You have probably read a lot about interviewing and how important it is to “get to know” the candidate face-to-face. The problem is that most interviews turn out to be a conversation rather than a fact-gathering activity. In this session, learn how to create questions that really get to the heart of what you need to know to make a hiring decision.
2. The Lunch and Learn Talent Series
The Value of Talent – Costs of Hiring
The Limits of Education and
Experience
The Value of Behavioral Interviews
3. Challenges
Most interviews are conversations
Many companies interview too many
people
Many interviews are too long, hard to
manage
Managers often not trained on behavioral
interviews
Managers settle for “good enough”
Process is long, hard to differentiate between “good” and “great”
People have biases
we are drawn to what is most familiar, what is most like us which does
not always reflect what is best in certain jobs
Often rely on subjective “data” (i.e., resume, LinkedIn profile)
4. Behavioral Interviews
A dynamic approach to the interview
An interview process to learn about
candidate’s past behavior at work
Understand what they “did” not “would do”
Specific questions for specific jobs
Focus on important aspects in this job
First-impression management
5. Step 1 Understand the job
Review the job description
Decide what the job requires
Focus the interview questions only on
critical aspects of the work
6. Step 2 Write behavioral questions
Describe a job-related scenario that
relates to a critical aspect of the work.
Describe in detail actual events that have
occurred on the job, or
Describe in more general terms situations
that routinely happen on the job.
7. Step 2 Typical Interview Question
Please tell me a little about how you
would handle several projects at one
time.
8. Step 2
Behavioral Interview Question
This job requires the employee to manage
several projects during the same time frame.
Tell us about a time when you were required
to complete multiple assignments in the
same time period. How did you handle the
situation?
Please be specific about the number of
assignments, the actions you took, and the
result.
9. Step 2 Typical Interview Question
How do you handle conflict at work?
10. Step 2
Behavioral Interview Question
As in most organizations, sometimes
conflicts come up with a customer or
with a co-worker. Please tell us about a
time when you encountered a conflict at
work and you helped to resolve it. What
was the conflict, how did you address
it, and what was the outcome?
11. Step 3 Create a rating scale
1- 5 scale and define criteria for each rating
Rating of 5 assigned when candidate’s response shows
extensive aptitude for resolving differences.
Key behaviors included should include:
Directed discussion toward identifying common interests
and possible solutions;
Involved all parties in development of alternatives that
fulfilled their interests and needs;
Helped all parties understand the key issues from others’
perspective; and,
Resolved the differences in a way that each person felt his
or her concerns were respected and addressed.
12. Step 3 Create a rating scale
1- 5 scale and define criteria for each rating
Rating of 3 assigned when candidate’s response shows
adequate aptitude for resolving differences. Key behaviors
demonstrated should include:
Listened to all parties and impartially re-stated and
acknowledged all positions,
Clearly identified areas of agreement and
disagreement, and focused on those issues in need of
resolution,
Identified and collected all necessary information relevant
to the differences, and
Identified circumstances necessary for a successful
resolution to occur.
13. Step 3 Create a rating scale
1- 5 scale and define criteria for each rating
Rating of 1 assigned when candidate’s response shows little
skill or success in resolving differences. Key behaviors
demonstrated may include:
Does not appear to have considered all positions equally;
Made little attempt at unbiased mediation of the
differences in opinion; and/or,
Allowed differing parties to “work it out among
themselves.”
14. Step 4 Educate Interviewers
Teach the interviewers about the
advantages of behavioral interviewing
Use the same interviewers for all
interviews in a job
Make sure the interviewers take notes
Compare candidates to the scale, not to
each other
15. Structure the Interview
Use behavioral interview questions
Rate each answer using a scale
Train interviewers to take notes
Remember the limits of an interview
16. Week 1 - High Costs of Hiring –
Pressure to “get it right”
SAMPLE CALCULATION
a) Number of Employees 2011 100
b) Estimated placements in 2011
# of hires or placements 15
c) Average Turnover Rate 15%
=b/a
d) Average Annual Salary $ 40,000
e) Average cost per placement 25%
% of salary
f) Cost of Placements 2011 $150,000
= (.25 X d) X b
18. Week 1 – Costs of Hiring
impact business results
Turnover rate
Number of hires in a year
Time to learn job / ramp up
Time to hire / time positions vacant
The hiring process itself (efficient vs.
inefficient)
Average salary
21. … even on LinkedIn!
46% Profiles out of date
10% Career info embellished
30% Don’t know people in their network
22. TRUE or FALSE?
DECISIONS BASED ON Validity Source of candidate information
INTERVIEWS HAVE
1.0
ABOUT THE SAME
0.9
SUCCESS RATE AS
0.8
FLIPPING A COIN
0.7 Cognitive Ability + Behavioral / Personality .67
Cognitive Ability + Structured Interview .63
0.6 Cognitive Ability + Work Sample .60
Work Sample Tests .54
0.5
Cognitive tests .51
Structured Interviews .51
Job Knowledge .48
0.4
Personality Test .40
0.3 References .26
Unstructured Interviews .18
0.2
Years of Job Experience .18
0.1 Years of Education .10
Interests .10
23. Week 2
Trust me…
Experience ≠ Success on the Job
24. Better (and Faster) Hiring
Clarify requirements and needs of the job
Be clear on what the job is and is not
(don’t use a moving target or “figure it out later” approach)
A Job Description is useful!
