Behavior-based interview training

If you need good managers, sales professionals or employees at any level in your company, the shopping may look good. Especially if you do not look too carefully. A lot of qualified people are on the street. But those people may not fit your organization or have the experience level suggested by their resumes. Skillful interviewing is necessary if you want to find the best candidate.

Professionally "outplaced" managers are often well trained and rehearsed in interview behavior. And new MBA's take "Interviewing 101." They frequently have far more interviewing practice than the interviewer. Their comments are often like a politician's--apple pie and empty phrases. The instruction to "Decribe yourself in three minutes" may lead to a fine speech but it usually has little value to the interviewer. A declaration that "My greatest weakness is my over- dedication to excellence" does not provide much insight. And please spare us from "If you were an animal, what would it be?"

The problem with many interviews is their failure to provide rich, useful information. Too often, a candidate walks out the door leaving behind good impressions but little real information.

An unstructured interview--one in which the interviewer asks whatever comes to mind--is the weakest technique for getting useful facts. It allows the well-prepared candidate to control the dialogue. The candidate can direct the discussion into areas that help him/her look good. Yet the majority of all interviews are unstructured!

Even patterned or structured interviews--those with carefully prepared questions--suffer when the data col-lected yields little clarity about the actual behavior of the candidate. Attitudes are important, but the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. The typical question "What do you like best and least about your job?" does not usually reveal much about the candidate's behavior. While it may provide insight to the person's values, it does not tell about the person in action. For example, I may like to play golf, but that does not mean I am good at it!

An alternative to traditional interviewing is Behavior-based Interviewing or BBI. BBI is different from other interview approaches because it emphasizes behavior and relevancy. Attitudes, biographical data, professional and personal achievements, and likes or dislikes are less important in the process of assessing the capability and fit of the candidate.

BBI uses prepared questions to probe a candidate's past behavior. The key is to know what behaviors are important and how to ask about them. Recently, this process is often called STAR: Situation/task, Action, Results.

A careful review with incumbents, supervisors, and subordinates can yield useful ideas. "Give me an example of how past managers have shown excellence in this job" can be a helpful start toward finding key behaviors. Also, "Has anyone ever failed in this job? What did the person do?" can be a useful direction of inquiry.

Once the relevant behaviors have been found, interview questions are developed. For instance, if a key aspect of the job requires the manager to establish new client contacts, a typical set of BBI questions would be "Tell me about the most difficult new client contact you made in the last six months. What obstacles did you face? How did you overcome them? What would you do different next time?"

The discipline and focus of a BBI interview can lead to surprising results.

Recently, a woman was being interviewed for an important project manager position. She had received her MBA in 1985, and her career had sky-rocketed in the subsequent years. Her resume indicated remarkable success with a Fortune 500 company as she moved from managing one project to another. She was seen at Lakin Associates after receiving high marks from several interviews with senior management of the firm that was considering hiring her.

A BBI interview revealed a surprising set of behaviors, however. Focusing on her ability to "sell" a new project to other departments--a critical part of the job for which she was being considered--questions such as the follow-ing were asked: Of the last two projects you managed, which was hardest to sell to others? What were the problems? What did you do?

These questions led to the discovery that the candidate had never "sold" a project to other departments. In fact, in none of her projects had she ever managed beyond the proposal stage. Her aggressive style had caught the attention of top management, and she had always been promoted before any project had been implemented. In fact, she had no idea if any of her projects had ever been successful! Nor did she care. Unfortunately, the client company needed a project manager, not an idea generator.

Planning and probing are the critical steps in effective BBI interviewing. It takes practice, but it is worth the effort.

Recently, Dr. Lakin taught several hundred Dean Witter branch managers how to do Behavioral Interviewing. Within two months, the new hires were already outselling many of those in the branches with experience. In addition, several managers reported that the process of asking such detailed questions scared off several candidates, people who obviously could never have tolerated the stress of the job.

In addition to learning behavioral interviewing, a good interviewer must understand three key facts:

1. An interview is a type of selling. When you sell to a customer you have to clarify your role, establish rapport, listen, and share information. You are trying to control the interaction, but you do so in a subtle and indirect fashion. Otherwise, you create resistance. A selection interview should be similar to the sales call. It requires the same attention to rapport building and the same planning discipline that a good sales call should have. In fact, we train interviewers to use some of the same NLP (neurolinguistic programming) skills that are found in our sales training program. (See the section in our website on NLP or go to www.nlp4biz.com for more information on NLP.) These skills include how to make someone comfortable, how to probe vague statements, and even how to read eyes to recognize if the candidate is giving you a real example or a canned story!
2. A poor selection interview (and decision) costs you far more than an unsuccessful sales call. The effects of a poor sales call can be overcome by the next one being successful. But a poor selection interview has already cost money in recruiting and interview time. It also is a decision that leads to lost productivity and lost opportunity. A poor selection decision does not go away easily. It continues to cost you day after day. The time you spend to plan and conduct a good behavior-based selection interview is time (and money) well spent.
3. An interview is not a game of wits or mental combat. The candidate is not there to compete with you, and you are not there to humble the candidate. You are there to gain information. To be successful as an interviewer, you need to consider the interview to be a conversation--a purposeful and structured conversation. In this context, past successes and disappointments can be discussed with equal poise and openness.

Effective interviewing is something you can learn and practice. You can be a competent interviewer if you do your homework. Even if your style is not smooth or practiced, the results of your interviewing can still be productive. Practice a few basic techniques and be committed to good interviewing as a part of your job.

GUIDE FOR AN EFFECTIVE (AND EFFICIENT) INTERVIEW^©

(Lakin Associates' Interview Training Program)

Before the Interview

• Identify the key performance factors (competencies) for the position
• Identify the traits that correspond to the performance factors
• Plan your questions

Conducting the Interview

• Create rapport
• Know how to ask questions
• Be alert for subtle verbal and nonverbal cues
• Listen
• Have the courage to probe or to be silent
• Express your appreciation and conclude the interview

After the Interview

• Immediately review your notes and evaluate the information
• Write a summary
• Reach your conclusion

For information on behavioral interviewing and Lakin Associates' "Guide To Effective and Efficient Interviewing", call or send us a message.

Last modified: September 28, 2008
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