Tell me about yourself. What are your strengths? How about your weaknesses?
Maybe those questions sound familiar. Maybe you hear the same phrases come out of your own mouth every time you conduct a job interview. And maybe you’re missing something.
If you’re frustrated by the lack of helpful and reliable information
you get from job applicants when you ask the most traditional interview
questions, you might want to hone your behavioral interviewing
techniques. Behavioral interviewing has been growing in popularity for
decades now, and many swear by its effectiveness. It’s based on the
premise that past behavior is likely to show how someone will behave in
new situations.
If you start a conversation with a job applicant by describing the
job and your expectations and then follow with a question like “What are
your strengths and weaknesses?” you’ve clued the applicant in on what
you want to hear. Anyone halfway paying attention will know to in some
way parrot back what you’ve said.
But if you prepare a little more and
devise questions that get at the heart of the kind of information you
really need to know to fill the position with the best candidate, you’re
likely to see superior results. “What are your strengths and
weaknesses?” becomes “Tell me about a time when you had to anticipate a
problem and take preventive action” or “Give me an example of a time
when you had to motivate others.”
Getting to those insightful questions requires thinking about what
information you need. Speaker Mel Kleiman, the founder of recruiting
firm Humetrics and an author of books on hiring,
says of course you want to hire the best, but do you know what the best
looks like? When planning behavioral interview questions, decide what
qualities and skills you need for the position and tailor the probing,
behavioral questions to find that information.
For more on interviewing, check out our free White Paper, Questions to Ask in an Interview: Interview Questions for Employers.