Analyze top performers
Apply objective process first, then more
subjective criteria later
Reduce reliance on the resume - self-reported, subjective
Understand limitations of resumes and interviews
Look for “natural” talents and abilities; skills can be taught
Structure interview
Behaviorally-based questions – example of when candidate did X
Take notes, rate responses
If there are personality “quirks”, don’t think you will change or “fix” the person later –
consider how important or unimportant - be honest
** Bonus – when hiring, help managers plan entire process (schedule upfront)
– use key human capital metrics to improve results
25. Think like Southwest and Apple…
even if you are small.
Figure out what makes your stars shine
Select people with star skills and abilities
Train employees
Companies with formal training programs
financially outperform their competitors
Create an “agile” workforce
26. Instead of experience…
Use technology to save time and money
Add science to the process
Pay attention if your gut says, “No!”
Dig deeper if your gut says, “Best ever!”
Use data, not self-reports
27. Week 3
Structure the Interview
Use behavioral interview questions
Rate each answer using a scale
Train interviewers to take notes
Remember the limits of an interview
The Value of Behavioral Interviews: learn how to interview to find out what you really need know as fast as possible You have probably read a lot about interviewing and how important it is to “get to know” the candidate face-to-face. The problem is that most interviews turn out to be a conversation rather than a fact-gathering activity. In this session, learn how to create questions that really get to the heart of what you need to know to make a hiring decision.
Behavioral-based Behavior-based interviewing attempts to get at real experience, not at hypothetical situations or what the candidate thinks he interviewer “wants to hear”.This approach is dynamic and flexible so it can be used for any type of job from a frontline employee to an executive It is a technique designed to learn about the candidate's experience and behavior in the work place.For each position, questions are developed to focus on important aspects of the jobFirst impressions are difficult to get around- using behavioral questions can help you get beyond first impressions.
This is a typical question, but it can be improved so that the interviewer gets better information. This invites people to talk about what they think they should do rather than what they have actually done.
For a job that requires the person to work on several projects simultaneously.
This is a typical question, but it can be improved so that the interviewer gets better information. This invites people to talk about what they think they should do rather than what they have actually done.
This is a typical question, but it can be improved so that the interviewer gets better information. This invites people to talk about what they think they should do rather than what they have actually done.
This is a typical question, but it can be improved so that the interviewer gets better information. This invites people to talk about what they think they should do rather than what they have actually done.
ensuring all candidates are asked the same questions in the same order by the same interviewers. Using the same panel members for all interviews increases the likelihood of consistent ratings. If this is not feasible, we advise that someone review the ratings to determine if substitute raters scored candidates differently (e.g., if one rater is consistently more or less lenient than another). Assessment staff at DOP can assist in this process.Step #6. When the interview process is concluded, review all of the information gathered in a fair and objective way.Like the previous step, this may seem obvious. However, it is easy to gather a lot of detailed information throughout the interview process, and then ignore it in favor of “a gut instinct.” Try to base your decisions upon what each candidate said in response to each question. Compare candidates’ responses to those elements listed in the rating guide. Avoid the temptation to compare candidates to one other. Here’s why:Research has shown that when several people are interviewed, interviewers tend to remember more details (both good and bad) about the first and last candidates. Focusing on an objective review of one’s interview notes helps to mitigate this problem.Relatively superficial behaviors of candidates (e.g., how much they smiled) often have a big impact on interviewers’ decisions. Interviewers tend to form strong impressions about a candidate early in the interview, and everything the candidate later says or does only confirms this initial impression. Candidate responses that may be contrary to the impression are somewhat discounted in the mind of the interviewer. Please remember to consider all of the available information before deciding each candidate’s overall worthiness.
Give managers the questions and the scales.Bias of the interviewer(s). No two interviewers assess the candidate’s responses the same way. That's why research tells us to have two or more interviewers.The candidate's responses to interview questions are affected by the environment in which they are interviewed and by the rapport established with the interviewer. The interview must be conducted in a "business environment" with no interruptions. Many questions don't accurately measure what you want them to measure. Most questions seek opinions, not evidence of past behaviour. Interview questions must be behaviourally based and be aligned to the core group of performance factors related to the role.The responses sound and feel good, but they are not predictive of job success. Managers continue to assess on gut feel. Just because a person dresses well, looks attractive, talks and acts confidently doesn't mean they can do the job. With the minimum outlay of $7500 to hire an employee, you want to make sure you get it right!You have identified the key aspects of the job, now create questions that will invite the candidate to tell you about how they solve problems, they kind of work environment they like, and how they learn new skills and work with others.
This is to remind them of the results of the typical hiring process.
