Behavioral Interviewing

• Aliah Wright wrote an article called "Millennials: Bathed to Bits" in the July 2010 edition of SHRM's HR Magazine in which he states, "Old style interviews are out.  Two way dialogues are the way to hire."  If you've not seen this article, be sure to check it out.  Great perspective on a new hire's first three months and a new paradigm for the employee lifecycle.
• Diane Spiegel's posting, "7 Questions You Wouldn't Expect During a Millennial Interview" aligns perfectly with Wright's article. The questions she presents are great examples of a candidate engaging the interviewer in a real dialogue.  Are you ready to answer these questions? 

Strong hiring is critical for company success. But I’ve found that great hiring is less about applicant screening and recruiting strategy and more about simply knowing what you need.
 

For example: You need someone to answer the phones, so you need a receptionist. But will he/she work with a 60-line phone system with 300 calls/day, or manage about 25 calls a day, but be expected to “triage” customers? These are two very different positions, and being clear about the needs of your position will guide the rest of the process. 

Here is a framework I find helpful for defining a job and capturing that in the format of a job description:

1.       Position Summary  (2-3 sentences) – Why does this position exist?  How is it critical to the company’s success?

2.       Responsibilities (3-5 broad areas with 3-12 detailed bullets in each) – What does a person in this role do? What are the 3-5 areas into which their responsibilities naturally fall? What will they be evaluated on?

3.       Core competencies (6-12) – How should this person perform their job so that they align with the company overall? What behaviors must one exhibit in order to fit into your company culture and meet your definition of professionalism? 

4.       Position specific competencies (3-6) –What traits must someone have in order to be successful in this specific role? HINT: Personality assessments like Predictive Index® can be very helpful for defining these. 

5.       Critical skills & knowledge (3-6) – What are the teachable skills or formal knowledge that one must have for this position? 

6.       Working conditions – How will this person work on a daily basis? How much travel and what kind of travel is involved? 

When you can clearly answer these questions, you’ve done half the work necessary for strong hiring. You can use the information from these question to guide where you post the position, how you screen resumes and how you interview candidates. 

When it comes to best hiring practices your best bet is to be consistent.  Personnel selection itself presents enough challenges and by maintaining consistency in the process used for candidate selection you can avoid curve balls along the way.  

Take a scenario that I was recently presented with in working with a client.  The typical selection process for this client was to vet resumes, send prescreening information to those candidates who looked to be most qualified, further screen select candidates through a phone interview using behavioral interview questions and then narrow down the pool to only the top candidates for the position to bring in for in-person interviews.  

With one candidate who was being considered,  the hiring manager after reviewing the candidate's prescreening information thought it might be best to check the candidate's references before spending the time doing a phone interview.  Did you catch the curve ball?  Curve balls create questions on our side and on the part of those candidates who are being considered for an opportunity.  In order to most effectively compare candidates you are considering for a position the steps you take each candidate through must be consistent.  This allows you to compare apples to apples and make the best hiring decision possible. 

In the end, this client decided against checking references at this early stage of the game and instead put this candidate through the same steps that others had gone through.  The end result?  The process is moving forward and this candidate is being evaluated fairly against the other candidates up for consideration. 

The rule of thumb to remember in assessment and selection of candidates for a position is be consistent!!





 

Turbocharging an engine provides more power with less fuel. You can turbocharge your hiring and selection processes using an advanced form of job vs. personality fit analysis in a process called "Turbocharged Screening and Selection." This saves you time and money by providing a more-efficient approach to more-effective applicant screening and selection.

Turbocharged Screening & Selection (TSS) is a methodical approach to generating superior and consistent results in matching people to work. We get superior results because we transform the powerful but complex process of using personality assessments in selection decisions into something simple and fast.

The TSS method consists of seven phases:

1. Developing an “Ideal Personality Target”
2. Validating the “Ideal Personality Target” with incumbent analysis
3. Creating a “Job Matching Scoresheet”
4. Scoring Candidates in the Scoresheet
5. Developing Behavioral Interviewing Questions for Fits
6. Developing Behavioral Interviewing Questions for Gaps
7. Evaluating Candidates’ Responses

These seven phases will be addressed in detail in separate blog entries that follow. 
 

