The remainder of this chapter contains typical interview questions, both behavioral and traditional, and sample story-based responses to them. Note that many of these stories contain emotional content to draw the interviewer in and help him or her identify with the interviewee.

When I worked for a law firm, my co-workers and I had a huge mailing to complete. We had the choice of working more efficiently as a team or working individually in a much more time-consuming manner. My two co-workers did not care for each other, and they wanted to complete the mail-out on an individual level. When I presented them with the evidence that we would finish at least an hour earlier by working together, they decided that working together was the right path to take. As a result, we finished the mail-out in a short period of time and could work on other tasks that day.

The remainder of this chapter contains typical interview questions, both behavioral and traditional, and sample story-based responses to them. Note that many of these stories contain emotional content to draw the interviewer in and help him or her identify with the interviewee.

When I was working as a receptionist at an apartment complex, a tenant argued that he had turned in his rent payment the day it was due. He stated that he had slipped it under the door because our office was closed for the day. I decided to consult my manager because I realized that maybe the office needed a sign that stated that we did not accept rent money that is slipped under the door. My boss agreed, and we posted the sign. We never again had a problem with tenants who claimed they’d paid their rent that way.

The remainder of this chapter contains typical interview questions, both behavioral and traditional, and sample story-based responses to them. Note that many of these stories contain emotional content to draw the interviewer in and help him or her identify with the interviewee.

My sophomore year was about to begin, and I had to decide on a major. I could not waste any more credits figuring out what I was interested in. I took some personality and career assessments to get a better handle on my interests, skills, and values. I talked to faculty in several departments to decide which faculty members I was most comfortable with. I studied the course offerings to see which courses appealed to me the most. I decided on communications studies and feel it is the best decision I ever could have made.

The remainder of this chapter contains typical interview questions, both behavioral and traditional, and sample story-based responses to them. Note that many of these stories contain emotional content to draw the interviewer in and help him or her identify with the interviewee.

While directing a play, I was faced with numerous problems. The sets were not coming together; the performers were fighting and not working hard; the technical aspects of the play were far from complete; and in general it was a mess. I was also the stage manager, which means that I tell people when to go on stage and tell the crew when to bring pieces of the set on stage. So I organized everything and told people to do specific jobs and asked them in a firm yet positive manner. People began to have fun, and the production went on extremely well. All performances sold out. The play was regarded as one of the smoothest shows produced by the group.

The remainder of this chapter contains typical interview questions, both behavioral and traditional, and sample story-based responses to them. Note that many of these stories contain emotional content to draw the interviewer in and help him or her identify with the interviewee.

I really enjoy drumming up enthusiasm and assisting others in achieving their goals, whether it’s getting involved in an organization as a volunteer which has frequently provided me with employment or whether it’s through specific event-planning and fundraising to meet budgetary needs. I also excel at working within a team either as an integral key player or as a leader. I generated enthusiasm for a public-TV auction, where it was becoming harder and harder to get volunteers to make the donation solicitation calls. In my previous PBS auction experience and through learning at conferences, I knew that having three paid part-time telemarketers would not only allow for continuous and accurate communications with a donor, but also the caller had some ownership of the relationship - and more enthusiasm about donating. My superiors were resistant to the idea, but I built enthusiasm by showing them success stories from other stations. They eventually bought the idea, and once we had the telemarketers in place, it was easy to generate enthusiasm in additional volunteers when we needed them.

The remainder of this chapter contains typical interview questions, both behavioral and traditional, and sample story-based responses to them. Note that many of these stories contain emotional content to draw the interviewer in and help him or her identify with the interviewee.

As a Resident Advisor, I had another RA who often sought me as a person to confide her complaints to and shared quite a bit of information about activities she’d engaged in that violated the rules. Although I did not mind being a resource for this person, I knew that I could not compromise my integrity or her residents’ safety. Although she became very outraged and angry with me, I talked to her about the situation and told her that I would have to tell my supervisor. She eventually understood my responsibility and why I had to come forward with information. She knew that what she had done was against the rules but never realized before I talked to her that she had jeopardized her residents’ safety.

The remainder of this chapter contains typical interview questions, both behavioral and traditional, and sample story-based responses to them. Note that many of these stories contain emotional content to draw the interviewer in and help him or her identify with the interviewee.

