Behavioral Based Interviews – A Valuable Selection Tool
A valuable tool that has continued to be on the rise is the use of behavioral based interviewing. Employers across the nation are realizing the positive results of better job and organization matches when incorporating behavioral based interviews as an interviewing tool. A national survey conducted by the Novations Group in 2007 indicated that 55.7% of HR professionals plan to continue using behavioral based interviewing with the same frequency and nearly 25% plan to increase the frequency.
Behavioral based interviewing is based on the premise that the best way to predict future performance is to determine candidates’ past behaviors. To be truly successful in using behavioral based interviews it is highly recommended that employers identify crucial organizational and position based competencies. Organizational competencies are those that all positions and levels require, and position based competencies are those that a particular job family requires. These competencies should include knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) that are truly essential to success in the position and within the organization.
After these competencies are defined you can then create interview questions to determine a candidate’s fit into each competency. For example, if a crucial position based competency is customer service, you could ask candidates to tell you about a time they were successful in dealing with a difficult customer.
It is important to train your employees on how to conduct behavioral based interviews, as well as on how to accurately and consistently score candidate responses. Behavioral interviews are most beneficial when they are structured, meaning that the same questions are delivered in the same manner and order to all candidates interviewed for a particular position.
Structured interviews also require candidate responses to be scored accurately and consistently. Intra-rater consistency means that an interviewer is consistent in administering scores throughout all interviews conducted. Equally important is inter-rater agreement, which is consistency in scoring among interviewers.
The use of behavioral based interviews can reduce the overall time and expense companies invest in the interviewing process. It is recommended that recruiters and hiring managers continue to thoroughly screen resumes before making candidate contact. Employers can then incorporate behavioral interviews into phone screenings to identify truly worthwhile and qualified candidates.
Behavioral based interviews can then be used to the full extent with final candidates to identify high quality hires. Behavioral based interviews can provide value in improving your hiring process, but remember: to be truly valuable and yield successful hires, you must invest the time necessary to develop competencies and train your staff.
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The costs associated with an employee leaving an organization have been estimated at anywhere from 50% to over 100% of the employee’s annual salary. With these staggering figures it is crucial to provide the right tools for your managers to consistently make “good” hires. Alice Waagan, Ph.D. and principal of Workforce Learning, says, “No other task or activity that you will perform as a manager will have more impact than the hiring decision. When you fill a vacancy with a “good” hire, the new employee adds value immediately to the work group and the organization overall.”| Issue 4 | April 2008 |
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