What companies want to know during an interview is whether or not the candidate will be able to help them in the future—make the company more productive, more profitable, etc. The traditional interview method only goes so far in that direction. It paints a picture of past success, but it doesn’t achieve much in the way of predicting how successful the candidate will be in the future.
Enter the behavioral-based interview.
This interview method is how company officials are better able to predict future success, or at the very least, how successful you’ll be helping the company. Instead of more cut-and-dried skills, they’re attempting to evaluate certain characteristics such ability to adapt, self-confidence, potential for leadership, willingness to learn, etc. That’s because these characteristics are the genesis of behaviors, and it’s the behaviors that produce the results companies are seeking.
What you’ve accomplished in the past is of interest to prospective employers—but only to a point. The role that your behavior has played in what you’ve accomplished is even more important to them, and that’s why you must be able to identify that behavior and use it to sell yourself during the interview process.
The reason: that’s what companies are buying.