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Writer's pictureTricia Smith

Interviewing with intention-a must read for all hiring managers.

Updated: Nov 18, 2019

How to get your candidates really talking during the interview.




Preparing your interview panel to accurately screen candidates may seem challenging when considering the vast number of approaches that are available for your use. In a behavioral interview, you’ll ultimately need to narrow down the proper techniques to implement as well as identify the right questions to ask so that you can determine the optimal candidate for the role. Keep reading to learn all you need to know on getting the most out of each candidate in your next round of interviews.


Why use behavioral interviewing?


Behavioral interviewing is widely considered to be the most effective type of interviewing for both full-time and contract employees because it allows candidates to discuss and demonstrate certain behaviors, knowledge, skills, and abilities that they may possess and apply to the given position. The best indication of future work performance is past work performance, and thus hearing about a candidates’ specific experiences can help you narrow down who has the proper skill set for the position you’re looking to fill. In addition, it will shed light on how they react to different pressures such as deadlines, interpersonal relationships and receiving feedback. Overall, this method of interviewing also allows you to effectively evaluate candidates while also comparing them to others that you’ve interviewed using the same strategy and questions.


What are the best behavioral interviewing techniques?


If you’ve ever researched anything about a behavioral interview in the past, especially as a potential candidate, you’ve likely found the “STAR” method. “STAR” is just an acronym to help candidates structure their response. However, it is also a useful technique that employers can use to write behavioral questions. The ultimate goal behind STAR is really to help the candidate remember to share enough detail in their stories and have those details provide tangible ways that they acted to interviewers.


There are a numerous of STAR sample questions out there that you can adapt for your own purposes. It starts with describing the Situation, explaining the Task at hand, describing the Action that you personally took to address it, and then sharing the final Result.


Preparing your interview panel to accurately screen candidates may seem challenging when considering the vast number of approaches that are available for your use. In a behavioral interview, you’ll ultimately need to narrow down the proper techniques to implement as well as identify the right questions to ask so that you can determine the optimal candidate for the role. Keep reading to learn all you need to know on getting the most out of each candidate in your next round of interviews.


 

The goal of behavioral interview questions is to understand how a candidate has acted in previous work situations, and therefore how they may behave in the future. These questions should be open-ended and give the candidate the ability to explain their actions and results in a way that would pertain to the job they’re applying for. From their answer, you can discover if they will be a good fit for your full time or contract role. Here are some examples of common questions:


Testing for prioritization: How do you determine how much time to allocate to a specific work project or deadline? Can you give me an example of a time when you didn’t allocate enough time for a project/deadline? Who all was affected? What was the result? How did you remedy this? Looking back at the situation, what would you do differently?


Testing for growth potential: Can you tell me about a time when you sought further education on a work subject/project as opposed as being told to do so. How did you find your resources? How long did it take to learn the new information? What was the most challenging aspect of the process? How did you balance the time spent learning with your other work and life priorities? Would you do it differently present day?


Testing for Collaboration: Tell me about the best co-worker or supervisor with whom you have worked? What was appealing about their style? How long did it take you to recognize that they were such a great partner/supervisor?


Interview panel participants should ask multiple follow-up questions after each original question. Each interviewer should only have two or three questions that call for different examples. Those questions can then turn into a discussion to peel the layers back of the candidate’s response. If done carefully, one of the above questions could turn into a five-minute conversation where you really learn the complexity to their decision-making skills.

The best behavioral interviewing techniques take the STAR method and adapt the questions to the type of candidate that you’re specifically looking for. Something that can aid this process is making a list of different traits that you may be looking for in a potential candidate. If your candidate happens to hit on these during their answer, then you know you’ve got a contender!


How to correctly prepare interviewers for a behavioral interview:


The first step in preparing interviewers is selecting them. While it may prove difficult to find individuals who are willing to clear their schedules to help, don’t allow just anyone to help with the interview process. You want to select interviewers who have an invested stake in the individuals who are selected. For example, a hiring manager, a supervisor, a key team member or any other interviewer who has significant knowledge of the job and what it entails. Having the ability to assess an individual’s competency for the role is crucial. It’s also important to select individuals who are able to hold conversations easily and can recognize a good cultural fit for the company.


The second step is ensuring that each individual on the team is aware of the knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics that have been deemed critical for the position. While this was briefly touched on in the previous section, it’s essential to know what you consider “ideal.” Don’t hesitate to make a list of traits that would make a candidate highly desirable if they happened to demonstrate it in their interview. Otherwise, each individual interviewer could believe something different to be of greater importance. This would cause the evaluation of the candidates to change significantly, so be sure to thoroughly review with your interviewers what you want the evaluation criteria to look like.



When it comes time for the interview itself, having a few prepared questions assigned to each interviewer (as well as what they’re specifically looking for) often allows everything to run smoothly. For example, if you’ve identified perseverance as a trait that is necessary for the job, have that written down along with the question, “Tell me about a time you were very persistent to reach goals. Be specific.” Note that the interviewer should push the candidate for something specific in their life, not accept hypothetical answers, and dig deeper by asking follow-up questions.


Final Thoughts:

Looking to maximize your behavioral interviews? While they’re strongly considered to be the most effective interview method, they still require some prep to get everyone on the same page. When it comes to finding your ideal candidate, select purposeful questions, pick invested interviewers, and review evaluation criteria to ensure everyone is on the same page. For more information, visit www.thejulegroup.com or connect with me on LinkedIn.


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