02 Aug Tell Me All About It: Behavioral Interview Questions
Even when a candidate looks great on paper, you tend to hold your breath until you meet them. Can they back up their experience with strong examples? Why are they looking for a new position? Without a crystal ball, it’s part interrogation and part instinct. But many employers try to get better predictors of success with behavioral interview questions.
How to ask behavioral interview questions:
It makes perfect sense to ask people to explain about their resume, what they liked about their last job, what their career aspirations are. But it takes really effective interviewing skills, and the ability to implement them, to understand if they can do well in your organization.
How, not what. A behavioral interview is a series of open-ended questions that help you obtain a good picture of a person’s capabilities in previous positions. It works off the premise that future behavior is best predicted by past behavior.
Before hiring a new employee, you need to be sure the candidate has the capabilities needed to perform the job and has demonstrated these capabilities in the past. Instead of asking what someone’s experience was, you ask them how they would handle various situations. “What” questions will give you facts, but “how” questions will tell you about judgment, and behavior.
What do you want? Preparing before the interview is crucial because you need to have situational questions prepared. It’s not about what they bring on their resume; it’s about what you need in that role. identify the main competencies needed for the potential position.
Many employers often focus primarily on the technical skills rather than competencies or performance skills needed for success in the job. Performance skills include problem solving, communication, analytical thinking, results-orientation, attention to detail, time management and similar qualities.
How would you . . ? Once you have gathered information regarding all the skills required for the position, it is important to prepare a behavioral interview questions designed to critique the candidates past performance. Here are examples:
- Name a situation where you realized you would not be able to finish a project on time. How did you handle it?
- How have you managed past projects with a team of people who didn’t agree on the strategy?
- Can you describe a situation where your efforts were an outstanding success? What was the most important quality you brought to that task?
- Tell me about a time when you were faced with a number of priorities to accomplish in a relatively short time frame.
Behavioral interview questions can help predict a candidate’s success.
These open-ended questions can help by asking the potential employee to provide a specific, detailed picture of his or her performance in a past situation. As a result, a more objective assessment of the candidate’s strengths and developmental needs can be achieved. Although it may not be a crystal ball, it provides a much better opportunity of making more informed hiring decisions.