Behavioral-based questions

When it comes to behavioral-based interviews, Armando Llorente, SPHR and VP of Human Resources at Clark & Lavey, a consulting firm in New Hampshire, USA, knows a thing or two about interviewing candidates. He's interviewed hundreds of candidates for various positions at Fortune 500 companies. He says this about the behavioral-based interviewing style:

"Recruiters and hiring managers often use behavioral-based interview questions to elicit short-story responses from a candidate.  The answer expected involves a recap by the candidate of how he demonstrated a particular competency or qualification important to the job.  For example, for a customer service position, the recruiter asks the individual to provide an example where he dealt with an irate customer and what he did to resolve their issue(s.)  Another example, for an engineering job, a candidate is asked to describe a situation where he/she was asked to 'debug' a malfunctioning machine tool and use all the...