Fall, 2008 Newsletter

The Behavioral Interview

With businesses today closely focused on the bottom line, a hiring mistake can be more costly than ever. Hiring the wrong person can cost thousands in salary and benefits, result in lost business opportunities, and damage the cohesiveness of your team. Rather than the more traditional and well-known ‘structured’ and ‘un-structured’ interview styles, consider the behavioral interview to identify extraordinary hires for your company.

What is Behavioral Interviewing?

Behavioral interviewing is a technique that focuses more on specifics and less on the interviewer’s gut feeling. It is based on the belief that the best predictor of a candidate’s future performance is his/her past performance in similar circumstances. Interview questions are objective, realistic, and require detailed answers.

Before conducting a behavioral interview, the interviewer must obtain a complete understanding of the role and responsibilities of the position being filled. This involves identifying the knowledge, skills, traits, behaviors and experiences necessary to be successful in the position.

Once these critical factors have been identified, the interviewer should form questions that will elicit specific examples and instances where the candidate has demonstrated these traits/behaviors/skills. Questions should require answers that detail how the candidate handled a specific situation, solved a particular problem or made a certain decision. Questions might begin with “Tell me about a time when…” or “Give me an example of…”.

Behavioral interviewing requires performance-based questions which leave no room for vague answers. Interviewers should follow-up any vague answers with pointed questions to uncover exactly how the candidate responded/performed in the situation in question. At the conclusion of an effective behavioral interview, the interviewer is able to determine whether the candidate truly has the skills, behaviors, traits and experiences to be successful in the position being filled.

Avoiding the Halo Effect

All interviewers should be aware of what is known as the “halo effect”. We all make quick assessments of people — after all, first impressions are important. In interviewing, however, allowing a positive first impression to influence the questions asked throughout the interview can result in hiring the wrong candidate. If your initial gut feeling is that this is a great candidate, you may be less likely to ask the behavioral-based questions that might uncover shortcomings in the candidate.

To avoid the halo effect (and its opposite — forming a negative first impression and prematurely disqualifying a good candidate), formulate your behavioral-based questions before the interview and be sure to ask all of them. Remember to ask the same questions of all candidates, and to avoid inappropriate questions that may expose your company to claims relating to discriminatory hiring practices.

Triad Engineering Corp has specialized for over 37 years in helping clients fill their technical staffing needs on a contract, contract-to-direct and direct basis. Triad is locally owned and operated and offers the most personalized service and experienced staff available. Please contact us at 781-273-1880 or visit our web site www.triad-eng.com for more information.