How to Interview: Behavioural Interviewing I

Change your whole interviewing approach.

In behavioral interviewing, you want to find out how people ACTUALLY behave rather than their PROMISE of how they MIGHT behave.

Remember: Just because people can give good answers and sound impressive -- it doesn't mean they can DO what they SAY.

The theory behind this form of interviewing is always the same: People will handle future job-related situations the same way they have before in the past.

So, to find out how they will handle critical job-related situations, you always ask them how they handled those same situations in the past.

Let's take a very simple example. Hiring a company Receptionist


The interview starts as normal ...and you are using the same old, traditional questions.

• What is your experience, Anu?

• Why do you want to work here?

• What do you know about our company?

• Anu, what do you like to do in your spare time?


These questions aren't bad in themselves. They will definitely help you to find out more about the candidate.

But they are severely limited, as they can lead to very standard and well-rehearsed responses from your interviewee.

Look, at this stage even the dogs in the street would have a good idea what questions you are going to ask - and with practice, could give you great answers!

So even if the candidate answers well - what does it really mean? Is she really good?

Or:

Is she just good at answering the same old questions that EVERY interviewer asks?

You see, at the end of all these questions, you still have very little REAL information about how the candidate would behave in real-life situations in your company.