The time invested in preparation is paid for by the efficiencies gained in implementing each people-selection decision and the quality of those decisions.

See my next blog entry, below, for phase 1 - "Developing an "Ideal Personality Target"

This is a continuation of the "Turbocharged Screening and Selection" blog series.

Exploring gaps identified in the Job Matching Scoresheet is a very important part of the process. After all, we’ve invested considerable time in describing what we’re looking for in the job to maximize employee productivity and work satisfaction and when a gap occurs it indicates our personality assessments have identified a mismatch on that personality element.

It is important to remember that not all gaps are created equal. Some may be so important for engaging employees and our confidence is so strong in the measure that we place a mismatched candidate at the very bottom of the priority ranking (or even, as discussed previously, exclude them from further consideration altogether). Others may be relatively unimportant.  In most cases, we want to conduct a targeted probe with the candidate regarding the mismatch to determine if they can address the personality mismatch with learned behaviors.

In preparing questions we follow the behavioral interviewing principle that past behavior is the best indicator of future actions. Our questions get candidates to describe their past behaviors with open-ended behavioral questions.

Using our sample job and sample candidate on one of their gaps:

Note – a complete guide would have interview guidance for all of the personality elements described in the “Ideal Personality Target.”

Using the Job Matching Scoresheet to identify personality gaps simplifies the process of determining where a candidate might face a particular challenge in a job. Developing the questions in advance allows interviewers to quickly conduct probing evaluations that will determine a candidate’s potential.

This is a continuation of the "Turbocharged Screening & Selection" blog series and is the final entry.

Preparing to ask better behavioral interviewing questions, of course, is only half the battle. The other half is to ensure your interviewers know what to LISTEN for.

Using our example from Phase 6, interviewing the Empathetic candidate for the job requiring Analytical strengths we would ask: “Describe a time when you had to conduct data analysis in order to solve a complex problem.  What was your approach and what was the outcome?”

Interviewers should listen for a response like “In my last job I was regularly tasked with doing cost/benefit analyses of key programs.  My approach was to first identify desired outcomes of the program, check for alignment with business goals, then assess metrics to see if the programs were doing what they were intended to do.  Then I’d create a spreadsheet laying out ROI and present to the team to determine next steps.” 

This answer would keep the candidate alive in the applicant screening process for the following reasons: 

a.    Candidate has a done regular data analysis in past job

b.    Candidate describes a sequential, data driven approach

c.    Candidate uses technology to aid analysis and presentation.

So, while the individual’s propensity is Empathetic rather than Analytical, it would seem they have some experience and skills they could bring to bear.

Clarifying expectations on candidate responses accelerates and simplifies candidate evaluation by allowing the interviewer to clearly categorize candidates’ responses as either adequate, or not.

Turbocharged Selection - Conclusion

TSS creates a simplified approach to quickly generating superior and consistent results in assessment and selection when matching people to work. We get superior results because we transform the powerful but complex process of using personality assessments in selection decisions into something simple and fast.

This saves you time and money by providing a more-efficient approach to more-effective selection.

This is a continuation the "Turbocharged Screening and Selection" blog series.

Once we develop the Job Matching Scoresheet we have defined the qualities we’re seeking in candidates for the job. This provides a roadmap for developing a behavioral interviewing guide with targeted questions about those qualities.

In preparing questions we follow the behavioral interviewing principle that past behavior is the best indicator of future actions. Our questions get candidates to describe their past behaviors with open-ended behavioral questions.

Examples for our “Sample Job” include:

Note: A complete interview guide would have questions for each of the personality elements in the “Ideal Personality Target.”

Using the Job Matching Scoresheet to develop your interview questions simplifies the process of deciding what topics to explore. Developing the questions in advance allows interviewers to quickly engage and evaluate candidates in an applicant screening and personnel selection process.

