Behavior Based Interview Questions Help Employers Hire Better Employees

By: Insperity Staff
August 26th, 2011

It’s time to hire a new employee. Whether you’re replacing someone who departed or creating a new job due to business growth, finding the right person for the position is a crucial task for any business owner. Accordingly, asking targeted behavior based interview questions is a critical part of the process.

Employers can best predict the future by using a behavior based interviewing strategy because humans are, by nature, creatures of habit. Asking specific questions about real-life circumstances allows interviewers to use past behaviors to predict how an employee will likely react in a particular environment and in similar situations. After identifying applicable experiences and responses, you can better understand the innate behaviors, knowledge, abilities and skills of potential employees.

“All candidates will demonstrate particular behaviors, and behavior based interview questions allow employers to get beyond the candidate’s prepared answers and learn what they truly bring to the table,” says Melissa Trocko, Insperity director of recruiting.

In addition, using a behavioral interviewing strategy helps employers determine what job traits are most important to assess. Make a list of three to five characteristics that an ideal candidate will bring to the table and focus your interview questions on these behaviors. If current employees are successful in similar positions, analyze their personality strengths and use those insights to develop probing questions.

For example, if trustworthiness is paramount in the position, ask about a situation that challenged their ethics, how they responded and their thoughts about the results of their choices. If the person will be a key team member as the company grows and/or changes, ask if they have ever met resistance when implementing a new idea or policy in a work group, and, if so, how they dealt with it and finally, ask about the end result.

If the interviewee can’t offer an example of when they encountered resistance, they likely aren’t too well-versed in managing during times of change—a definite red flag for an employer if such experience is paramount to the job requirement.

Each interview is unique and each position will require different types of behavior based questions. Employers should use the following prompts to develop their own set of behavior based interview questions:

• Ask for a specific situation
• Determine what tasks were accomplished and actions the interviewee took
• Define the results

Resumes are usually written to put the applicant in a position to get the job. The behavior based interview is an opportunity for an employer to truly assess the person behind that resume by asking insightful questions to better identify candidates who will best serve their business.

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