Why use behavioural interview questions

In this blog post, we answer the common recruiting question, why use behavioural interview questions?

Trusting your gut only when it comes to interviews can be risky, which is why you should also think about using a method like behavioural assessment. It can help make your decision-making process more accurate by understanding previous behaviour.

Introduction: What are behavioural interview questions?

Behavioural interview questions are used to evaluate the competency of an individual.

Behavioural interview questions are a type of interview question that attempts to assess how a candidate has handled certain situations in the past. These interviews focus on past behaviour and experience rather than on what candidates know. Which is often assessed through traditional question-and-answer interviews.

The interviewer may ask behavioural questions, such as "Tell me about a time when you had to work with someone who was difficult." or "Give me an example of how you solved a problem." The interviewer will then analyse the responses and decide whether or not they would want to hire the candidate based on their past performance.

What is behavioural interviewing?

Trusting your gut can work during the interview process but is risky if that's the only metric. It can also be a good idea to add a more in-depth method of determining future behaviour by looking at past behaviour; this will give you a more solid basis for your decision.

What is the purpose of behavioural interviewing?

Behavioural interviewing provides an opportunity for the interviewer to evaluate the applicant's past behaviours and actions, in order to predict their future performance.

It is a technique that allows the interviewer to get a better understanding of how the applicant will behave in certain situations. It also helps them understand what motivates them and what they are like under pressure.

Behavioural interviewing is used by most companies for screening job candidates and it can be seen as an extension of traditional interviews.

Why use behavioural interview questions

There are many different types of interview questions, but it's safe to say that they're all focused on behaviour. Behaviour-based interviews require applicants to provide examples of that specific experience following the question in order to be considered eligible.

The goal of these types of interviews is to find potential employees who will work well with the company and fit their culture.

You absolutely need to be using behavioural interview questions in your recruiting process. The reason is simple: what's the point of having an interview if you're not determining how qualified a candidate is? You should emphasise the company culture and opportunities for growth when recruiting employees to make sure you attract high-quality talent. You already have their resumes listing their talents, preparation, dates and places of work. What other new information do you need?

Here are some in-depth reasons why you should use behavioural interview questions in your recruitment process.

Minimise leading questions

Asking questions that require the candidate to dig into their experiences and deliver an answer will prevent interviewees from asking leading questions.

You avoid making a bad hire

Recruiters can sometimes make bad hires by getting carried away with their feelings in the selection process. By asking behavioural interview questions across a range of candidates, recruiters can more easily compare candidates’ performance.

This is even more successful when using a behavioural interview scoring matrix.

You discover what the candidate can really offer

What you really want to learn about a candidate is not in their résumé. For example, if they know how to take on the daily tasks, evolve and learn from mistakes. What you really want to know is how do you decide what to do next about the detour? What help did your manager require and receive? How have you dealt with your frustration? The types of questions you ask in interviews will allow you to get to know more about your candidates than by reading their CVs. If you ask the right questions, you'll have a better idea of whether they are suited for what your business needs now instead of later.

What are the three important selection criteria for making a hiring decision?

When looking for a new hire, there should be three areas of criteria you should consider.

1.   Capabilities

When assessing a candidate's suitability for a role, you should evaluate their skills and qualifications. You may also want to look at their past experience writing in the same field.

2.   Value

What can the candidate do for your company and how much is that worth to you?

It's important to consider the relative value of your employees. In this case, a higher pay level should be offered for the better quality of candidates. If it all goes well, you'll receive equal or more in return.

The expertise and networking ability of a virtual assistant can be factors to consider. Do they add significant value to your company? Can they guide your company in new directions with their knowledge & experience?

3.   Cultural Fit

Lastly, it's important that your chosen candidate fits in well with your company culture so they have a smooth transition.

The aspect of "extension of your brand" becomes a lot more important when an interconnected world is taken into account. The comments and actions of employees can influence the image of the company in both instances - at work or off.

It can be a tough balance to have diverse employees, but you need to make sure that rewarding the positive is desired and encouraging resentment discouraged if possible. You also want to make sure that any disruptive employees are quickly dealt with before they can do too much damage.

Before you decide on an interviewee, it's a good idea to see how the applicant behaves in their social media life. You wouldn't want to recruit someone who has a history of posting unprofessional material about your company.

Analysing your behavioural interview questions with a scoring matrix

Evaluating your candidates is best done when using a scoring matrix with your behavioural interview questions.

What is a behavioural interview scoring matrix?

Recruiters use the behavioural interview scoring matrix to evaluate and rank the candidates that are interviewed for a given position. The matrix is usually determined in advance and contains questions that the recruiter would like the candidate to answer.

Benefits of using a behavioural interview scoring matrix

Interviewers are able to use a behavioural interview scoring matrix to analyse the skills and traits of candidates. These matrices rank candidates on the basis of their performance and can be used to compare applicant performance to that of a specific job description.

Read our past post here on how behavioural interview scoring matrices are scored.