Why Behavioral Interviews Should Be Part of Your Hiring Process

26 of October, 2023

So you have a position to fill and you’ve gotten a stack of resumes from interested candidates. That’s great, but how do you determine who is actually the best fit for the role? Resumes only tell part of the story.

The truth is, the most qualified candidate on paper may not actually be the best person for the job. That’s why behavioral interviews should be an important part of your recruitment process.

Behavioral interviews focus on how candidates have handled situations in the past to determine how they might perform in your role. By asking targeted questions about previous experiences, you’ll get insight into key soft skills like how they communicate, think on their feet, resolve conflicts, and motivate others.

You’ll uncover strengths and weaknesses that a traditional interview may miss. While resumes are helpful for understanding credentials, behavioral interviews help ensure you find someone not just with the right skills but also the right mindset and work style for your team.

What Is a Behavioral Interview?

A behavioral interview is based on the premise that past behavior is the best predictor of future performance. Rather than asking hypothetical questions, the interviewer will ask you to describe specific situations you have encountered in your previous jobs and how you handled them.

For example, instead of asking you “How would you deal with a difficult client?”, the interviewer may say: “Describe a time when you had to handle an upset client. What was the situation and what did you do?” The idea is to get a sense of how you actually behave in real-world situations.

How to Prepare for a Behavioral Interview

To prepare for a behavioral interview, review your work experiences and be ready to provide detailed examples of situations where you demonstrated key skills and abilities that would be relevant for the role. Think about challenges you faced, actions you took, and results you achieved. Focus on your strengths, values, and motivations.

Why should you incorporate behavioral interviews into your hiring process? They provide insight into a candidate’s soft skills, work style, and potential culture fit. Answers based on real examples are harder to fake. Behavioral interviews also tend to reduce biases as they focus on actual experiences and outcomes.

Using a tool like Sesame’s recruitment software can help streamline your behavioral interview process. Sesame’s platform allows you to create customized behavioral interview templates with relevant questions for each role. You can then evaluate candidate responses, compare them side by side, and make a more data-driven hiring decision.

In summary, behavioral interviews should absolutely be part of your hiring toolkit. When done right, they can help ensure you find candidates who will thrive and excel in your organization.

How to Conduct an Effective Behavioral Interview

Once you’ve identified promising candidates based on their resumes and cover letters, it’s time to dig deeper. Behavioral interviews are designed to discover how candidates actually behaved in specific situations relevant to the open role.

To conduct an effective behavioral interview:

• Focus on key competencies. Determine which skills and qualities are most critical for success in the position. Then craft questions aimed at uncovering how candidates demonstrated those competencies in past experiences. For example, for a leadership role you might ask, “Tell me about a time you had to motivate your team to achieve an important goal.”
• Listen for detailed responses. Candidates should describe a specific situation, the actions they took, and the results. Look for in-depth, concrete examples not theoretical responses.
• Probe for more details. Ask follow-up questions to better understand the candidate’s thought process and role. For example, “What was your key contribution in that situation?” or “What was the outcome and what did you learn?”
• Take notes and compare. Record your impressions and ratings of each candidate’s responses to review and compare later. Look for trends in their experiences that reveal key strengths, work styles, and potential growth areas.
• Keep an open mind. While the interview should assess whether candidates have the necessary background, also evaluate their motivation and fit. The right person on paper may not always be the best person for the job.

Behavioral interviews, when done well, provide valuable insight into how candidates are likely to handle real-life work situations. Made a part of your hiring process, they can help ensure you find the right match for your opening.

The Benefits of Using Behavioral Interviews in Your Hiring Process

Behavioral interviews should absolutely be part of your hiring process. Why? Because they give you insight into how a candidate will actually perform in the role.

Traditional interviews focus on asking candidates hypothetical questions about what they would do in a given situation. Behavioral interviews, on the other hand, focus on asking candidates about specific examples of what they did in past work experiences. This approach is based on the belief that past behavior and performance predicts future behavior and performance.

For example, instead of asking a candidate “How would you handle a difficult customer?” in a behavioral interview you would ask, “Tell me about a time you had to deal with a difficult customer. What was the situation and how did you handle it?” The candidate’s actual experiences and examples will reveal their skills, strengths and potential shortcomings for the role.

Some key benefits of using behavioral interviews:

• Get a glimpse of the candidate’s actual experience and work style. You can evaluate if they have the skills and mindset for the job.
• Reduce the risk of a bad hire. Past behavior is the best predictor of future performance. Candidates can’t fake actual experiences and examples.
• Get specific and concrete examples of a candidate’s key strengths and abilities. Look for examples that match key requirements of the role.
• Allow candidates the opportunity to provide context for their experiences. They can frame their experiences in a way that highlights key strengths and skills.
• Gain insight into a candidate’s priorities, values and problem-solving skills based on how they handled situations. Their choices and actions speak volumes.

Behavioral interviewing, especially when combined with the right interview questions, is one of the most effective ways to evaluate candidates and make a great hire. The insights you gain into a candidate’s experience, skills and potential performance will allow you to find the right match for your open role.

Conclusion

The bottom line is that behavioral interviews can be a game changer for your hiring process. When done right, they give you an authentic view into how candidates think on their feet and navigate challenging situations.

You’ll get insight into qualities like problem-solving skills, adaptability, and collaboration that are hard to gage from a standard interview alone. While it does take time and practice to master, implementing behavioral interviews into your recruiting is well worth the investment.

Your company culture and performance will thrive when you have the right people in the right roles. So start crafting those behavioral questions, get ready to take some meaningful notes, and find the perfect candidates that will help your business soar.