1. Think about what's happening in your company/department.  An example summation would be, "We're rapidly expanding our product line into the student market."  This is the goal statement: to expand the product line into the student market.
2. Now that the 40,000 foot question is out of the way, let's bring it down to the 30,000 foot level.  What must the employee achieve in order to support the goal?  Sticking with our example started above, you may say, "I need 3 new sales reps who will aggressively push our product into the student market through in-person sales at events attracting college-age students. Each will be responsible for $50,000 of sales quarterly."  Now you're defining the key performance requirements (KPRs) for the position and they align with the company goals.
3. Coming down now to the 20,000 foot level, what must an employee possess in order to be successful?  This is where you document knowledge, skills, experience and behavior.  For every qualification, ask yourself why it is critical.  For example, is a college education really critical?  Also, challenge yourself to separate critical qualities from desired qualities.  Back to our example, the sales person needs no special knowledge for the job - you'll train them well.  As for experience, you'd like someone who has successfully worked in environments where he/she really had to draw upon relationship building to be successful.  Regarding skills, this needs to be someone who can establish rapport with a variety of people, read people well and speak persuasively.  As for behaviors, you need someone who is highly social, results driven and gregarious. 
4. Don't forget the "logistics."  For this situation, the sales rep will have a $25,000 base and earn 15% commission, so if the $50,000 sales/quarter requirement is met, he/she will earn $55,000-$70,000.  He/she must be someone for whom $25,000 is too little and $55,000-$70,000 is really motivating.  He/she must be able to drive as much as eight hours a day alone, within the region of Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky and Illinois.  He/she must be ready to spend 2-3 nights per week away from home.  In this example, the logistics are actually equally important to the experience and skills that are needed. 

1. Knowing what you need from someone;
2. Inquiring around what you need; and
3. Knowing how to interpret the response. 

“That most basic of human rituals – the conversation with a stranger – is a minefield.”   - Malcolm Gladwell, The New-boy Network: What Do Interviews Really Tell Us?

Most of us make quick, intuitive judgments about people we have just met. When interviewing a job candidate, this is one of the most significant tendencies we should all fight against.

In his May, 29, 2000, New Yorker column, best-selling author Malcolm Gladwell illuminates this common tendency - to fixate on supposedly stable character traits in people we meet and overlook the influence of context. Psychologists call this the Fundamental Attribution Error.

In a nutshell, this is the tendency we all have to assume that the way someone behaves in one context (say, in the context of a job interview) is indicative of the way they will always behave. 

How someone acts in an interview may or may not allow us to predict how they behave in other contexts or be relevant to how good a hire they would be for any given position.   Some very excellent workers get nervous during interviews. Some people who are tremendous presenters, and truly shine in interviews, might have little to offer within the context of a difficult team leadership position or during the everyday grind of a high-pressure decision-making position.

There are some very specific ways to avoid errors of attribution and improve the outcome of candidate interviews:

1.       Be clear about what behaviors the position for which you are hiring requires. This is best done via a three-way conversation with someone who is doing the job well already, someone who supervises the job and someone who interacts regularly with the position. 

2.       Use structured interviews that keep to a fairly rigid format. Script the questions and treat applicants in the same manner. Create questions that illuminate the behaviors identified in question #1 above.

3.       If the job requires an excellent phone manner or outstanding one-on-one presentation skills, these skills will be easy to ascertain via a phone interview or in-person interview.   But if these are not the primary performance requirements for the position, it may make sense to include other exercises or problems to solve as part of the interview.

Putting in the extra thought and effort to include these best HR practices will be well worth it to your business. And if you need help along the way, we’re ready at ADVISA Hiring to step in with candidate assessment data tools, applicant screening expertise - and staff to even do the work for you if that’s the level of help that you want.

“It is a truism of the new economy that the ultimate success of any enterprise lies with the quality of the people it hires.” - Malcolm Gladwell
 

Motivation in athletics drives people to achieve widely-admired accomplishments. Recently I had the opportunity to work on a project regarding a professional athlete. The job was that of a Tennis Pro at an athletic club. The results provide a good illustration of the value and limitation of personality assessments in this area.

The key value of personality assessments in athletics has to do with qualities that describe the “type” of athlete a person may be and the likelihood they will perform a certain way in certain situations. Personality assessments will not tell you if a person has athletic ability.

This situation is the same in any skill-based work – personality assessments have value but they WILL NOT address skill-related questions. You still need to assess those in some other way.