When I presented my senior research in college, the members of my major department as a panel questioned me. My grade was determined largely on my ability to answer the questions effectively and smoothly, which depended very much on my ability to listen carefully to what was being asked. I had seen other students slip up when they misunderstood what the panel was asking because they didn’t listen well enough. I succeeded in listening well and did well on my presentation.

The remainder of this chapter contains typical interview questions, both behavioral and traditional, and sample story-based responses to them. Note that many of these stories contain emotional content to draw the interviewer in and help him or her identify with the interviewee.

I had been recently selected as the head swim team coach for the YMCA I was employed with. A swim meet was just around the corner, but only five swimmers had enrolled for the program, none of whom had ever been a part of an organized team. Funding would be cut for the team if more interest could not be generated. So I decided that I would take action and actively recruit people to join. Not only did I have to run the practices and correct any technical mistakes the swimmers were making, but I also had to contact other local swim teams to invite then to join the meet. I had to meet with the parents and the children separately and organize a way to help pay for t-shirts, swimsuits, goggles, and swim caps. By the third week of the program, I had gained 15 more swimmers, and every single one had beat his or her own time in practice. When the meet came, I organized the events, ordered ribbons, and recruited volunteers. At the end of the meet, my team had come in first place among four other teams. The parents were delighted, and the profits from the swim team had skyrocketed, to the approval of the board of directors.

The remainder of this chapter contains typical interview questions, both behavioral and traditional, and sample story-based responses to them. Note that many of these stories contain emotional content to draw the interviewer in and help him or her identify with the interviewee.

After I wrote a paper for an English class, my professor told me that I was not doing the paper in the proper format or with the proper content. I went to him and asked if he would help me learn the correct way so that I could succeed with the paper. He did help me, and I ended up doing well in the course.

The remainder of this chapter contains typical interview questions, both behavioral and traditional, and sample story-based responses to them. Note that many of these stories contain emotional content to draw the interviewer in and help him or her identify with the interviewee.

I was involved in two group projects in a psychology class. In the first, we had to decide on a research experiment to conduct and garner results from it. The group I was in was not very motivated, and the members wanted to do a simplistic comparison on color preferences of men and women. I felt that project was below the standard I was capable of. For the second project, I proposed a study in which we compared how people of different age ranges valued money. I knew the project would go over well with the teacher and would not be difficult to conduct. I proposed the idea in a way that sounded fun. Instead of collecting data in someplace boring, I suggested we could go to the mall. The group agreed and worked relatively well on the project. Discussion is the key to mediation and was the key to my achieving a second project that I felt was above the standard.

The remainder of this chapter contains typical interview questions, both behavioral and traditional, and sample story-based responses to them. Note that many of these stories contain emotional content to draw the interviewer in and help him or her identify with the interviewee.

The transition was somewhat challenging for me because I traveled a great distance to attend college. To help myself adapt, I got involved with as many organizations as I could. I also made it a point to get to know my professors. I used my interpersonal communication skills to the best of my ability to make a lot of friends, and college became one of the best experiences of my life despite a beginning that seemed a bit overwhelming.

The remainder of this chapter contains typical interview questions, both behavioral and traditional, and sample story-based responses to them. Note that many of these stories contain emotional content to draw the interviewer in and help him or her identify with the interviewee.

Recently, I was asked to put together a proposal for a migration of network systems. Misunderstanding my boss, I thought it was just an informal paper. When I presented it to him days later, he was upset with the quality since it had to be presented to our VP. I explained my misunderstanding, apologized, reworked the paper, and had it back to him with enough time for him to review it before he presented it successfully at the meeting.

The remainder of this chapter contains typical interview questions, both behavioral and traditional, and sample story-based responses to them. Note that many of these stories contain emotional content to draw the interviewer in and help him or her identify with the interviewee.

I was on a project team in a business class in my freshman year in college. The group brainstormed ideas for the video we were assigned to produce, and everyone but me was leaning toward an idea that would be easy. I suggested instead an idea that would be more difficult but would be something different that no other group would be doing. I used my communications skills to persuade the rest of the group to use my idea. During the project, we really learned what teamwork was all about, became a close team, and ended up putting a lot of hard work into the project. All the team members ended up feeling very proud of the video, and they thanked me for the idea for which we earned an A.

The remainder of this chapter contains typical interview questions, both behavioral and traditional, and sample story-based responses to them. Note that many of these stories contain emotional content to draw the interviewer in and help him or her identify with the interviewee.

