Here are two examples of behavioral-style interview questions:
- “Give me an example of a time when you developed a strategic action plan.”
- “Tell me about a particular event when you had to confront a subordinate about a performance problem. What caused the event? What specifically did you do? What was the result?”
Armed with the response to these types of questions the interviewer should be able to probe for accuracy, translate several examples into one or two behavioral competencies, compare past-event competencies to a list of required competencies, rate the quality of the competencies based on relevance and recency, and integrate this information when meeting with other interviewers.
The bottom line. Having complete job knowledge and concise goals will lead to better hiring and placement decisions. Do your homework before doing any interviews.
Understanding Applicant’s Past
It is often said, “Past performance predicts future performance.” Not always true. Behavioral predictability depends on many factors, such as; recency, job-relatedness, reporting accuracy, interviewer and interviewee bias, applicant recall, and questioning skills.
- Recency tells us whether the applicant’s skills are current or rusty.
- Job-relatedness tells us whether the past example closely parallels future job requirements.
- Accurate reporting avoids false conclusions.
- Interviewer bias distorts information (maybe it is a bad biorhythm day; they had words with their partner, etc.)
Putting It All Together
Behavioral interviews can also be used as a method to assist an applicant who lacks good examples, or cannot think of job-related stories. That is why a good hiring process might want to add role-playing exercises into the interviewing process. This could aid an applicant’s response to a give an example or circumstance. Behavioral interviewing has a long history of effectiveness. Any hiring manager who wants to aid their company would want to take advantage of these techniques.
To minimize interpersonal bias between the interviewers and interviewee, all the interviewers should give all their information, with a critique and examples of their findings to the person who is leading the search.
Summary
Behavioral interviews are not easy, and the average hiring manager might find them difficult to execute because of the lack of training in these techniques. In addition, the average person does not have a good handle on himself or herself let alone to be able to perform and administer behavioral interviewing techniques. Remember almost all interviewees who face a hiring manager is anxious, and puts one on pins and needles in trying to justify ones past experiences and success.
Behavioral interviewing has a long history of effectiveness. Any hiring manager who wants to aid their company would want to take advantage of these techniques.