Your best behavior

You can't escape your past — in fact, you should learn to make the most of it, if you're in a job search. How you have handled job tasks, challenges and crises in previous situations may be the subject of your next interview.

The behavioral interview — which is based on the philosophy that past performance is the best indicator of future performance in similar circumstances — is a growing trend in the workplace.

Bill Byham, CEO and founder of Development Dimensions International, originated the behavioral interviewing method in 1970. He developed the Targeted Selection system to train managers in how to conduct effective behavioral interviews so they could make better hiring decisions.

DDI has trained more than 16 million executives and leaders in companies throughout the world. The company recently expanded its assessment center in Atlanta, where computer simulations identify an executive's strengths and weaknesses and give companies a way to evaluate whom to hire or promote and how best to develop someone's talent.

Working in the assessment center business gave Byham the idea for behavioral interviewing. He noticed that information gathered through simulation was more meaningful than that gathered by traditional interviewing and asking candidates about hypothetical situations or theoretical knowledge.

"In simulations we were seeing real behavior," Byham said. "Before behavioral interviewing, hiring managers would ask psychological questions, hoping to gain deeper insight into an applicant's character. The questions weren't helpful, because they weren't targeted to what was important for future job success."

Knowing the target — the competencies or skills that a company seeks in a job — is the first step in finding a good match in the Targeted Selection process. DDI consultants help clients perform a job analysis, identify the skills needed, formulate appropriate questions and assess the information.

"Behavioral interview questions don't sound like questions at all," said Doug Smart, president of Smart Business and a business motivational speaker and trainer. "It might be something like 'Tell me about a time when you were in charge of a project and had to put a team together.' Or 'Give me an example of a situation when you went above and beyond the call of duty.' "

They sound like invitations to tell a story, which is exactly what the answers to these questions are — stories that will give the interviewer insight into your past behavior and thinking processes, Smart said.

Byham calls an example of past behavior a STAR, because a complete example consists of a situation or task, the specific action you took and the result of your action. The result you describe doesn't have to be positive; it could be that you learned a valuable lesson from doing something the wrong way.

In his book "Landing the Job You Want: How to Have the Best Job Interview of Your Life" (Three Rivers Press, 1997), Byham tells candidates how to identify the skills for a job; explore their own "behavioral dimensions" (the behaviors they use every day to get things done); and recognize and present a STAR with positive impact in an interview.

"An interviewer should hear and explore at least three STARs before making a decision [on a candidate]. It's even better if you have different interviewers asking questions about different competencies and combining their information to come to an agreement. The more people involved in the decision-making, the better the selection," Byham said.

DDI created computerized systems to help compile the data and developed Web-based training for interviewers.

DDI surveys of companies that use the system show positive results, including better-equipped interviewers, a decrease in employee turnover because of better hiring decisions, higher productivity and more engaged employees.

"Applicants like it, too. We see more job acceptances from engineers who have had Targeted Selection interviews," Byham said. "They believed that the interviewer really got to know them before selecting them, and therefore [the applicants] believed that they would succeed in the job."

"Behavioral interviews are often second interviews and come after an applicant has passed the first interview to see if he has the qualifications," said Gary Wheeler, CEO of Human Resource Business Partner Consultant.

"The purpose of a behavioral interview is to get you to talk about past experiences, so that the hiring manager can determine how you would handle the job and how well you fit the company culture. Fit is the key word."

As an applicant tells his or her story, a perceptive interviewer will ask more questions and probe deeper, trying to understand the person better.

"By asking the same questions to all applicants and rating them on whether they exceed, meet or don't meet expectations, it makes it easier to compare and contrast the candidates," Wheeler said.

Behavioral interviews are one part of the hiring process, along with evaluating skills and conducting personality assessments, said Tom Darrow, principal of Talent Connections, an Atlanta recruiting, executive search and consulting firm.

Finding a good cultural fit is especially important "when you consider that the reason most people leave a job is because of personal relationships with their managers," he said.

Talent Connections has developed its own behavioral interviewing system and helps clients identify the competencies that will lead to success.

"One of the things we do is look at the current high-performers in the company and what makes them successful," Darrow said.

Sometimes companies believe they don't have the time to invest in the process, especially for call center or nonexempt positions, but finding someone with the desired behaviors for a particular job increases the chance that he or she will stay and succeed. That saves money in the long run.

"Too many companies settle for a candidate, and that leads to trouble. The person doesn't work out, and then everyone is back to square one," Darrow said. "Some managers believe that they can size people up quickly and know when they hit it off with someone. They don't need all that [behavioral] stuff, because they go with their gut feel. I'm a recruiting expert, and I need that stuff.

"The best teams are diverse in thought and experiences. When I'm interviewing, my natural bias would be to hire someone like me, but that wouldn't make for the diverse team we need."

Smart encourages his clients to take behavioral interviewing to the next level by adding an assessment instrument, such as the Hartman Value Profile, to the hiring process for promising candidates.

"Professor Hartman was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in 1973 for his work in human decision-making. His profile measures where people have natural skills and talents from among 60 business variables," Smart said.

Smart's clients are surprised to see how accurate the results are for current employees.

"It adds a level of objectivity to a subjective process and can keep companies from making a hiring mismatch," Smart said. "Many of my clients are small or midsized companies, and, if you have even one salesperson misfiring on a six-person team, it can have a major impact on the company."

An assessment also can help a candidate who doesn't interview well — someone who gets nervous or tries too hard. "In the assessment, the real person — with his talents and potential — will come through," Smart said.

He recommends that a hiring decision be based on three parts: the interviews, an assessment and the person's added value (intangible factors, such as years of experience in an industry, specialized knowledge or contacts).

"I've never seen anyone match up totally to the job, but you can improve the odds of 'getting the right people on the bus and in the right seats on the bus,' as Jim Collins said in 'Good to Great,' by using behavioral interviews and assessments," Smart said.

With applications pouring in through the Internet and hiring managers becoming overwhelmed, tools that provide useful data to help them select the best people are gaining popularity, Darrow said.