Based on personal experience and research, I prepared and presented this document to foreign-trained new Canadians at the Immigrant Services Centre of Calgary, on Sept. 19, 2017.

1. Be a STAR:
Winning over the Behaviour-based
Interview !
An overview
By Alex V. Tardecilla, MBA
September 19, 2017

2. Presentation Outline:
 Introduction
 What are behaviour-based interview questions?
 Samples of behaviour-based interview questions
 Why are they used?
 Strategic business goals: FedEx Corp.
 STAR strategy
 Conclusion
 Questions

3. 1. Introduction
 Born in Manila, Philippines; grew up in Mississauga, Ontario
 Post-secondary education:
 B.A. Honours, Mass Communications & Indigenous Studies,
York University, Toronto, ON., 1988
 M.B.A., Athabasca University, St. Albert, AB., 2005
 Work experience: 23-years in Supply Chain Management
 10 years - Canadian Airlines International Ltd. (1998: merged with Air Canada)
 2 years – FedEx Canada Inc.
 11 years – Upstream and Midstream oil and gas industry:
HydraRig NOV ConocoPhillips Canada Resources
Corp;
Husky Energy Inc.
Apache Energy Canada Arrow Energy – a Shell-Petro China
JV (Brisbane, Queensland, AU)
Enbridge Inc.

4. Introduction cont’d
 6-years – Volunteer Mentor
 2010 – 2012: Bow Valley College’s Corporate Readiness Program for foreign-trained
professionals;
 2010 – 2012: U. of C. School of Business and MBA program;
 2017 – Calgary Chapter, Supply Chain Management Association of Canada
 Mentoring Results:
 2010: Mentee from BVC’s Corporate Readiness Training Program, gained FT employment
as Strategic Sourcing Specialist with CP Rail;
 2011: Mentee from SCMA gained FT employment as Buyer with TransCanada;
 2013: Mentee from BVC’s Corporate Readiness Training Program, gained FT employment
as Strategic Sourcing Specialist with Husky Energy.

5. 2. What are behaviour based interview
questions?
 “Behavioural interviewing is based on the assumption that past behaviour is the
best predictor of future behaviour. Before entering into any job interview,
behavioural or otherwise - an interviewer must identify what skills and
competencies are required to perform this role.”
Source: Professional Competency Framework, Human Resource Professional Association.
http://hrpa.ca
 A behavior-based question aims at “learning about your past ‘behaviors’ in
specific work situations. ... Hiring managers ask behavioral questions to ask for a
very specific reason.” Source: http://theinterviewguys.com

6. 3. Examples of behaviour-based interview
questions.
 Tell me about how you worked effectively under pressure.
 How do you handle a challenge? Give an example.
 Have you ever made a mistake? How did you handle it?
 Give me an example of how you set goals.
 Give an example of a goal that you reached and tell me how you achieved it.
 Describe a decision that you made that wasn’t popular and how you handled
implementing it.
 Give an example of how you worked on a team and handle difficult members.
 What do you do if you disagree with someone at work, including your supervisor.
 Share an example of how you were able to motivate co-workers.
 Have you handled a difficult situation? How?

7. 4. Why use behaviour-based questions?
 To measure a candidate’s skills and experience in categories related to the role:
 Teamwork
 Professional proficiency
 Problem Solving
 Initiative/Leadership
 Interpersonal Skills
 Challenge/Stress/Pressure
 Most importantly, how will the professional YOU support the company objectives?
 What is your value proposition?

8. 5. Ten strategic business goals
– source: George N. Root III, http://smallbusiness.chron.com
1. Profitability: To generate revenue and profit
2. Productivity: Employee training, equipment maintenance & new equipment purchases
3. Customer Service: To retain clients & generate repeat revenue.
4. Employee Retention: To retain employees who can grow the corporation
5. Core Values: Define the corporation’s goals & objectives
6. Growth: To Increase market share, to earn and grow revenue and profits
7. Change Management: to commit to process improvement
8. Marketing: ”The activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and
exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.” – American
Marketing Associations
9. Competitive Analysis: to identify and analyze the market and key competitors, in order to ensure
corporation’s competitiveness and to identify opportunities in the market.
10. Innovation i.e. identify ways to keep the company stay ahead of the competition. (E.g.) 1982 – FedEx
introduced overnight pkg. delivery with on-demand on-line pkg. tracking.

9. FedEx Corp. (www.fedex.com)
 PSP corporate philosophy: People, Service, Profit
 “by creating a positive working environment for employees, they will provide better service
quality to customers, which would then lead to customers using FedEx products and
services.”
 If you were applying to for a job at FedEx, what value propositions do you bring as a
professional in :
 Human Resources;
 Accounting: A/P; A/R;
 Finance;
 Information Technology;
 Supply Chain Management:
Procurement; Contracts; Strategic Sourcing; Logistics/Materials Management; Warehousing;
 Engineering: Electrical; Mechanical; etc.

10. 6. STAR Strategy & Story Telling
 An ability to relate one’s professional skills and experience to the behaviour-based question
that relates to a business problem, through story-telling.
 KISS: Keep It Simple, Sandeep!
 S is for Situation: Describe the situation
 T is for Task: What task was required to solve the problem?
 A is for Action: What key action or actions did you take?
 R is for the Result(s): What were the outcome of your actions?

11. 6. STAR: A sample
 Interview question:
“Tell me a time when you were part of a team
on a major construction project, and one of
your teammates was not giving 100% to the
project?”

12. 6: STAR response
 Situation: I was the lead contracts administrator at a major exploration and production
company, the procurement & contracts team was tasked to complete bid analysis for offshore
drilling services by a certain date, in order to meet the project launch date.
During the daily group briefing, one member failed to deliver her task updates. Her assigned
tasks played a major role on the project. Her inaction had implications on the project
schedule.
 Task: I took note that I needed to drill down on the root cause of this member’s non-delivery, in
order to avoid the threat of schedule delay.
 Action: After the meeting, I asked her to join me for a quick coffee break at Tim Hortons
downstairs. This gave me a chance to ask her in private about the reason of her dropping the ball
on her tasks. Also, she lacked soft skills.
 Result: I found out that she was overwhelmed with her current work load and that she needed
help with how to prioritize her task. I met with the group manager and recommended that we
reassign some of her tasks equally within our group. Finally, coached on presentation skills and
provision of back-up.

13. 6: Arijit’s experience & STAR response
 Behaviour-based Interview Question:
“How would you react if you are unable to achieve a goal”
STAR Response:
1. Situation
2. Task
3. Action
4. Result

14. Keys points to remember:
 Review details of job posting:
 highlight required criteria (Education; Skills & Experience)
 Your skills & experience are GREAT SOURCES of STAR stories! They are relevant.
 Business “pains”:
 “Spend is over the budget by 25%”
 “Employees are not engaged, therefore, productivity is below planned”
 “High staff turnover”
 “A/R collectibles are 120 days”
 Organize those stories in STAR format
 Practice your STAR stories: Tiger Woods practiced, practiced, practiced until he got his golf
swing!
 Role play with your mentor: Interview Simulation is a GREAT way to practice
 You as the applicant
 Your mentor as the interviewer

15. Questions & Comments

16. Thank you!
 Alex V. Tardecilla, MBA
 Contact: Napsely
 LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/alexvtardecilla