Last semester I was taking a microeconomics and a statistics course. One of the microeconomics projects dealt with showing the relationship between the probability that customers would stop buying a product if the price was raised a certain amount. Through what I learned in statistics, I could find the median where the price was the highest and still kept most of the customers happy.

The remainder of this chapter contains typical interview questions, both behavioral and traditional, and sample story-based responses to them. Note that many of these stories contain emotional content to draw the interviewer in and help him or her identify with the interviewee.

The most significant presentation I have ever had to deliver was at a national research symposium. I was presenting research I had completed on digital analysis of mammograms and had to present to a panel of more than 100 judges who were at the top of their field. I focused on the research, which could sell itself, and just let the information flow. It went over very well, and I received many more invitations to present the research, including on national television.

I have grown to be a confident presenter. My most successful presentation took place in my current job when I was asked present a leadership-development program for a class of management trainees. The point of my program was to teach each trainee his or her leadership style, so he/she knew how to interact on his or her floor as a student leader. The most significant aspect of this program is that it taught them about their leadership styles without their knowing it. Each trainee filled out a general questionnaire that asked about preferences. Each person, according to his or her responses, was assigned to a group. I then gave each group a book to read. Each group had to read a portion aloud, after which I explained how each group tackled the task. They all had handled the task differently. Each trainee successfully understood how he or she approached tasks, and from that how they would approach their job as managers. Not only did I engage the audience in what was being presented, I have since seen the program adapted in other presentations by trainees in that class. Not only did they enjoy it, they learned something about themselves that would help them help their subordinates.

The remainder of this chapter contains typical interview questions, both behavioral and traditional, and sample story-based responses to them. Note that many of these stories contain emotional content to draw the interviewer in and help him or her identify with the interviewee.

I’ve shown my ability to adapt by successfully working in several very different jobs. For example, I lived with a native family in Costa Rica. I worked as a nanny for a famous writer in Cape Cod. I was responsible for dealing with Drug Court participants. And I catered to elite country-club clientele. I did it all well and had no trouble adapting.

The remainder of this chapter contains typical interview questions, both behavioral and traditional, and sample story-based responses to them. Note that many of these stories contain emotional content to draw the interviewer in and help him or her identify with the interviewee.

I failed my first business calculus test, which made me very unhappy. I wasn’t going to let this incident set the trend for the rest of the semester. I went to my counselor and arranged to meet with a tutor once a week. My tutor helped me out incredibly. My grades soon improved, and I went on to redeem myself from my one slip-up on the first test.

The remainder of this chapter contains typical interview questions, both behavioral and traditional, and sample story-based responses to them. Note that many of these stories contain emotional content to draw the interviewer in and help him or her identify with the interviewee.

As president of a community-service organization, I was faced with a board member not carrying out his duties as management development vice president. I consulted with him as to what we could do together to fix the problem. We agreed that he really couldn’t devote the time that it took to carry out certain projects, and he ended up resigning his position, but he also stated he would help his replacement in whatever capacity he could. It made me feel as though we had come to the conclusion together rather than the VP’s thinking I was criticizing his performance, which was not the case. I had a plan of action and carried it out successfully.

The remainder of this chapter contains typical interview questions, both behavioral and traditional, and sample story-based responses to them. Note that many of these stories contain emotional content to draw the interviewer in and help him or her identify with the interviewee.

As president of a community-service organization, I was faced with a board member not carrying out his duties as management development vice president. I consulted with him as to what we could do together to fix the problem. We agreed that he really couldn’t devote the time that it took to carry out certain projects, and he ended up resigning his position, but he also stated he would help his replacement in whatever capacity he could. It made me feel as though we had come to the conclusion together rather than the VP’s thinking I was criticizing his performance, which was not the case. I had a plan of action and carried it out successfully.

The remainder of this chapter contains typical interview questions, both behavioral and traditional, and sample story-based responses to them. Note that many of these stories contain emotional content to draw the interviewer in and help him or her identify with the interviewee.

When I worked in a large retail store, the standard procedure was to leave a product on the shelf until the supply ran out, then place more items out. This practice obviously wasted a lot of person-hours. Of interest particularly to me were the air conditioners. Not only did I have to put the heavy things on the shelves, but also they were selling at a very high rate. So if somehow AC units ran out on a day in which I could not restock them, they would not be available to customers. As a result I started making a list of products, including the AC units, that the overnight stock people could put on the shelves. As a result, the people on duty always had a job to do, so labor hours were not wasted, and the shelves were always stocked full of product.

