Behavioral Interviewing: Why it’s Powerful and How to Implement

Recruiting in 2022 will demand employers be equipped with the best HR strategies to win the talent war. In the current highly competitive job market, employing best practices for hiring top talent is more imperative than ever. Employers can’t afford to hire the wrong talent when the job market is already challenging to navigate. MP’s HR and compliance team share a key job interview technique every team should use in 2022 interviewing.

What is behavioral interviewing, and why is it a best practice for hiring?

Behavioral interviewing is a technique designed to analyze whether a candidate could succeed in a role. Behavioral interview questions draw out information about past performance. Past performance is often a strong predictor of how well a candidate will meet the job description requirements.

What’s the difference between behavioral interviewing and typical interviewing?

Typical interview questions focus on information about the candidate as a person. This information includes:

• What they’re interested in
• How they view themselves as a teammate
• What they did or didn’t like about their previous roles

This kind of information is also valuable to a hiring manager, and it will still be helpful to ask these types of questions. However, hiring managers will get a more comprehensive picture of a candidate’s potential when they utilize strong behavioral questions in addition to typical interview questions. When answering behavioral questions, candidates must provide substantiated proof of their skills and abilities. In contrast, typical interview questions often make it easy for candidates to give the “right answer.” An eager candidate could answer a question with something they feel the hiring manager wants to hear. For example, in a typical interviewing style, this exchange might occur:

Question:

How do you work best? Alone, or in teams?

Answer:

I love working with teams, but I’m great at working independently, too.

With common behavioral interviewing questions, this exchange would occur:

Question:

Have you worked in teams in the past? Please describe how.

Answer:

I worked in a team at my previous role. We needed to operate together to meet deadlines. We often edited each other’s work. We also had weekly team meetings to update the project status.

A behavioral based interview requires candidates to answer questions based on facts, including how they handle the situation presented, their problem solving and time management skills, or what they’ve achieved in the past. This information will help hiring managers make the best choices.

What are optimal questions for behavioral interviewing?

When applying this interview tactic, the hiring manager should consider how the applicant handled assignments, challenges, or a specific situation in the workplace. These questions should be detail-oriented. Hiring managers could ask follow-up questions if candidates don’t offer enough detail. These are some examples:

• Describe a stressful work situation you’ve experienced. How did you perform despite the stress? What are your coping skills?
• Talk about a time you exercised good judgment at work. What did you do and why?
• Describe a time when you had to follow a policy you disagreed with. What did you do and why?
• Discuss a time you set a goal and achieved it. How did you meet your goal?

If candidates don’t offer enough details or specifics, hiring managers can use these follow-up questions:

• What was your role in this scenario or project?
• Why did you make those decisions?
• Why did you take those actions?
• What were your challenges in this scenario? How did you overcome them?