A good example of using personality assessments in sports is illustrated in this excerpt from a 3/26/09 press release from assessment-provider PI Worldwide:

Tennessee head coach, Pat Summitt, who recently reached an astonishing record 1,000 wins in her coaching career, leverages the data provided by PI Worldwide’s assessment tool, Predictive Index®, to better understand the drives and motivations of her players. Using the PI helps “…you learn so much about who has patience, who has competitive drive, who you can count on to have the composure you need in big game situations, and how much pressure they can take," said Summitt in a recent interview with ESPN.

What Coach Summitt describes are key qualities for performance – but nothing about being able to put the ball through the hoop!

For my Tennis Pro, we were concerned that she be able to organize events, “sell” the program to current and prospective customers as well as supervise a staff of support personnel. A challenging assignment for anybody, but our Pro also has to hit an aggressive first serve inbounds on a regular basis. Using a personality assessment we reviewed the available tennis professionals who applied for the job, all of whom had already been screened for the requisite athletic skill, and then ranked them on the behavioral qualities most-applicable for the other responsibilities she would have.

This is a good approach any time you have to undertake applicant screening for a skill-based position – screen them for the necessary skill first, then evaluate their personality assessments for the best fit.
 

Turbocharging an engine provides more power with less fuel. You can turbocharge your hiring, assessment and selection processes using a Job vs. Personality Fit Analysis. This saves you time and money by providing a more-efficient approach to more-effective employment selection.

The Job vs. Personality Fit Analysis is a methodical approach to generating superior and consistent results in candidate assessment and candidate screening. We get superior results because we transform the powerful but complex process of using personality assessments in selection decisions into something simple and fast.

The method consists of seven phases:

1. Developing an “Ideal Personality Target”
2. Validating the “Ideal Personality Target” with incumbent analysis
3. Creating a “Job Matching Scoresheet”
4. Scoring Candidates in the Scoresheet
5. Developing Interview Questions for Fits
6. Developing Interview Questions for Gaps
7. Evaluating Candidates’ Responses

The time invested in preparation of these hr best practices is paid for by the efficiencies gained in implementing each people-selection decision and the quality of those decisions.

1. Developing an “Ideal Personality Target”

To systematically match people to work we need personality assessments that can be used in the hiring process. With such a personality assessment tool we define the behavioral target of an “ideal” performer for any job.

We typically develop this theoretical target based on the Job Description and management judgment. These inputs are converted into the “language” of a personality assessment system using expert advice provided by either an internal expert (typically HR or OD personnel) or an external consultant.

This “Ideal Personality Target” (IPT) is summarized in a variety of ways, including key behavior characteristics such as:

•      Communication Style

•      Decision-Making Approach

•      Drive for Goal Attainment

•      Team Orientation

•      Sense of Urgency

This clarification of the desired behaviors simplifies future decisions by clarifying exactly what we need to maximize both employee productivity and employee work satisfaction – decisions can then be made faster.

Before using this description we must “validate” our target by comparing it to what we see in the personality patterns of our incumbent personnel.

2. Validating the “Ideal Personality Target” with Incumbent Analysis

We validate the “Ideal Personality Target” by using the same personality assessment tool with our current employees in the position. The key analysis is to link personality traits measured by the personality assessment tool with individual job-performance ratings.

This analysis can be done in a variety of ways:

a.    Quantitative – This involves a standard statistical regression analysis of performance vs. personality. For this approach we need both a large sample of employees in the exact same position (I recommend no fewer than 50) and access to statistical analysis software.

b.    Qualitative – We conduct the same performance vs. personality comparison but with smaller sample sizes and correspondingly greater use of judgment. We look at the top performers and identify the personality factor trends in that group then compare that with the lowest performers to see how they are different.

This provides real world validation that our “Ideal Personality Target” is accurate.

In addition, this process will highlight those personality elements that are “Most Critical” for employee productivity and employee work satisfaction. In some jobs, for example, decision-making may be more important than communication style. In that case, we put greater weight on a candidates’ decision-making approach in evaluating whether they fit the job.

By validating our “Ideal Personality Target” we simplify selection by prioritizing key characteristics thus leading to better focus and faster decisions.

