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Lesson 7. Structured Behavioral Interviewing: Part 2Filed Under: General

In this lesson, you learn how to develop effective behavioral questions and follow-up probes that get behind the resumé to explore a candidate’s competency in key areas.

Plain English

Probe A question or request that seeks specific information, clarification, or confirmation from a candidate being interviewed. Probes may be open or closed, depending on the purpose.

Learning to Ask Questions

Structured behavioral interviewing is designed to minimize personal impressions and focus instead on a candidate’s actions and behaviors. That’s important because successful hiring decisions are based on objective behavioral evidence demonstrating a candidate’s proficiency with identified jobrelated skills—not on subjective impressions.

Learning to develop questions that explore a candidate’s past behaviors is key. Become proficient at it, and your “successful hire” numbers will start to skyrocket.

Questioning Consistently

One reason that structured behavioral interviewing is so effective is its use of consistent questions. You achieve consistency when you ask the same behavioral questions of each candidate and align each question to a mandatory success factor within a specific skill set.

Whether you’re interviewing for chief executive officer or custodian, these are the skill sets that you’ll want to consider:

CAUTION

In developing questions and follow-up probes, remember to keep them focused on the mandatory success factors of the job being sought. As tempting as it may be to wander into more personal areas, avoid doing so. Seeking information unrelated to the job is looking for trouble.

• Technical skills (or competencies)
• Functional skills
• Self-management skills
• Interpersonal skills

In Lesson 1, “Analyzing the Position,” we discussed the importance of analyzing a job to identify mandatory success factors for each of the skill sets. Once identified, mandatory success factors are weighted by order of importance, and behavioral questions are developed for each factor.

The objective is to discover behavioral evidence of a candidate’s level of competency in each of the skills required for success. Follow-up probes are used to ensure that each key skill has been thoroughly explored, and to confirm information or challenge inconsistencies.

Taken From: 10 Minute Guide to Conducting a Job Interview