The initial position was posted online in February, and I applied right away. The requisition number did not close until April, two months later.

I was contacted in May to fill out a more in-depth application and then later that month was asked to schedule a phone interview in June.

The phone interview was done by a panel of managers and leads from the company. It is what I have come to know as the standard behavioral interview, where they ask you about situations you have encountered in the past and ask for the situation, action, and results. For example, "Please tell us about a time when you did X," or "Please tell us what your role in X situation was, what action did you take, and what were the results?"

Panel members look at how well you draw from your work experiences or other relevant experience from school or volunteer projects.

I was given an offer and asked to respond almost immediately. The initial offer was written as if I were an unemployed recent college graduate, offering a salary that was lower than my job at the time. I did not agree with their terms, so I countered their offer. At the same time, I had to begin the background investigation and drug testing.

When I sent my counter-offer to the HR representative, he was somewhat rude. Then they countered my offer with something kind of in between, which they said was their "best and final offer." I thought it was a much better offer and decided to accept it.

Next, they wanted me to start right away, not even giving me time to give my current employer notice. I argued that if they were my current employer, they would not be very happy with an employee like that, and I was able to negotiate a better starting date.

Sometimes it is hard to think of the perfect situation to fit the behavioral questions.