Citi interviews with a behavioral-based interviewing process. Ideally, the premise of this method is to see if a candidate has the knowledge, skills, and experience to do the job. In reality, you can have all the required experience and education for a position, and yet seemingly come across as being a poor fit. How? It all depends on the manager interviewing you. And the behavioral-based method can be as ineffective as the HR/hiring team interviewing. As a behavior scientist, I wanted to find out more on this type of interviewing style, so I decided to put the reality of behavioral interviewing to the test. I decided to apply for a job with a company that I knew for fact uses this type of process. The first hurdle was to actually see if I could get an interview for an entry level job. After composing the “ideal” resume and submitting, I waited by the phone. 2 days later, I received an automated email to calendar an interview. (I guess gone are the days when HR gave you a call and actually spoke with you, but my daughter tells me my expectations are no longer the reality). Fast forward, set the interview, and arrive 15 minutes early as required in the email instructions, along with telling me that I needed to dress business professional. You have to tell me to dress professionally for a job interview? The interview starts, the manager pulls out her form question interview sheet, and starts asking me to tell her about a time when, where, why, how, what, and result scenario questions. I failed to make eye contact with the manager asking questions because she had her head down the whole time reading and writing. No inflection in her voice, and no clue as to how my bluffing the whole way through the interview was progressing. It must have worked, because the next day, I received an offer, which I respectfully declined, of course. The interviewer never asked me once about how I might see myself in the role for which I was interviewing. That was not one of the questions on the sheet. And to be honest, I don’t have a clue as to how to perform in a corporate customer service role. Result? If you do a little research and can memorize well, you could probably pass any behavior interview. So, the point of this interview critique? Getting the job and being able to do the job are very different things! Hiring human beings for a job is not about exact science, but more about human interaction. Instead of relying on a short list of behavioral-based questions, interviewers would benefit more by questions that uncover potential advantages, not eliminate potential candidates. Candidates, you can learn a lot about the corporate culture via the interview. Observe the clues.