The remainder of this chapter contains typical interview questions, both behavioral and traditional, and sample story-based responses to them. Note that many of these stories contain emotional content to draw the interviewer in and help him or her identify with the interviewee.

Following standard models for problem-solving and decision-making can be very helpful. Here are the steps and how they helped me solve a problem with a group project:

1. Define the problem to be solved and decision to be made. For a project in an introductory management class, the assignment was to report on the corporate structure and financial situation of a couple of companies. The decision to be made was what companies to profile and how to present the information.
2. Gather the necessary information. Some group members wanted to report on automakers while others wanted to do electronics firms. We gathered information on both types of company.
3. List all possible choices. We made lists of companies in both categories.
4. Consider possible outcomes for each choice. We decided that a report about car companies could have a positive outcome, but one about electronics firms might be more futuristic with high-tech products such as HDTV, video-game consoles, and DVD players.
5. Check out how you feel about each of the choices. Given that this was a group project, we had to consider the feelings of all group members.
6. Relate the choices to your values and priorities. Again, all group members weighed in on their values and priorities.
7. From the possible alternatives, choose one. We decided that we’d do electronics companies because we could bring in products from each company and show what lies ahead.
8. Commit yourself to your chosen decision and disregard the others. Concentrate your energies in one direction. Once we made our decision, we focused all our work on electronics firms.
9. Take steps to turn your decision into positive action. All group members got interested in how the companies were doing.
10. Evaluate your progress from time to time. Change your decision if necessary. We were pleased with our progress and didn’t feel a need to change our decision. We got an A on the project.

The remainder of this chapter contains typical interview questions, both behavioral and traditional, and sample story-based responses to them. Note that many of these stories contain emotional content to draw the interviewer in and help him or her identify with the interviewee.

My first semester in college, I was a political-science major. My introductory government professor had a differing political view from mine. We disagreed on everything, and many classes were filled with criticizing each other’s view. However, on one test I answered a question with the view I believe in, and she marked it wrong. So I asked her how an opinion can be wrong, and she said because her opinion is the way she taught it in class. I pointed out that my answer showed I understood the concepts of the question. She agreed, and I also agreed not be so combative in answers on tests. Compromise is the key to problem resolution.

The remainder of this chapter contains typical interview questions, both behavioral and traditional, and sample story-based responses to them. Note that many of these stories contain emotional content to draw the interviewer in and help him or her identify with the interviewee.

During a group project in college, we had one member who would do no work whatsoever. The project was to compare and contrast four companies in a single industry, so his work was vital. We first discussed the situation and asked for the bare-bones minimum of what we needed from him. We got just below that. As a result we as a group went to the professor and told her our situation, not expecting or requesting action, just informing her of the situation we were dealing with. Then the group split up the non-contributor’s work and completed our work collectively on his share. In phase two in which we analyzed the information and reported how each of our companies fared compared to the others, we did not get a paper from the group member. As a result, we told the teacher that we had our work done and were willing to do the extra paper but that we would rather spend time polishing our own work and not picking up slack. She agreed and said to focus on the three companies we had compiled the most info on while not entirely neglecting the fourth. The papers came out very well, but were understandably weak when comparing the fourth company. The professor understood, and we received the grades we deserved. I was pleased with our teamwork and the way we handled the situation.

The remainder of this chapter contains typical interview questions, both behavioral and traditional, and sample story-based responses to them. Note that many of these stories contain emotional content to draw the interviewer in and help him or her identify with the interviewee.

It’s impossible to know everything in the IT field because of rapidly changing technology, so recently when we were having troubles with our circuit emulation over our ATM network, I had to call in some engineers from North Carolina to come help me out. The nice thing about asking for help is that when you get the assistance, you can learn from what you are told and apply it to future situations.

The remainder of this chapter contains typical interview questions, both behavioral and traditional, and sample story-based responses to them. Note that many of these stories contain emotional content to draw the interviewer in and help him or her identify with the interviewee.

During my time in the theater, I had one director with whom I absolutely did not work well. However, because of my track record, she would assign me as stage director or assistant director. I was usually involved in the day-to-day operations of the play and the details of how the play would be performed. I handled the operation for the play by directing scenes the best way I could and then showing them to her for approval. If she did not like the way a scene worked, I gave her my opinion as to why it should be my way. If we still could not compromise, I would follow her directions to the best of my ability. Understanding that people don’t usually have malicious intentions is key, and understanding that you will never be able to convince some people that your way is right is the best way to avoid conflict and still get the job done.