Steps 3 & 4 in the process, those involving the “Job Matching Scoresheet” are covered in the following entry entitled “Turbocharged Selection – Part 2.”

In the first entry on this topic we covered the first two steps of the Turbocharged Selection process.

The method consists of seven phases:

1. Developing an “Ideal Personality Target”
2. Validating the “Ideal Personality Target” with incumbent analysis
3. Creating a “Job Matching Scoresheet”
4. Scoring Candidates in the Scoresheet
5. Developing Interview Questions for Fits
6. Developing Interview Questions for Gaps
7. Evaluating Candidates’ Responses

 In this entry we address steps 3 & 4.

3. Creating a “Job Matching Scoresheet”

Evaluating many candidates’ personality profiles involving multiple personality factors and comparing them to an “Ideal Personality Target” (IPT) is a complex process. The “Job Matching Scoresheet” is a central element of Turbocharged Selection which simplifies the applicant screening, assessment and selection process without losing the analytical power provided by all this valuable information.

A Scoresheet sample is shown below:

Job Matching Scoresheet

Creating a Scoresheet should be done with experienced input. In this example we identified results focus, risk orientation and sense of urgency as most-critical factors for employee productivity and work satisfaction, in that order.

The basic concept is to combine the insight gained from the work done in identifying the Ideal Personality Target and validating this to identify “Most Critical” elements for success and construct a numerical model as part of your best hiring practices.

A Scoresheet simplifies the screening process, allowing faster processing of large numbers of candidates and condensed communication about results.

4. Scoring Candidates in the Scoresheet

As an example of using the Scoresheet shown above, let’s say we have a candidate apply for the job with the following personality elements:

a. Risk Taker (Fits Target)

b. Persuasive Communicator (Gap vs. Target)

c. Action-Oriented (Fits Target)

d. Seeks Results (Fits Target)

e. Empathetic (Gap vs. Target)

f. Strong Sense of Urgency (Fits Target)

g. Casual about Details (Gap vs. Target)

We would score this candidate for the “Sample Job” position as follows:

Based on the Job-fit scale shown above, this person would rate a “Somewhat” score, indicating there are several gaps between their personality and the “Ideal Personality Target.” If we decide to interview the candidate we will use this information during the behavioral interviewing to determine if the gaps disqualify the candidate from being offered the job.

Scoring candidates in a Job Matching Scoresheet allows us to quickly identify where gaps exists and simplifies communication about a candidate’s fit with the job.

Steps 5 & 6 in the process, those involving the development of interview questions are covered in the following entry entitled “Turbocharged Selection – Part 3.”

In previous entries on this topic we covered steps 1-4 of the Turbocharged Selection process.

The method consists of seven phases:

1. Developing an “Ideal Personality Target”
2. Validating the “Ideal Personality Target” with incumbent analysis
3. Creating a “Job Matching Scoresheet”
4. Scoring Candidates in the Scoresheet
5. Developing Interview Questions for Fits
6. Developing Interview Questions for Gaps
7. Evaluating Candidates’ Responses

In this entry we address steps 5 & 6.

5. Developing Interview Questions for Fits

Once we develop the Scoresheet we have defined the qualities we’re seeking in candidates for the job. This provides a roadmap for developing a behavioral interviewing guide with targeted questions about those qualities.

In preparing questions we follow the behavioral interviewing principle that past behavior is the best indicator of future actions. Our questions get candidates to describe their past behaviors with open-ended behavioral questions.

Examples for our “Sample Job” include:

Note: A complete interview guide would have questions for each of the personality elements in the “Ideal Personality Target.”

Using the Job Matching Scoresheet to develop your behavioral interviewing questions simplifies the process of deciding what topics to explore. Developing the questions in advance allows interviewers to quickly conduct applicant screening, assessment and selection.

6. Developing Interview Questions for Gaps

Exploring gaps identified in the Job Matching Scoresheet is the most important part of the process. After all, we’ve invested considerable time in describing what we’re looking for in the job and when a gap occurs it indicates the personality assessments have identified a mismatch on that personality element.

