If you are an applicant, you must prepare yourself for behavioral questions from hiring managers. Doing this gives the recruiters an idea of how you work and how well you’ll fit in the company. Since you can’t rehearse for every question, it’ll be helpful to know some of the top qualities every employer wants in an employee. This way, you’ll be able to create an answer that will demonstrate that you possess these traits. The top 5 traits are listed below.
Empathy. Hiring managers can tell whether you’re just in it for the money or you really want to help people. During an interview, you’ll want to demonstrate that you care about the job and knows how to interact with other people. Perhaps you can share some of your experiences in which you helped a colleague at work or handled a difficult situation with a client.
Mentoring inclination and ability. Recruiters want someone who has the desire to share his or her knowledge with other people at work. Keeping it all to yourself is not a good thing, even if you want to take all the credit. Share some experiences in which you were able to transform someone at work from an underperformer to an excellent team player. What did you do? How did you facilitate the training?
Interpersonal skills. This should be obvious, since getting a job involves working with different types of colleagues and clients at the same time. Still, you’ll need to answer some unasked questions: Are you able to stay calm when handling a difficult situation? How do you deal with personality conflicts? How do you get along with other people? Once you know how to play well in the corporate sandbox, consider yourself as having an advantage over those who don’t.
Self-direction. It is important to have the drive to take on more responsibility than what is expected or required. Most employers want employees who are willing to go above and beyond without being asked to do so. Knowing that you have initiative and drive is important, no matter what position you’re applying for.
Flexibility and adaptability. Being able to adapt to change is a must. This is important since rules and procedures can be changed according to internal and external conditions. Share some of your experiences pertaining to how you dealt with some changes in the workplace. How did you get the hang of it? What were the results?
Understanding what employers want is important, since you’ll need to show that you can provide it to them. Now that you know some of the top qualities the employers are looking for, incorporate them into your interview answers to increase your chances of getting hired.