According to a published study, 66 percent of hires made through traditional interviewing methods are unsuccessful.
Every unsuccessful hire depletes company resources and hurts morale. Frequent turnover can be absolutely devastating for employers and remaining employees.
Many organizations are taking steps to change this situation and have enhanced their interviewing methods through the use of “behavioral-based” interviewing techniques, which focus on gaining a better understanding of how individuals react rather than just what skills they possess. Studies have shown that this shift in focus can result in an approximately 70 percent success rate for new hires, along with a greater likelihood that the new hires will become top performers in the organization. When you further consider that the costs of re-hiring are typically three times the position’s salary (including hard and soft costs), the preparation required by behavioral-based interviewing becomes worthwhile. Really worthwhile!
Recruiters, hiring managers and the interviewing team need to have a plan in place and be prepared for and conduct better interviews to make better hires. Through training, interviewers should possess the skills necessary to get the most out of applicant interviewing.
Identify Competencies:
Knowledge
Skills
Behaviors
Employers must define what competencies are desirable for the position being filled. These competencies can help to build behavioral profiles that form the basis of developing informative and revealing behavioral interview questions.
Knowledge and skills are generally shown on a resume and can be easily identified by the candidate’s education and employment history. To uncover the candidate’s behavioral profile, an employer must dig deeper with a specialized line of questioning that will reveal desirable and undesirable behavior. Behavioral-based questions allow the employer to learn about critical incidents to uncover behavior of candidates when faced with challenging situations and to determine if those behaviors fit the job being filled. Such questions include:
Questions that pertain to circumstance. These are questions that ask the candidate to describe a situation.
Questions pertaining to outcome.
Questions that focus on underlying behavior or behaviors demonstrated by the candidate in that circumstance.
Following are five behavioral-focused questions as a part of the interview process:
Describe the biggest challenge related to an [important job-activity] you have at your current position.
This question pertains to a circumstance and asks the candidate to describe a situation and start to think about and describe their behavior in that situation. This will help the employer identify the candidate’s behavioral profile and help to determine how the candidate might react in the position for which they are applying.
What was your role in the situation?
This gives the candidate the opportunity to detail the role they played in the situation.
What steps did you take to overcome the challenge?
This question focuses on the underlying behavior demonstrated by the candidate in that circumstance.
What was the outcome?
This question allows the candidate to describe the outcome. The interviewer can determine if the behavior and outcome are positive and could apply to similar situations faced in the position being filled.
Why do you consider this your biggest challenge?
This allows the interviewer to determine why the candidate came to this conclusion
Behavioral-based interviewing asks the job candidate about specific incidents in their past related to the skills and abilities for the position looking to be filled, unlike the traditional interview where candidates’ thoughts are focused only on answering questions about specific job requirements. While it does require a bit more up-front time and preparation than traditional interviewing, the advantages of behavioral-based interviewing are well worth the investment.
From India, Madras
Every unsuccessful hire depletes company resources and hurts morale. Frequent turnover can be absolutely devastating for employers and remaining employees.
Many organizations are taking steps to change this situation and have enhanced their interviewing methods through the use of “behavioral-based” interviewing techniques, which focus on gaining a better understanding of how individuals react rather than just what skills they possess. Studies have shown that this shift in focus can result in an approximately 70 percent success rate for new hires, along with a greater likelihood that the new hires will become top performers in the organization. When you further consider that the costs of re-hiring are typically three times the position’s salary (including hard and soft costs), the preparation required by behavioral-based interviewing becomes worthwhile. Really worthwhile!
Recruiters, hiring managers and the interviewing team need to have a plan in place and be prepared for and conduct better interviews to make better hires. Through training, interviewers should possess the skills necessary to get the most out of applicant interviewing.
Identify Competencies:
Knowledge
Skills
Behaviors
Employers must define what competencies are desirable for the position being filled. These competencies can help to build behavioral profiles that form the basis of developing informative and revealing behavioral interview questions.
Knowledge and skills are generally shown on a resume and can be easily identified by the candidate’s education and employment history. To uncover the candidate’s behavioral profile, an employer must dig deeper with a specialized line of questioning that will reveal desirable and undesirable behavior. Behavioral-based questions allow the employer to learn about critical incidents to uncover behavior of candidates when faced with challenging situations and to determine if those behaviors fit the job being filled. Such questions include:
Questions that pertain to circumstance. These are questions that ask the candidate to describe a situation.
Questions pertaining to outcome.
Questions that focus on underlying behavior or behaviors demonstrated by the candidate in that circumstance.
Following are five behavioral-focused questions as a part of the interview process:
Describe the biggest challenge related to an [important job-activity] you have at your current position.
This question pertains to a circumstance and asks the candidate to describe a situation and start to think about and describe their behavior in that situation. This will help the employer identify the candidate’s behavioral profile and help to determine how the candidate might react in the position for which they are applying.
What was your role in the situation?
This gives the candidate the opportunity to detail the role they played in the situation.
What steps did you take to overcome the challenge?
This question focuses on the underlying behavior demonstrated by the candidate in that circumstance.
What was the outcome?
