (optional)
- Future Focus
- My goals for the future include/I am currently exploring (target position) where I can use my (re-state strengths)
- I have over 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry with focus on advancing new chemical entity from discovery to market
- My goal for the future is to apply my development experience & technical expertise to create 505.b.2 product opportunities through strategic technology interventions to address unmet medical needs and provide better treatment outcomes
Behavioral Interviewing Basics (1)
- The most accurate predictor of future performance is past performance in similar situations
- 55% predictive vs. traditional interviewing
- The interviewer identifies desired skills and behaviors, and then structures open-ended questions to elicit detailed response
Provides a more objective set of facts
You must answer based on what you actually did (performance) and your behaviors & values you relied on to accomplish your goal The interviewer identifies job-related experiences, behaviors, knowledge, skills and abilities that the Company deems desirable in a particular situation so that they can determine the applicant’s potential for success and fit against the Company’s culture & expectations
Common criteria used in behavioral interviewing
Critical thinking Being a self-starter Willingness to learn Problem solving Resourcefulness Conflict management Innovation Adaptability Collaboration
- Tell me about a time when you…
- Describe a situation or circumstance when you were faced with a problem related to…
- Think about an instance in which you
- Tell me how you approached a situation where…
- Give me an example of how your understanding of …
- Tell me about a problem where you were responsible for…
- Tell me about the last time you thought “out of the box”…
- What did you do to ensure…
Behavioral Interviewing Q- Examples (1)
- Mental Agility- anticipates customer & market needs
- Describe a time you developed & strengthened a relationship with a person or group outside your organization? How did you develop it?
- Innovation- insightful thinking by developing creative approaches to processes & practices…
- Provide an example of when you had to take something complex and make it simple
- Acts Decisively- acts with urgency to remove barriers that hinder productivity
- Describe a time you had to make a quick decision with incomplete information
Behavioral Interviewing Q- Examples (2)
Seizes Accountability- Takes personal responsibility for outcomes
Describe a situation in which you identified a small problem before it became big? How did you do that? What was the outcome?
Emotional Maturity- Understand other people’s unspoken, as well as explicit concerns
Give me an example of a time that your ability to notice another person’s feelings or concerns enabled you to proactively address an issue?
Behavioral Interviewing- Preparation
Research which skills the employer has predetermined to be necessary for the job you seek
Individual Contributor? Technical Leader? Project Manager? Functional Manager? Senior Leader? Executive?
Talk to people who work/worked there
Make use of LinkedIn and other networking tools
Inventory your experience
Arm yourself with a small arsenal of example stories that can be adapted to many behavioral questions
- Quantify output, accomplishment & impact
- How did you know? What did you measure? So what? Whenever possible quantify your results; numbers always impress employers.
STAR Response Strategy
The STAR method is a structured manner of responding to a behavioral-based interview question by discussing the specific situation, task, action, and result of the situation you are describing
Situation: Describe the situation that you were in or the task that you needed to accomplish
Task– What goal were you working toward?
What was the expected outcome and how did you measure it?
Action– Describe the action you took to address the situation
Provide the appropriate amount of detail and keep the focus on YOU.
Use the word “I” not “we” when describing action
Result– Describe the outcome of your actions
Don’t be shy about taking credit for your behavior
What happened? How did the event end?
Make sure you answer contains multiple positive results?
STAR Example
Innovation- insightful thinking by developing creative approaches to processes & practices…
- Situation: Material sparing technology and a process for selecting the final salt form for drug substance was lacking resulting in increased downstream formulation failure risk and development costs
- Task: The goal was to provide process and technology to enable right first time salt form selection
- Innovation- insightful thinking by developing creative approaches to processes & practices…
- Action: To address this gap I formed and led a cross-functional team to identify science-based solutions and technology requirements. Under my leadership and direction the team successfully developed a new, automated compound-sparing method for salt screening for New Chemical Entities. With input from Drug Safety experts I created a classification scheme for salt counter ions and a developed a decision model for selecting the preferred salt and polymorph
- Result: As a result the screening technology was successfully implemented in the Company and eventually became an industry best practice for final form screening, identification and selection
References
Sample STAR statements
http://www.quintcareers.com/SAR_story.html
Behavioral interviewing technique
http://www.quintcareers.com/STAR_interviewing.html
Sample Behavioral Interview Questions
http://www.quintcareers.com/sample_behavioral.html
http://www.uwstout.edu/careers/intrviewques.cfm