Quintessential Careers:
Q&A with Doris Flaherty and Andrea Dine
Please note: On a somewhat infrequent basis, Quintessential Careers asks noted
career experts five questions related to their expertise and publishes the interview
in the current issue of QuintZine,
our biweekly newsletter. Here is one such interview.
Doris Flaherty is director of the Career Planning Office at Flagler College in St. Augustine, FL.
Andrea Dine is assistant director and technology coordinator at the University of Cincinnati Career Development Center.
Q:
Some experts say it's almost impossible to prepare for a behavioral interview
because the scope of questions that could be asked is so vast. Do you agree
with that notion? How do you prepare your students/clients for behavioral
interviewing? What's your best advice on how to prepare?
A:
DINE: I disagree. Companies who use behaviorally based interview questions often do so
after an analysis of what makes individuals successful in their organization. Therefore
armed with careful company research and a job description, a candidate should be
able to predict those skills that the company will be seeking with relative accuracy. I
work with clients on their research skills and advise them to identify five skills they
believe the company will be seeking. I then recommend that for each skill they identify
three examples from their experience.
FLAHERTY: While it is true that you can never know for certain what questions you
may be asked in an interview, that is no reason to not prepare! The more you have
considered relevant examples of work-related skills and behaviors from your past
experiences, the more likely you are to present yourself in a confident, professional
manner, and the less likely you are to slip up and share something you wish you hadn't!
When explaining how to prepare for the behavioral interview, I tell people to consider
some of the main competency areas that employers are likely to ask about and come
up with specific examples of themselves demonstrating these in the past. Work,
activities, volunteer experiences . . . it is all fair game in locating these real-life
examples. I encourage them to recall both successes and failures, as they may
be asked to share either.
Some of those main competency areas include: Management style, leadership
ability, team work, going above and beyond, decision-making, communication
skills, problem solving, dealing with difficult people, and others.
When formulating their stories, I recommend utilizing the well-known
STAR technique.
Briefly describe the Situation or Task, explain the specific Action taken, and share
the Results of that action. The main cautionary note is to stay specific; do not generalize.
Employers asking behavioral-style questions are looking to hear about a specific
event that occurred in your past.
Here is one example of a behavioral-style question and answer:
Question. What has been your most successful experience in presenting to a group? Response. Last year, I presented to 50 potential students and their parents on
Campus Visit Day. The topic was “Choosing a Major.” I had given this presentation before,
and it was okay, but I wanted something better. I did some research and found a really
great icebreaker. After tailoring it to fit the college where I worked, I used it with this group.
That little icebreaker helped me begin with a big laugh. From there, I provided the kind of
information they could really use. I explained not only how to go about selecting a major
but also how to choose classes in the meantime. The Admissions Office, which gathered
evaluations, said that my presentation received the highest marks of the day and that many
people took the time to write comments about how worthwhile the information was to them.
Q:
What percentage of employers that your students/clients interview with would
you estimate are using behavior-based interviewing? Do you find that the
number of employers using behavioral interviewing is growing significantly?
A:
DINE: The number of companies using behaviorally based interviewing is growing
significantly. Though companies do not always exclusively use behaviorally based
interview questions, we've found that nearly all companies
interviewing on campus use behaviorally based interview questions.
FLAHERTY: Although I have not gathered this data formally, the consensus seems to
be that more and more employers are using behavioral interviewing techniques.
Perhaps the interview is not completely behavioral but candidates can definitely
expect to have several behavior questions asked of them.
The real beauty of learning how to respond behaviorally is that even if the
question is not a behavior-based question, it can still be answered with a
real-life example. This approach helps give the candidates credibility and
allows them to separate themselves from everyone else, leaving an imprint
of them on the interviewer's mind.
Q:
What's the biggest myth about job-hunting?
A:
DINE: The current myth is that finding a job is easy. The greatest myth that
exists when the economy takes a downturn is that finding a job is impossible.
FLAHERTY: That someone else can do it for you. Yes, there are staffing firms,
headhunters, and the like; but ultimately, the job search begins with figuring out
what you want and going after it. No one can do that for you.
Q:
What do you feel is the most exciting or hopeful trend in job-hunting?
A:
DINE: Risk-taking. Job seekers in the currently positive job market are willing to take
greater risks in their job search and are more willing to shoot for their "dream job."
Q:
What's the one job-hunting
secret you share with clients/students but that may not be widely known?
A:
FLAGERTY: It may not be "the one," but this is one to which my students
always say, "Oh, I would have never thought of that." When looking out of
state, it is a good idea to check out the local colleges’ career-planning Web
sites. As always, some Web sites are more informative than others, but I
usually come up with several good leads for the geographical area of interest.
Any college usually has more focus on its surrounding area since the majority
of the graduates will find work there.
Q:
In what ways do you
believe technology will continue to change job seeking and the career development field?
A:
DINE: Technology will continue to challenge job-seekers to keep their
computer skills sharpened and up to date. This will also challenge the
career-development field because career-development offices are
often strained financially and are technology-challenged.
Q:
What's the biggest
mistake job-seekers make that your advice could correct or prevent?
A:
FLAHERTY: This advice may seem simplistic, but I continue to see this mistake
made by the traditional-aged student population here at Flagler College. They tend to
believe that they will not/cannot know what type of job they will want until they receive
some offers to choose from.
What I try to impart is the understanding that employers aren't interested in candidates
who are "shopping around." They want to hire candidates who have specifically
sought them out, who have done the homework and already know that they want
to work for that particular company doing a particular type of work.
By taking part in career-planning activities before trying to conduct a job
search, one can identify one or two career areas of interest and focus on those.
Some may see this approach as limiting, but having a focus and the ability to
effectively market yourself in conjunction with that focus will actually result in more
offers than taking pot-shots at any advertised position you see.
Doris Flaherty is director of the Career Planning Office at Flagler College in St. Augustine, FL.
Andrea Dine serves as assistant director and technology coordinator at the University of
Cincinnati Career Development Center. In addition to her teaching and counseling role,
Dine created the nation’s first paperless
virtual career fair. Currently embarking on a dual-career job search, Dine expects to
be leaving the University of Cincinnati in June and is currently launching a search for a
challenging career development position incorporating both her administrative and technological skills.
