Hello Stalin,
BDI questions are the most common interview process in my experience for lower/middle management.
The concept with BDI is that they can base your future performance on your past performance. This means that all of the questions they would ask would deal with situations in the past, not hypothetical. Because it is based on fact it is a much more powerful questioning style for employers to use, but it is also more difficult for students/people without previous experience because it is sometimes difficult to find examples where you used a skill and the result was reasonably positive.
An example of a BDI question would be "Tell me about a time when you had to go above and beyond the call of duty in order to get a job done." or "Describe a situation when..."
What I do to prep for an interview is think of a half dozen situations that I feel really exemplified some management aspects. Normally I can use or adjust one of those situations to answer a question. While you want to make sure you never flat out LIE in a BDI interview it is often easy to adjust a situation to provide a more accurate answer. Often I will take two situations and describe it like one as an answer. You do not want to spend alot of time preparing an answer but don't ramble either. Don't be intimidated by silence either, I love using silence when interviewing someone to see how they handle the unknown and stress.
Another bit of advice I would recommend is to turn the tables slightly. At the end of the interview when they ask if you have any questions take advantage of this. One of my favorite questions is "Do you think there is anything I should know about the position that we haven't already discussed?", it is amazing the amount of information this question has given me. Including "You should know we fired the last 3 people in this position because they were not meeting KPI's within 3 months"
The last bit I will impart is to always be prepared for the "what is your biggest weakness?" question. This question often comes in different forms but is normally in there.
Don't do something super lame and say "I am a workaholic who loves this company at the expense of all else". What I normally indicate is a positive but in a negative light.
Often I have said that I expect low performers to become strong performers much quicker than possible. I indicate that because I hold everyone to such a high level this is something I have to work on.
It's a good answer because its true (least in my case) and it puts in you in a win/win situation. The interview won't go "ohh we have only low performers"
You want to pick something though that suits your own situation and what they are looking for. In the last interview I was at I flat out told my interview that I "wasn't looking for a company or manager that would placate me. If I had a problem with my manager I would tell them and I expect the same in return. Some people could consider me occasionaly rude due to this".
That statement could come off very harsh in some situations but it worked well in the one I was going for and I got offered the job. (didn't take it but still good).
I notice I didn't really include many examples of questions for you. Think of something you would like to brag about though (never be modest) and you can definetly find a way to make that an answer to question.
Hope this helps a bit,
Justin Dechaine |