/ Published in Human Resources Management

Sample HR Management Paper on Behavioral Based Interview

Introduction

Interviewing is an effective approach in an organization that helps recruiters select suitable candidates. Behavioral based interview is a style that focuses on the interviewee’s past experience in solving future issues. The logic behind behavior-based interview is that it enables recruiters to predict an employee’s reaction to a specific situation that may arise in the organization (Doll, 2018, p. 47). Behavior-based interview is a beneficial selection method because it focuses on specific candidates’ experiences, which reveals the abilities, personalities, and skills.

Questions in an interview require specific approach in giving the desired response. In behavior-based interviews, interviewees use STAR (situation, task, action, and result) technique as a strategy to respond to the questions (Doll, 2018, p. 46). The technique represents steps candidates utilize to describe a situation (S) in which an even occurred. The second stage entails describing the task (T) where an individual had to complete and the issue, he/she was trying to solve. Action (A) is the next phase that requires the candidate to state the action he/she took to solve the issue or complete the task. Lastly, an individual explains the results (R) of the taken actions (Doll, 2018, p. 46). Therefore, the STAR technique enhances once response during behavior-based interviews to become a suitable choice for selection.

Position A

An interviews aim is to review the suitability of a candidate for a given position. When using the behavior-based approach, the first step entail assessing an individual’s cognitive abilities for the responsibilities associated with the rank (Tatem, Kokas, Smith, & DiGiovine, 2017, p. 576). Thus, the interviewee should use STAR to justify their compatibility with the tasks.

Position B

Interviews also review candidates’ abilities using behavior-based approach depending on the problem that may arise. For instance, an interviewee may explain a challenge that they solved in the previous organization (Doll, 2017, p. 47). While there may be different techniques in selecting a suitable employee, behavior-based technique is essential as it highlights the individual’s actual ability to complete a task or solve a problem.

Styles of Interviewing

There are various interview styles that the panel can choose in assessing a candidate such as, (i) conventional unstructured interview, (ii) structured conventional interview, and (iii) structured behavioral interview. In conventional unstructured interview the recruiter holds an informal conversation with a candidate to enquire about his/her skills (Alonso & Moscoso, 2017, p. 184). There is no script that guides the conference and thus the flow of the topic depends on the response of the interviewee. Structure conventional interview is a common style that follows a series of guidelines or script to obtain information on questions about credentials, experience, technical skills, and self-evaluations (Alonso & Moscoso, 2017, p. 184). Finally, structured behavior interview entails evaluation of past actions and results.

Compare and Contrast Behavior Based Interview and other Styles

Each type of interview varies from behavior-based interview, particularly through the design and strategies to acquire information. Both structured and unstructured conventional interviews are common and traditional styles in most organizations. In this scenario, the recruiter asks questions that focuses on understanding information that are in a guided script while in behavior-based interview, the interviewer asks questions to determine how the candidate utilized professional skills in the past (Alonso & Moscoso, 2017, p. 183). In addition, conventional interviews, recruiters aim at aligning one’s career interests with the company while behavior-based aims at predicting future performance of an individual.

Pros and Cons

While behavior-based interviews are largely used in organizations, they have both merits and demerits. One of the advantages is that, unlike other conventional interviews that does not prepare interviewees for the job requirements, this style critically evaluates candidates and prepare them for future challenges (Srinivasan & Humes, 2017, p. 82). Secondly, candidates get an equal chance of being selected in that recruiters assess an individuals’ suitability in a role based on past experience thereby eliminating the probability of biasness (Srinivasan & Humes, 2017, p. 82). Lastly, the interview style is versatile and can be used to assess a variety of competencies, such as adaptability, coachability, and willingness to collaborate (Srinivasan & Humes, 2017, p. 82). While the process has its merits, it also has a set of demerits.

While behavior-based interviews have numerous advantages, it also has it disadvantages. For instance, since recruiters do not use a specific guideline in selecting a suitable candidate, they require prior brainstorming to determine each candidates’ abilities (Tatem et al., 2017, p. 577). As a result, the process may become time-consuming or may lead to bias, particularly against women candidates (Alonso, Moscoso, & Velo, 2017, p. 20). Furthermore, the process requires professional and experienced interviewers since not everyone is a natural interviewer and the latter will thereby require intense training sessions (Srinivasan & Humes, 2017, p. 84). Thus, the interview approach poses its cons despite having beneficial features.

Recommendations

Most organizations utilize traditional interviews. methods due to the challenges associated with behavior-based interviews. The recruiters lack adequate experience on this approach. Consequently, firms need to train their hiring managers and give them adequate information that they should utilize when conducting behavior-based interviews. Lastly, executives in a company should sensitize their recruiters on the power of behavior-based interviews in selecting candidates that will perform in a given position. Therefore, while the process may have challenges, minor rectifications can enhance companies’ selection methods.

Conclusion

While there are concise and straightforward approaches to conduct interviews, it is also important for interviewers to embrace behavior-based interviews. Without adequate training, recruiters and hiring managers can result to poor candidate experience. Furthermore, they may end up recruit individuals to credentials and skills thereby resulting to poor performance. Thus, behavior-based interviews give reliable information of whether an individual would perform effectively in future and solve anticipated problems in the company.

 

 

 

References

Alonso, P., & Moscoso, S. (2017). Structured behavioral and conventional interviews: Differences and biases in interviewer ratings. Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 33(3), 183. Retrieved from https://journals.copmadrid.org/jwop/art/j.rpto.2017.07.003.

Alonso, P., Moscoso, S., & Velo, J. F. S. (2017). Structured behavioral interview as a legal guarantee for ensuring equal employement opportunities for women: A meta-analysis. The European Journal of Psychology Applies to Legal Context, 9 (1), 15-23. Retrieved from https://journals.copmadrid.org/ejpalc/art/j.ejpal.2016.03.002.

Doll, J. L. (2018). Structured interviews: Developing interviewing skills in human resource management courses. Management Teaching Review, 3(1). Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1177/2379298117722520.

Srinivasan, L., & Humes, M. (2017). Behavioral interviewing essentials (and why you should care). Strategic HR Review, 16(2), 81-85. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/SHR-11-2016-0097.

Tatem, G., Kokas, M., Smith, C. L., & DiGiovine, B. (2017). A feasibility assessment of behavioral-based interviewing to improve candidate selection for a pulmonary and critical care medicine fellowship program. Annals of the American Thoracic Society, 14(4), 576-583. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1513/AnnalsATS.201611-940OC.