What is Behavioural based interview?

(AMS International, 2019)

Recruiting the right talent into an organisation is a challenging process. With the advancement of technologies humans have become more complex such that most of the talent screening methods do not reveal the real traits of a candidate. Interview is considered as the most important step in the talent recruiting process and it is a discussion between recruiters and a candidate with an intention (Bingham & Moore, 1931).

According to Swider et al. (2015), before starting the recruitment process, the human resource department should evaluate the requirements such as qualification, experience, skills, attitude etc needed for the position to be filled. Interviews can capture and obtain adequate information about the candidate’s knowledge, skills and experience (Callaghan and Thompson, 2002). But, critical elements of an interview for selecting a right candidate are attitudes, which are tough to recognize in normal short interview (McCarthy et al., 2013).

As Buang et al. (2018) stated, there are two interview methodologies

1. Traditional interview
2. Behavioural based interview

TRADITIONAL INTERVIEW

According to Kiviat (2009), a face to face or non-face to face interviews can be conducted in this method. Interview questions can be organized, semi-organized or open ended (Bragger et al., 2002). Candidates can be familiarized with the interview process by practicing or performing mock interview (Hartvigsson & Ahlgren, 2018). Therefore, Huffcutt et al. (2017) concluded that the traditional job interview is a poor forecaster of on job performance.

BEHAVIOURAL BASED INTERVIEW

After identifying the disadvantages of traditional interview method, behavioural based interview method became famous. This method helps employers to predict how would candidates perform on the job, by assessing candidate’s experiences and behaviour in the interview (Buang et al., 2018).

Altmaier et al. (1992) said that traditional interview only backs a small percentage of on the job behaviour. On the other hand, behavioural interviews predict 55% of job behaviour. Traditional interviews have common questions like “Tell me about yourself”. Candidates can mislead the interviewer and tell only what interviewer likes to hear. But, in behavioural interview, certain scenarios could be further analysed to get broader knowledge about the candidate. For eg: “What made you to make that decision?”.

In summary, behavioural based questions are more challenging and difficult to mislead. Therefore, a correct set of questions would reveal the true nature of the candidate. 

References;

Altmaier, E. M., Smith, W. L., O'halloran, C. M., & Franken, J. E. (1992) 'The predictive utility of behaviour-based interviewing compared with traditional interviewing in the selection of radiology residents', Investigative radiology, 27(5), 385-389.

AMS International (2019) Are you prepared for a Panel Interview?. Available at: https://www.ams-int.com/prepared-panel-interview/ (Accessed:29 Oct. 2019).

Bingham, W. V. & Moore, B. V. (1931) How to interview. Oxford, England: Harpers.

Buang, A., Seng, L. C. & Sum, L. W. V. (2018) 'The needs of Change in Job Interview: Compassionate Assessment and Interview', Open Journal of Human Resource Management, 1(1), pp. 30-37.

Callaghan, G. & Thompson, P. (2002) '“We recruit attitude”: the selection and shaping of routine call centre labour', Journal of Management Studies, 39(2), 233-254.

Hartvigsson, E. & Ahlgren, E. O. (2018) 'Comparison of load profiles in a mini-grid: Assessment of performance metrics using measured and interview-based data', Energy for Sustainable Development, 43, 186-195.

Huffcutt, A. I., Culbertson, S. S., Goebl, A. P. & Toidze, I. (2017), 'The influence of cognitive ability on interviewee performance in traditional versus relaxed behavior description interview formats', European Management Journal, 35(3), 383-387.

Kiviat, B. (2009). How Skype is changing the job interview. Time, Oct, 20.

McCarthy, J. M., Van Iddekinge, C. H., Lievens, F., Kung, M. C., Sinar, E. F., & Campion, M. A. (2013), 'Do candidate reactions relate to job performance or affect criterion-related validity? A multistudy investigation of relations among reactions, selection test scores, and job performance', Journal of Applied Psychology, 98(5), 701.

Swider, B. W., Zimmerman, R. D. & Barrick, M. R. (2015) 'Searching for the right fit: Development of applicant person-organization fit perceptions during the recruitment process', Journal of Applied Psychology, 100(3), 880.