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At least three members of the team should be assigned to interview with each candidate. This will give a consistent approach in evaluating each interviewee at the end of the interview cycle.

Pre-Interview Preparation:

It is critical you train everyone in the interviewing cycle how to conduct effective interviews based upon the state and federal law requirements. To minimize any risk of legal ramifications all questions should be related to the essential functions of the position and only be job related.

Pitfalls to Avoid:

Hiring managers can make decisions based on personality, gut feeling and first impressions. Personality and first impressions may be important however, in the context of the interview, one has to make sure that it should not overtake the objective evaluation of the candidate. A structured interviewing process based on performance-based job description reduces the impact of personality and first impressions.

Behavioral Based Interviewing Training:

It is recommended to train interviewing managers on a questioning technique that sheds light on people’s needs, attitudes, motivations and behavioral tendencies. This form of interviewing is referred to as behavioral questioning which is based on the premise that past behavior and performance is a good predictor of future performance. Usually if the scenario is presented in a similar fashion the candidate will probably handle the situation in the same manner. A candidate may use work experience, activities, hobbies, volunteer work, or school projects as examples of past behavior. Guiding questions towards personality gauges a person’s natural comfort level. The following five factors are believed to shape our overall personality:

1. Stability

2. Social factors

3. Innovation or efficiency

4. Acceptance of others’ ideas

5. Flexibility and goals

Behavioral Interview Evaluation:

Employers are generally looking for three types of skills: Content Skills, Functional - also called Transferable Skills, and Adaptive, also called Self Management Skills.

1. Content Skills - Knowledge that is work specific such as computer programming, research, accounting, etc. expressed as nouns.

2. Functional or Transferable Skills - Used with people, information or things such as organizing, managing, developing, communicating, etc. expressed as verbs.

3. Adaptive or Self-Management Skills - personal characteristics such as dependable, team player, self directed, punctual, etc. expressed as adjectives.