Taking Behavioral Interviewing to the Next Level

The behavioral interview has been in use since the 1970s. Most companies use at least some form of the behavioral interview process as they try to find candidates to fill positions. This is a very effective practice, that if done correctly, can identify the best candidate for the job. After all, the old saying, "behavior predicts", is true. Having said that, there is a flaw in the behavioral interview. The interview will only give you the best information, if you have done a thorough job of describing the behavior you are looking for.

An Example

John is interviewing for a position with the ABC company. ABC has developed a competency model and one of the core competencies identified is customer service. In fact, John is interviewing for a customer service position. This makes that competency even more critical. The ABC interviewer follows the behavioral interview approach, and asks John to describe a time when he has provided excellent customer service to a particular client. John tells a story about the time he had a client that called in to complain about a problem she was having with a product. John spent over an hour on the phone with the client and finally identified what the root cause of the problem was and helped to resolve the situation. John was offered the job, but subsequently fired within 6 months of starting. Why? It turns out, John was willing to spend hours on many client calls, trying to resolve every detail of every situation. What ABC needed was someone to "quickly" identify the situation and pass it off to the appropriate person. Both are considered customer service, but the latter was what ABC really needed. The lack of clarification cost ABC the expense of hiring the wrong person. It also cost John his job.

A Different Approach

Competencies are necessary, and a valuable part of understanding how an organization operates. Alone though, they are not enough to determine the criteria for job success. That is why when we help our clients profile a job, prior to hiring, we go to the level of job activity. By utilizing a Job Analysis Consulting Tool (JACT), we can get the to "critical few" activities that are required for a person to be successful in the position. Consider the following activities:

1. Does whatever is necessary to accomplish goals
2. Works cooperatively to achieve objectives.

Both are activities that point to broad competency family of "getting results', or "results orientation", but each is a very different way of approaching that job. Your determination of which is really required, can mean the difference between between a successful hire, and one that struggles to fit in to your culture.

For more about the JACT process, check out our website here