When I was graduating from college Exxon Mobile (at the time Mobile Oil) was training their managers in behavioral-based interviewing. They needed practice candidate so they came onto campus to give young college students (like myself) a chance.

I needed practice interviewing so I went to the classroom to practice. I’ll never forget it was a team of people at a desk asking me questions, “Tell me about a time when…” and there was also a team of evaluators sitting in the back of the classroom. I was telling all kinds of stories and including everyone in the room, even though I think I was supposed to be concentrating on the interviewers.

I felt extremely relaxed because they made it a BIG POINT to tell all the students there were no job and that these were not real interviews–only practice. I was having so much fun and they were getting good practice.

They asked me to stay to do two or three more. I didn’t have classes so I stayed. The would stop the interview every now and again to provide some direction to the interviewers. At the end, they told me that I had done so well, that they wanted to invite me for a real interview!

The real interviews weren’t as fun but I did like the company. I was surprised when I did NOT get an offer. I contacted them to find out why and I’ll never forget what they told me, “Lisa, you are an “A” student and we only hire B+ people. Eventually you won’t be happy here and it’s better for us not to hire you.”

Although I didn’t get the job, I did get a great education on behavioral interviewing and the importance of making good hiring decisions. I have used behavioral-interviewing for all of my hires throughout my career. I find the structured technique to be extremely valuable. However, I’ve learned it takes some time to become a good interviewer and it also helps if the rest of your team interviews in this manner too. Some of the places I’ve worked weren’t open to the idea, but I still incorporated behavioral-based questions into my interviews.

If you’re interested in this type of interviewing, you might want to take a look at the PDF. It’s a great tool that defines certain general skills and then gives suggestions for behavior-based questions. Good luck and if you have any suggestions for others, make a comment below.