This question allows the candidate to describe the outcome. The interviewer can determine if the behavior and outcome are positive and could apply to similar situations faced in the position being filled.
Why do you consider this your biggest challenge?
This allows the interviewer to determine why the candidate came to this conclusion
Behavioral-based interviewing asks the job candidate about specific incidents in their past related to the skills and abilities for the position looking to be filled, unlike the traditional interview where candidates’ thoughts are focused only on answering questions about specific job requirements. While it does require a bit more up-front time and preparation than traditional interviewing, the advantages of behavioral-based interviewing are well worth the investment.
From India, Madras
Good article, thanks for sharing. I would like to add that not only in the hiring process but in most situations Managers should possess an understanding of Behavioral Elements to handle situations better.
From Sri Lanka
3From Sri Lanka
I hope that this article is useful for all.
Sucess to you
Prepare for The Behavioral Interview
Behavioral interviewing or competency based interviewing explores workplace competencies that are required for successful job performance.
If the job requires a person to be able to analyze and find solutions to problems the interviewer will ask the candidate to provide an example of when they previously displayed that behavior.
"Tell me about a problem you uncovered in your previous job. What steps did you take to sort it out?"
It is often difficult to think of good examples within the time constraints and stressful context of a job interview.
Know which behaviors (sometimes referred to as competencies) are required in the position by reviewing the job description and requirements.
Looking back at your past jobs, prepare good examples using the following technique:
Describe the specific situation or task you were involved in
Detail the action and steps you took in the situation
Outline the results and outcome of your actions. What happened, what was accomplished, what did you learn
Common Behavioral Questions & Answers
problem-solving, initiative & judgment
stress tolerance, resilience & adaptability
team work, leadership & negotiation
attention to detail, work standards & organizing
Listen carefully to the questions asked and, if need be, ask for further clarification. Answer with an appropriate and specific example. Often the Interviewer will ask follow-up questions to get more information,
" Tell me why you did that"
"Take me through your decision process"
"How did you feel about that"
so it is essential to have a complete, actual example to draw on.
Click on the list of Common Behavioral Questions & Answers above to help you frame your own examples.
Keep in mind that there are no right or wrong answers, it is an attempt to see how you behaved in a given situation. It is not possible to fabricate an example. The Interviewer's in-depth probing will quickly expose this.
Examples can be taken from any context as long as they clearly detail the required behavior.
Click on the specific job interview guides to review a list of behavioral questions relevant to each particular job with guidelines on how to prepare your best answers.
From Vietnam, Bac Ninh
Sucess to you
Prepare for The Behavioral Interview
Behavioral interviewing or competency based interviewing explores workplace competencies that are required for successful job performance.
If the job requires a person to be able to analyze and find solutions to problems the interviewer will ask the candidate to provide an example of when they previously displayed that behavior.
"Tell me about a problem you uncovered in your previous job. What steps did you take to sort it out?"
It is often difficult to think of good examples within the time constraints and stressful context of a job interview.
Know which behaviors (sometimes referred to as competencies) are required in the position by reviewing the job description and requirements.
Looking back at your past jobs, prepare good examples using the following technique:
Describe the specific situation or task you were involved in
Detail the action and steps you took in the situation
Outline the results and outcome of your actions. What happened, what was accomplished, what did you learn
Common Behavioral Questions & Answers
problem-solving, initiative & judgment
stress tolerance, resilience & adaptability
team work, leadership & negotiation
attention to detail, work standards & organizing
Listen carefully to the questions asked and, if need be, ask for further clarification. Answer with an appropriate and specific example. Often the Interviewer will ask follow-up questions to get more information,
" Tell me why you did that"
"Take me through your decision process"
"How did you feel about that"
so it is essential to have a complete, actual example to draw on.
Click on the list of Common Behavioral Questions & Answers above to help you frame your own examples.
Keep in mind that there are no right or wrong answers, it is an attempt to see how you behaved in a given situation. It is not possible to fabricate an example. The Interviewer's in-depth probing will quickly expose this.
Examples can be taken from any context as long as they clearly detail the required behavior.
Click on the specific job interview guides to review a list of behavioral questions relevant to each particular job with guidelines on how to prepare your best answers.
From Vietnam, Bac Ninh
Can we have a tool to judge the behavior a the candidate before the actual selection process because then it will help the interviewer to understand the actual personality of the candidate.
From Germany
From Germany
The key to effective interviewing and hiring is knowing the candidate and doing your homework accordingly. Prepare your questions and know what qualities and qualifications you want the candidate to possess. Effective recruitments and hiring can make all the difference in saving costs and resources.
What do you think interviewers should keep in mind while interviewing potential candidates?
What do you think interviewers should keep in mind while interviewing potential candidates?
Soft skills are the things that matter most along with technical expertise. They vary across jobs. It’s important to decide your requirements from the candidate before the interview. Behavioural questions, body language assessment and their confidence can say a lot about the candidates’ personality.
How do you assess the behaviour of a candidate during an interview?
InterviewBuddy Pro helps you with the behavioural interviews.
How do you assess the behaviour of a candidate during an interview?
InterviewBuddy Pro helps you with the behavioural interviews.
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