It is important to remember that not all gaps are created equal. Some may be so important and so strong regarding potential employee productivity and work satisfaction as to disqualify a candidate without further consideration. Others may be relatively unimportant. In most cases, we want to conduct a targeted probe with the candidate regarding the mismatch to determine if they can address the personality mismatch with learned behaviors.

In preparing questions we follow the behavioral interviewing principle that past behavior is the best indicator of future actions. Our questions get candidates to describe their past behaviors with open-ended behavioral questions.

Using our sample job and sample candidate on one of their gaps:

Note – a complete guide would have interview guidance for all of the personality elements described in the “Ideal Personality Target.”

Using the Job Matching Scoresheet to identify personality gaps simplifies the process of determining where a candidate might face a particular challenge in a job. Developing the questions in advance allows interviewers to quickly conduct probing evaluations that will determine a candidate’s potential.

Step 7 in the process, involving the evaluation of candidate responses to questions is covered in the following entry entitled “Turbocharged Selection – Part 4.”

The “Driving to Better Sales” video series focuses on improving sales performance through systematic sales manager training through construction and use of a Sales Performance Dashboard.  The Dashboard contains the critical information necessary for sales training coaching. 

This fourth video describes using personality assessments to identify individuals’ behavioral characteristics and the initial steps of comparing this to an “ideal” personality for a sales job.  This summarizes the HR best practices for this phase of the program, particularly applicant screening and where this fits in a behavioral interviewing process.

The word pop conveys energy and impact.  Nothing brings more energy and impact to your business than the people you choose to hire.   According to a recent article published by the Harvard Business Review, the need for companies to have a recruiting plan as well as robust employee retention strategies is more important now than ever before.  

HBR research and our experience with our clients is consistent.  Multi-national companies are already experiencing bottlenecks in recruiting employees in emerging markets, and they are also struggling to find and/or develop talented young managers to replace baby boomer retirees. These issues are compounded by the fact that many companies slashed HR budgets and personnel in an effort to hunker down and survive the economic upheaval.  Thus, personnel selection practices are more disjointed and ineffective than ever.   

So, whether you are contemplating a relationship with an executive recruiting firm or you are trying to tighten up your own internal process for recruiting employees, I recommend the following tips for ensuring that your personnel selection practices POP rather than FLOP as the economic dust continues to settle around the globe.

• Create a job profile before you start recruiting.  Many personnel selection decisions are made without a clear picture of what success looks like in the job.  Job descriptions are outdated and performance metrics may or may not exist.  Take the time to quantify WHAT the job holder will be held accountable for doing as well as HOW the job holder should behave for maximum positive impact. 
• Utilize a behavioral assessment.  The Predictive Index® tool is both reliable and valid for use in the hiring process.  The use of PI® builds objectivity and rigor into the often highly subjective and haphazard process of recruiting employees.  The PI® system allows you to quantify the behavioral requirements of the job BEFORE you begin assessing candidates.  Check out how other companies have improved their personnel selection through the use of PI®.
• Create questions that differentiate the best candidates from the rest.  The best interview questions are those that force candidates to be specific about how they have done or would do a particular task that is critical to the job.  Probe deeply for specific details and press candidates to quantify the impact of the actions they took rather than just describe what they did.  Eliminate fluff questions that don't yield answers that highlight real differences in breadth and depth of experience as well as intelligence.  Better questions yield better information; better information leads to better decisions.

When I first discovered Predictive Index® (PI®), I quickly thought about how much energy I'd spent doing candidate assessment when I was making a hire and how much I could have uncovered using PI.  All that time trying to dig into who a candidate really was.  

Would she really be detail-focused?   Would she make a mistake paying the bills and just shrug her shoulders?  Would her socialness fade after the interview?  Could I feel confident that she could help clients feel welcome in our office? 

I'd lie awake thinking about behavioral interviewing techniques, trying to find the perfect questions to ask.  There was no room for error.  I couldn't make a bad hire.  There was too much at stake.  And I certainly didn't have time to redo searches.  

I remember sitting with our CEO, Bob Wilson, over lunch in 2008 where I learned about PI.  I just about fell out of my seat when I realized that all of the questions above could've been answered using PI.  Hindsight is indeed 20/20!