When There is No Crystal Ball

By Kelli Buczynski

The job interview (and the content of them) is my favorite debate to follow, so I couldn’t resist responding to "My Beef with BI (Behavioral Interviewing)" by Darci Riesenhuber on TomPeters!.

The author is questioning the validity of the ‘past predicts future’ philosophy of the behavioral interview for candidates who have little or no work experience (recent college graduates), candidates with limited experience in a job similar to the open position (someone changing fields) or candidates who are reentering the work force after an absence. 

Can you ask someone new to the job world about their experience leading a team, managing a project or overcoming a difficult work obstacle if this will be their first real job?

Based on my experience, the answer is YES!  The interviewer’s role is to help candidates focus on examples from their work, educational or other life experiences. I remember my first behavioral interview out of college and how I struggled at first to think of examples. After a few of my “I can’t think of an example from my summer job” responses, the interviewer “coached” me to look at my experiences working on project teams at school, situations with my roommate and other decisions.

As the interview progressed, I became more confident in sharing examples that I may not have thought “worthy” of sharing. I don’t think anyone conducting a behavioral interview would be opposed to fresh-from-school candidate using volunteer, extracurricular or social membership examples to see how someone handles themselves in work-LIKE situations. For example, “You said that you worked on a school group project where you had to make difficult decisions. Tell me about one of them.”

Of course, learning agility is just as important for those freshly minted grads, as they’re going to have to get up to speed fast. After I get a behavioral example, I love to ask “what would you do differently?” when someone shares an unsuccessful story. It’s a great way to assess the candidate’s ability to learn. 

But more than anything—if a candidate seems great, but doesn’t have examples in any of the areas that are critical for the job—they’re probably not the right candidate for you.

Kelli Buczynski is a manager with Development Dimensions International (DDI).

Comments

[Lina Maake]

As much as I agree with the idea of companies using interviews as a way to determine BEST candidates, I strongly believe that in most situations highly talented candidates are overlooked simply because they are not as articulate in their responses. The truth is, there are people who just freeze at such situations. This, however, does not mean they are not as smart. Some interviewers focus on looks, which I believe are necessary for certain positions. However if a candidate is overlooked just because of he/she is plain, that too can result in the company missing on greatly talented people.

[Bryan Baldwin]

There's plenty of data to back up your opinion, e.g.:

http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/118795619/abstract

http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-2105537/Asking-applicants-what-they-would.html