Understanding which factors you can control, and how, will help to manage the overall costs of hiringTurnover rate – yes – every person who walks out the door is costing the company money – lost institutional knowledge, time invested in training, impact on other employees during vacancyNumber of hires in a year – yes – manage turnover rate and the number of hires will be positively impactedTime to learn the job – yes – focus on hiring “great” and not settling for “good enough” – employees who “fit” the job will be more productive and learn their jobs fasterTime to hire – yes – manage the time to hire, and costs of hiring is reduced – productivity higherThe hiring process itself – yes – more efficient processes will result in faster time to hire, and fewer resources required to complete the hiring process (why spend 10 employee hours interviewing candidates numerous times if a more efficient, more effective process is available)Average pay – can be controlled, but may not have desirable impactChanges to all factors above other than average pay can be done without negatively impact corporate performance.
If you have ever said, “Now, remind me…why did we hire this guy?” you are ready to use assessments.Not very many new hires (selected by traditional approaches) will become high performers… they key is find a way to hire people for their inherent abilities (ones that can't be taught), such as personality, learning style and company culture match.
Average Resume accuracyThe resume is a good marketing piece for the candidate – it tells you where they have worked (which you can check) and it gives you some idea of the work they have been responsible for.The resume does not tell you if the work they have done in the past relates to the work at your company and it does not indicate the quality of the work
LinkedIn is a really good rolodex, but beware of the content.LinkedIn users report:46% say profile is out of date10% say they have enhanced their career section30% say they do not know people in their network
Here is what makes hiring difficult and expensive.When we look at what really predicts success on the job, it isn’t a skill set… it is more of a match with your company and the job.MIKE MICHALOWICZ wrote a column last years in the Wall St Journal about what he has learned that has improved his hiring success.My best employee of all time was nicknamed Shaq. While his genetic gifts would have never landed him a spot on the New Jersey Nets, he worked for my company as a computer forensic examiner. When I hired him, Shaq was barely qualified to use a computer, let alone conduct detailed forensic examinations on hard drives that later had to stand up in court and pass the rigors of cross examination. So why did I take him on? I hired Shaq because during his interview he clearly demonstrated that he was intelligentand seemed to come out on the "glass half full" side of things during stressful situations. Because of these qualities, within three months of joining my company he was out in the field, conducting examinations on his own. Shaq had absorbed the training so fast that within a year of his hire he was testifying in court and handling our most complicated cases.One of Affintus clients, a small software company, needed to hire top technical support staff quickly – their software is used by small businesses around the world and they wanted to keep the customers they have by providing them good service. The manager of tech support started using Affintus to hire and for one of the jobs, he found that his “top” candidate had almost no technical skill… in fact, he had a biology background. Richard’s boss said they couldn’t possibly hire someone with no experience. Richard talked him into letting him hire the guy…who turned out to be their top service rep for the next three quarters – he learned the job fast and they quickly got the benefit of a good hire. Later, Richard found that his employees were getting promoted and poached by other departments who saw their successes.
Better (and Faster) Hiring in 3 StepsIt’s difficult to hire the right person if you’re not clear on what the job is –Hiring is partly an art, and a science.To apply the science part, using objective processes first enables managers to narrow a pool of candidates to those who are the best fit (and not necessarily those with the most experience), and then use of subjective criteria / processes are more useful later in the process.Remember, you can train someone a skill (how to speak Spanish, how to perform math calculations, how to program in a certain computer language – if they have certain cognitive abilities.What you cannot teach or train them to do is be a different person. They are who they are, and thinking you will train them to work well with others if that’s not a natural preference could be an uphill battle.Skills = can be taughtPersonality ≠ not likely to changeInterviewing – has limitationsFree form interviews where interviewers just throw out questions that come to mind are not reliable in terms of predicting future performance or success in the job.Structured interviews require planning, practice and are not easy to conduct effectively.
Instead of looking at experience, think like Southwest Airlines and Apple. They have figured out what skills and abilities make their star performers shine. They find ways to identify people who have the same start qualities and have the ability to quickly learn the job duties. Companies who have formal training programs financially outperform their competitors.
Give managers the questions and the scales.Bias of the interviewer(s). No two interviewers assess the candidate’s responses the same way. That's why research tells us to have two or more interviewers.The candidate's responses to interview questions are affected by the environment in which they are interviewed and by the rapport established with the interviewer. The interview must be conducted in a "business environment" with no interruptions. Many questions don't accurately measure what you want them to measure. Most questions seek opinions, not evidence of past behaviour. Interview questions must be behaviourally based and be aligned to the core group of performance factors related to the role.The responses sound and feel good, but they are not predictive of job success. Managers continue to assess on gut feel. Just because a person dresses well, looks attractive, talks and acts confidently doesn't mean they can do the job. With the minimum outlay of $7500 to hire an employee, you want to make sure you get it right!You have identified the key aspects of the job, now create questions that will invite the candidate to tell you about how they solve problems, they kind of work environment they like, and how they learn new skills and work with others.
Finding people who are a good match for your job results in significant impact to the bottom line.