When I first began working at the credit union, I was the youngest member of the staff. An older woman really knew the ropes of the place. When I first got there she barely acknowledged my presence, and through word of mouth I discovered that she thought that I was too young to successfully fulfill my duties because I was so inexperienced. She assumed I was immature. I did my job and took every opportunity to make a good impression. I was a very diligent worker and behaved in a highly professional manner at all times, learning quickly the best way to do things. After about two weeks of the silent treatment from her, she came up to me and told me how impressed she was with me. She told me that I had done an excellent job and was the fastest learner that she had ever seen. She apologized to me for ignoring me and took me under her wing and shared what she knew with me.

The remainder of this chapter contains typical interview questions, both behavioral and traditional, and sample story-based responses to them. Note that many of these stories contain emotional content to draw the interviewer in and help him or her identify with the interviewee.

When I worked at Home Depot as an assistant manager, I was always looking for way to boost my employees’ morale. Unloading trucks is a very routine and physical job and can become very boring and exhausting, so to improve the unloaders’ attitude toward their duties and make the best of the situation, I put a radio in the receiving dock. It worked; however, the district manager did not approve of the radio in the workplace even though it did not interfere with any set policy or company objectives. The radio was also out of any areas where customers would hear the music. I did not agree with my DM’s decision to remove the radio; however, I understood his point of view once he explained it to me and promptly complied with his request. The employees were not happy that their radio was gone, so I found an alternative method of reward and morale boosting by implementing a program in which we provided lunch for the unloaders from any restaurant of their choice if they unloaded the trucks faster than normal. This program succeeded by increasing their unloading time from 2 1/2 hours to only 1 1/2, a savings in payroll of 8 percent of sales for that shift.

The remainder of this chapter contains typical interview questions, both behavioral and traditional, and sample story-based responses to them. Note that many of these stories contain emotional content to draw the interviewer in and help him or her identify with the interviewee.

As an administrative coordinator at a resort’s convention center, I had a staff of 27. Having such a large staff all working different shifts and having varying schedules meant that meetings could not be held with everyone at one time. I needed to communicate with everyone about important policies and information often, so I came up with the idea of designing a Web page for my staff with written announcements. Each desk assistant was required to check the Web page daily at the beginning of his or her shift. I also sent email communications via a distribution list that kept each desk assistant informed. The one situation that stands out in my mind is a last-minute group that decided to come in a day early with only one day’s notice. I had no staff scheduled to check in the group or to organize the keys. I posted an update to the Web page and sent an email. Within four hours, I had the following day completely staffed and desk assistants there to organize room keys for the group members that night.

The remainder of this chapter contains typical interview questions, both behavioral and traditional, and sample story-based responses to them. Note that many of these stories contain emotional content to draw the interviewer in and help him or her identify with the interviewee.

This situation happens often in the IT industry, but one recent example was when we had a core backbone switch die. It died at the worst possible time - during a crunch production period - as they always seem to do, and I needed to get it back up and running quickly. I analyzed the logs and system status, and using my previous experience, I made some quick decisions that rectified the problem and got the equipment back up only minutes later.

The remainder of this chapter contains typical interview questions, both behavioral and traditional, and sample story-based responses to them. Note that many of these stories contain emotional content to draw the interviewer in and help him or her identify with the interviewee.

I had a client come into the bank where I worked and request a $5,000 personal loan to “pay off some bills.” In the customary review process, I determined that what was really needed was a $25,000 debt-consolidation loan. Rather than giving the customer a “quick-fix” to the problem, I logically solved the problem in a way that was in the best interest of both the bank and the client.

The remainder of this chapter contains typical interview questions, both behavioral and traditional, and sample story-based responses to them. Note that many of these stories contain emotional content to draw the interviewer in and help him or her identify with the interviewee.

When I was a resident assistant at my college, a student I did not know asked me if he could use my phone to call another room. Although I did not know the student, I allowed him into my room. He used the phone and in the course of his conversation, he stated that he had just come from a fraternity party and was high from taking some drugs. After this conversation, I had to enforce the student conduct code by writing him up. He became very hostile toward me and would not give me any identification or information. I stood in the doorway to prevent him from leaving. I noted the serial numbers on his keys, so when the situation got to the point where I felt unsafe, I allowed him to leave. I still performed my job without jeopardizing my or his physical welfare.