Advice on mastering the 'behavioral' interview.

• Author: Marshall, Jeffrey
• Position: CAREER SKILLS

Deborah Walker, an interview coach and president of Alpha Advantage Inc., a consulting firm, believes that some of the most challenging interview questions are found in so-called behavioral interviews, which are designed to test applicant's abilities in three specific ways:

1. determining how well you work under pressure;

2. finding out how well you work with others; and

3. establishing whether you can resolve conflicts.

Behavioral interviews can be disastrous if you don't know how to prepare for them, Walker says. Employers want to know how much stress an executive can take, fearing that an employee with low tolerance for stress may increase the workload for others while destroying team spirit among colleagues--a terrible one-two punch.

A common question, she says, might be something like, "Tell me about the most stressful situation you've encountered in your current position." To find out how well you work with others, you might be asked: "Tell me about a time when you strongly disagreed with your team" or "Tell me about a time when you thought your boss was wrong? How did you handle it?"

To discover your conflict-resolution skills, she says, you might be asked: "Tell me about a time when you had difficulty resolving a customer conflict."

To prepare for what may turn into a behavioral interview, Walker urges executives to:

* Notice that behavioral questions ask you about specific events, so take inventory of the stressful or difficult situations you've encountered at...