Behavior-Based Interviewing...
More Than a Gut Feeling

 

Behavior-Based Interviewing

Selecting the right person for the job is critically important for today's organization. Hiring the wrong person is not only costly in terms of time and money, but it also can have a negative effect on employee morale and damage an organization's reputation.

Whenever an interviewer uses "gut feeling" to make a selection decision, the risk of making the wrong decision goes up—unless the "gut feeling" is really an intuitive sense that is brought about by objective versus speculative data. The best predictor of how a person will perform in the future is past performance. Behavioral interviewing provides the necessary skills to generate information about a candidate, which allows for a more objective evaluation of the information offered.

Behavior-based interviewing is accomplished through a select set of skills. The interviewer follows a process that allows a candidate to tell what they have actively accomplished, the types of traits and skills they have demonstrated in the past, and what skills they are likely to exhibit in the new job. The benefits of behavioral based interviewing include the following:

  • Provides an opportunity for the interviewer to discover and discuss the candidate's on-the-job behaviors,

  • Allows the candidate to sell him/herself,

  • Allows interviewer to quickly determine if a candidate has the requisite skills, and

  • Helps ensure that the interviewer enjoys a successful selection decision.

By the end of this program, participants will be able to

  • Interview applicants efficiently and effectively,

  • Prepare interview questions based on the required job behaviors,

  • Use in-depth, open-ended probes to gather candidate information,

  • Identify the elements of a successful interview,

  • Recognize the importance and limits of an interview,

  • Distinguish the consequences of poor interviewing,

  • Specify common interviewing errors,

  • Design a tailored interview, and

  • Maintain EEO guidelines—lawful and unlawful questions.

Home | Building Excellence Survey | Training & Consulting
Products | What's New | Contact Us