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| » July 2006 |
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| Behavioural Interviews – Your Guiding STAR |
| By Bill Holland |
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Candidates are becoming increasingly interview savvy. With readily available career resources, particularly on the internet, candidates are better prepared than ever for today’s competitive hiring process. They can easily learn about your industry, company, and even the specific type of position to which they’re applying. When they show up for an interview, they’ve likely done some research and practiced their answers to potential questions. |
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A prepared, polished, and well-informed candidate is definitely appealing, as it demonstrates a certain level of interest, competence and initiative. However, not every interested and proactive candidate is right for the job. Unqualified candidates may convince themselves – and you – that they’re perfect for the job, even if in reality they aren’t a great fit. Although the enthusiasm is likely to be sincere, don’t let it fool you into an emotionally driven hire. Whether by design or through desperation, some candidates will tell you what you want to hear.
So how do you know if what you’re hearing is the truth, some version of it, or a bunch of baloney? Sometimes it’s obvious – your intuition and their performance is enough to disqualify a less than appropriate candidate. Other times, you have to probe deeper into the candidate’s knowledge, background and motivations to determine their suitability.
There are no guarantees, however, and you may find yourself captivated by an Oscar winning interview performance, only to discover on-the-job performance to be lacking. So, in addition to the due diligence of background/ reference checking and skills testing, the best you can do to ensure a great hire is to exercise your interviewing muscle.
Behavioural based interviewing is founded on the principle that in a given situation, past performance is the best predictor of future performance. Conducting a behavioural interview helps you evaluate a candidate’s previous conduct to determine their potential for success in your organization. First, you have to determine the critical characteristics you’re looking for in a candidate. What are the required and/or desired behaviours, experiences, knowledge, skills, and competencies for the role? A thorough review of the job description is a good place to start when developing questions for a behavioural interview.
Questions typically call for the interviewee to recount specific details about how they behaved in past situations. Good questions will reflect circumstances that are likely to arise in the role for which you are hiring. Below are some examples of behavioural questions from www.quintessentialcareers.com. Note that they aren’t framed as questions at all, but are probing statements asking the candidate to describe, discuss and give specific examples of how they behaved under certain conditions.
- Describe a situation in which you were able to use persuasion to successfully convince someone to see things your way.
- Describe a time when you were faced with a stressful situation that demonstrated your coping skills.
- Give me a specific example of a time when you used good judgment and logic in solving a problem.
- Give me an example of a time when you set a goal and were able to meet or achieve it.
- Tell me about a time when you had to use your presentation skills to influence someone's opinion.
- Give me a specific example of a time when you had to conform to a policy with which you did not agree.
- Please discuss an important written document you were required to complete.
- Tell me about a time when you had to go above and beyond the call of duty in order to get a job done.
- Tell me about a time when you had too many things to do and you were required to prioritize your tasks.
- Give me an example of a time when you had to make a split second decision.
- What is your typical way of dealing with conflict? Give me an example.
- Tell me about a time you were able to successfully deal with another person even when that individual may not have personally liked you (or vice versa).
- Tell me about a difficult decision you've made in the last year.
- Give me an example of a time when something you tried to accomplish and failed.
- Give me an example of when you showed initiative and took the lead.
- Tell me about a recent situation in which you had to deal with a very upset customer or co-worker.
- Give me an example of a time when you motivated others.
- Tell me about a time when you delegated a project effectively
- Give me an example of a time when you used your fact-finding skills to solve a problem.
- Tell me about a time when you missed an obvious solution to a problem.
- Describe a time when you anticipated potential problems and developed preventive measures.
- Tell me about a time when you were forced to make an unpopular decision.
- Please tell me about a time you had to fire a friend.
- Describe a time when you set your sights too high (or too low).
Keen candidates are well practiced in answering these types of questions, and often come to interviews armed with an arsenal of adaptable responses. The STAR method is a common approach used to answer behavioural questions whereby the candidate tells a story to demonstrate their skills, accomplishments and capabilities. STAR is simply an acronym that helps candidates frame their responses – and that helps interviewers assess them.
Situation: A brief but specific description of the circumstances & background info about an event or situation relevant to the question.
Task: An overview of important goals/objectives that the candidate was responsible for in this situation.
Actions: An account of key actions taken by the candidate to manage the situation and achieve the desired objectives.
Results: An explanation of the outcome indicating the consequences of the candidate’s actions, preferably highlighting success and/or learnings.
As an interviewer, you should expect their responses to be specific and detailed but not immaterial and long-winded. Prepare interview sheets that have the question stated at the top, and space for you to take notes while the candidate responds. Sections for Situation, Task, Actions and Results, as well as for other observations or comments will help you review and further assess the candidate’s performance after the interview.
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Describe a situation in which you were able to use persuasion to successfully convince someone to see things your way.
Situation:
Task:
Actions:
Results
Other Comments/ Observations:
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A candidate’s responses describing real actions in real situations will reveal a great deal about their competence. Abstract or hypothetical commentary may be interesting, but not a great predictor of performance. Expect your candidate to be well prepared to answer behavioural questions but be vigilant about phony responses.
But how can you gauge whether their answers are authentic or contrived? A skilled interviewer will probe the candidate’s response for more detailed information to uncover specific behaviours and motivations. If a candidate gives a generic answer, give them the opportunity to be more specific. If they start to ramble, try to focus them. Contrived stories will likely start to fall apart under meticulous interrogation. Remember that an interview is also an opportunity to assess a candidate’s ability to perform under pressure!
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