How to Run a Successful Interview

A well-answered behavioural-based interview question is music to an interviewer’s ears. It’s a rarely played tune. The behavioural-based interview is offered as the preferred style of selection interview in many organizations. Candidates are asked questions designed to solicit an example of past practice in a desired skill or competency area. The belief is that past practice is the best predictor of future success.

Candidates draw on their experience to provide an interviewer with insight into what they’ve previously done when faced with a situation they are likely to encounter in the new environment.

In many cases, the hiring manager or the HR professional prepares interview questions. Common errors in designing and hosting in a behavioural-based interview can be minimized with preparation and planning.

Know the Work

A well-crafted job ad is critical to attract competent and confident candidates. Start with the job description and really understand the work. Use the job description to design the advertisement and communicate the key competencies required. Choose ten to twelve frequent and challenging aspects of the job to test during the interview. Once the competencies have been selected, draft one or two questions for each. Review the questions with the interview team prior to finalizing the interview process to enable selection of the question that best allows for full exploration of the competency to be examined.

Structure the question

A good behavioural-based interview question consists of two parts. The first provides background or context for the competency being examined. It shares a little about the work or the work setting to ground the interviewee. The second is to ask about the competency itself. The question uses a verb to ask the interviewee for an example or situation when the circumstances or conditions of an event occurred. The question should be crisp and clear. For example, to ask about addressing conflict, the question might read: “This team works in a high stress environment and interpersonal conflict is inevitable. Please provide an example when you had to deal with a conflict between you and a coworker.”

Sometimes, interview questions are so obscure that other panelists can’t understand the question. It’s too late during an interview to discover that the question is not working. For example, avoid examining two competencies with one question. An example of this would be “Please speak to your experience solving a complex problem as a member of a trouble team”. Is the interviewer looking for skill in problem solving, dealing with troubled teams or solving the problem of a troubled team?

Determine before the first interview if you are going to prompt the interviewee when there’s a struggle to provide an example. If so, prepare a list of prompters to be used with each question. Sample prompters include: what were you required to do, how did you do it and what was the result of your action.

The value of each competency should be determined when the questions are developed. Designing a rating scale with descriptors for each value helps to take the guess work out of scoring the answers. Familiarizing the interview team with the scale before the interview helps to achieve consistency in rating.

The art of hosting

Consider offering the questions to the interviewees fifteen minutes or half an hour before the interview. This provides time to allow the interviewee to identify the best example for the competency area examined. Some interviewers don’t like to give the questions ahead of the interview. They believe interviewees should be prepared for anything that comes. Some interviewees don’t like it either as it heightens their anxiety.

Appoint a chair from the interview panel to open, manage and close the interview. Once the candidate is seated, it is important to set the environment. Opening comments help set the environmental and job context. The chair should provide a preamble that addresses the time allotted for the interview, how many questions will be asked, whether one or more panel members will ask questions and finally, the remaining rules of engagement. For example, tell the interviewee that they can skip over or ask to come back to a question. Take notes as long as they are left behind after the interview has concluded.

Refer to their resume or interview prep notes. Ask questions of clarification. Indicate that time will be allowed at the end for the interviewee’s questions.

An interviewee should be expected to manage their time. If this is an issue, it is important for the chair to step in to indicate time remaining so as not to run over and disadvantage other interviewees.

Closing the interview

Be sure to close the interview by asking the interviewee if there are any questions. Provide information about the timeline and next steps of the interview process. Some organizations use this time to obtain signed consent for permission to check references. Assure the interviewee of a call before you contact the references. This allows the interviewee to determine when to notify their workplace of a potential departure. It also provides an opportunity for them to notify their references to expect a call.

In summary, behavioural-based interviews can be the vehicle to help select a confident and competent new employee. Time and care is required up front to ensure a positive interviewing experience for all involved.