Using structured interview guides to establish quality control over employment
interviewing is a best practice destined to become standard practice in
human capital management. Its effectiveness was scientifically proven
years ago. (See, Wiesner, W. H., & Cronshaw, S. F. (1988) Journal
of Applied Psychology, 61,275-290.) Recently, it has even been touted
as part of a brand-building strategy for a service business. (Harvard
Business Review, Creating the Living Brand, May 2005)
Also called behavioral-event interviewing, structured interviewing is
based on the premise that past behavior predicts future behavior. It focuses
not so much on the skills or knowledge of employment candidates, but rather
on how they have used those skills and knowledge in the past…their
observable behavior.
What results can I expect from structured interviewing?
Studies of structured interviewing establish compelling statistics: The
typical unstructured interview, conducted by a highly experienced interviewer,
had a reliability of predicting job performance of about 15-30%. A structured
past-event interview, based on a job analysis, using rating guides, could
achieve up to an 87% reliability in predicting job performance.
Why is structured interviewing so effective? Unlike
interviewing techniques that focus on hypothetical situations and ask
applicants what they would do in given situations, structured interviewing
focuses on what applicants have done. The danger of using hypothetical
situations to gauge an applicant's ability to handle a job is that the
applicant is better able to give the answers he or she thinks you want
to hear. Also, applicants might want to believe that they would act in
a certain manner when, in reality, they would not.
How do I phrase a structured interview question? You'll
want to use open-ended questions that require more than a "yes"
or "no" answer. For example, starting a question off with the
phrase "Tell me about a time when…," prompts the applicant
not only to describe a situation that fits your criteria, but also to
walk you through the resolution of the situation. Such a discourse not
only allows you to hear about the situation, but it forces the applicant
to talk more. As a result, you're better able to gauge his or her communication
skills, which can also help you make your hiring decision.
Another common phrase used to begin a structured interview question
is "Give me an example of…" Again, such questions allow
the interviewee to consider what experience would best suit the question,
and the interviewer can get a better picture of the applicant's past behavior.
STARway Service provides a structured interviewing question for each
of 33 behaviors along with the elements of what to look for in a good
answer.
To find out more, please send an e-mail to contact@starwayservice.com.
