Mastering the CARL Framework for Behavioral Interviews

I talked about this topic way back in episode #150, which aired in 2020. I thought it was time to bring it back.

The framework I teach my clients for answering behavioral interview questions is CAR(L).

C – Challenge

A-     Action

R – Result

(L) – Lessons Learned

The “L,” when used correctly, can be incredibly powerful in driving home exactly what you want the interviewer to learn about you from your answer.

“L” can take two forms:

Lessons Learned – “What I learned from this situation was…”

OR

“What I think the story demonstrates about me is…”

I think the beauty is in examples, so here are three:

Example #1

Interviewer: “Tell me about a time when your customer service skills were really put to the test.”

C: In my current role as branch vice president, customer concerns are escalated to me. By the time the issue comes to me, the customer is often angry and frustrated. Just recently, I received an escalation at one of my branches concerning a customer who claimed the bank had stolen money out of her account – and she was understandably furious.

A: I knew this was not a situation to be handled over the phone, so I set up a time to meet with her at a neutral location where we would have privacy. I felt this environment would be less stressful for her than to go into her branch.

When we first met, I worked to establish a connection with her – not as an officer of the bank, but as a human who was concerned about her issue. I didn’t want to dive right into the problem – I wanted to put her at ease.

When I asked her about the situation, I asked her if I could make some notes. While she was talking, I didn’t interrupt to ask questions – I wrote my questions down for later.

When I asked questions, I made sure they didn’t sound accusatory or defensive. I then promised her I would fully investigate the situation and get back to her in one week.

R: After conducting my investigation, I found that a cosigner on her account had, without her knowledge, withdrawn the money in question, and I was able to tell the customer who that person was. I did this in a compassionate way, knowing that she would likely feel embarrassed about the situation.

I think the best indicator of how this turned out was that the customer baked cookies for the branch staff and sent me a personal thank you note.

(L): What I think this demonstrates about my customer service skills is my patience, how attuned I am to maintaining everyone’s dignity and privacy, and ability to find a problem that others couldn’t.

Example #2

Interviewer: “This position requires extreme attention to detail. Describe a time when you had to exhibit exceptional levels of attention to detail.”

C: Earlier this year, my boss asked me to conduct a final proof on our annual investors’ report. This document had already been reviewed by 2 others, and I think my boss expected that I would give a quick review and rubber stamp it.

A: Instead, I decided to fact-check everything. I clarified how much time I could have for the project – it wasn’t much time. So I worked evenings and over a holiday weekend to complete my assignment.

R: I was able to find four number errors that would have had significant impact if sent out. I also found a number of grammatical and spelling errors, which I also corrected.

As a result, I received a personal note from my boss, commending me for my efforts – and I am now the designated final reviewer of our annual investors’ reports.

(L): What I learned from this assignment is that sometimes I need to go deeper than what is asked or expected of me. Had I just given the document a quick review, I would never have found all the errors I did – and the results would have been significant.

Example #3

Interviewer: “Tell me about a time when you turned around an underperforming project.” 

C: Last year, I was asked to take over leadership of a team that was evaluating the company’s existing wellness program to make recommendations for improvement.

The previous project manager had so much on her plate that this project wasn’t prioritized and the team hadn’t met in several months.

A: Once I was assigned the project, I immediately got the old team together. My first priority was to determine if the existing team needed to be reconfigured moving forward – either because some members weren’t committed to the project, or because their expertise didn’t fit into the work we needed to do.

Once I reconfigured the team, we set up regular meetings with specific agenda items – everyone knew what we would be doing at each meeting. This really helped with attendance.

I reviewed the previous meeting notes and made decisions about the various facets of this project, and what order they should happen in. I ran this by the team for feedback and made the necessary changes.

I also made sure to give assignments as appropriate – this was “our” project, not just mine. And I built in accountability for those assignments.

R: As a result, we completed the project within the revised timeline and budget. I sent surveys to the team members, who expressed very high levels of satisfaction with me as the project manager and their contributions to the team.

The team received formal commendations from our company president and CHRO.

(L): What I think this project demonstrates about me is my ability to come into something mid-stream and evaluate, make correction, and leverage my leadership strengths to bring the team to cohesion, engagement, and ultimately project success.

Interested in interview coaching with me? Shoot me an email at lesa@exclusivecareercoaching.com.