Story-Telling Interviews: Using
Behavior-based Interviewing

While some companies see this as a new form of interviewing, it's actually an outgrowth of the assessment center technology popularized in the late 1970's (the same movement which popularized job simulations). What is new is the increased use of this interviewing by all types of businesses.

Implementing behavior-based interviewing begins with comprehensive job analyses of positions identifying the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to be successful. Areas which are typically identified are content skills (job specific knowledge gained through education, training or on-the-job experience), functional (or transferable) skills which often predict key performance in a particular job (management skills, organization, communication, problem solving, etc.) or adaptive skills (how the candidate will fit into the culture of the organization, such as self-directed work style, team orientation, punctuality, work ethic, etc.). Of the three skill sets, BBI most often concentrates on functional skills.

Once this is achieved, interview questions can then be developed based upon identified behaviors and skills. For example, if a candidate's ability to coordinate the work of others is critical to job performance, rather than asking a standard hypothetical question ("How would you go about organizing your peers to evaluate production problems?"), the BBI interviewer probes the candidate for an actual experience ("Describe a time when you've had to organize a group of people to accomplish a task. How did you determine the best way to involve everyone? What were the results?").

To be successful in using BBI interviewing, HR practitioners must get the job applicant to tell a complete "story" identifying the problem or task the applicant was responsible for, what he/she did, and the results of their efforts. In our example above, the applicant might respond with "Our line supervisor was on disability leave and I was assigned to sub for her. I realigned the work schedule of our temporaries and reduced our overtime hours by 20 percent".

In responding to behavior-based questions, job applicants can offer behavior examples from almost any life experience - full-time jobs, part-time jobs, volunteer experiences, educational activities, involvement in civic organizations, hobbies and leisure time, or even family life.

The success of BBI is based upon a simple premise understood by most athletes - past performance is the best predictor of future performance. Just as we check batting averages, bowling and golf handicaps, or statistics on the racing form to judge athletic endeavors, BBI focuses on a candidate's abilities based upon past performance. If a potential employee has been successful in the past utilizing a particular skill, chances are they'll be successful again. The more recent the behavior and the more frequent the behavior, the greater the predictor of success.

` For more than thirty years, research has shown BBI interviewing to be three to seven times more effective in predicting job performance success compared to traditional one-on-one interviews. One study cited by All State Insurance rated the mean job predictive validity of BBI at 70 percent while traditional one-on-one interviews was only 20 percent. In fact, in traditional one-on-one interviewing, asking candidates to describe related past behavior occurs less than 5 percent of the time.

A recent report showed more than 60 percent of the Fortune 500 were using behavior-based interviewing. Employers using BBI include AT&T, Eli Lilly, Sprint, Johnson Wax, Westinghouse -even the U.S. Postal Service. And, the techniques can be used just as successfully with smaller firms.

To companies attempting to reduce recruiting costs and employee turnover, BBI lessens the risk of making poor hiring choices while increasing the chances for position/employee compatibility. The impacts on new employee training, morale of current employees, and maximizing HR staff time are considerable.

Companies using behavior-based interviewing report that interviewing activities are much more systematic and free from typical selection snafu's (e.g. emphasis on the wrong job traits, being "swayed" by candidates who are adept at interviewing, decisions compromised by interviewer biases, etc.). By focusing on job-related skills, BBI also helps the company establish a legally defensible selection process.

With it's emphasis on functional skills, BBI allows the HR person to evaluate an applicant on traits and abilities which are critical to success in given positions, even if the person has no direct experience in that occupation. For example, a candidate may never have been a sales person, but may have a history of using the functional skills necessary to be successful in such a position (such as interpersonal communications, persuasiveness, tenacity, etc.). BBI enables candidates to describe their related experiences and gives HR managers the chance to find qualified employees from widely varying backgrounds and experience levels.

How does a company implement a behavior-based interviewing process? It's not a quick fix to recruiting woes. It requires concentrated preparation, commitment from upper management, and training of staff (particularly if line supervisors or other managers are involved in interviewing). A number of consulting firms across the country offer assistance in training for BBI selections, some offering complete packaged programs.

First and foremost, positions and job duties must be analyzed. What are the essential duties of the position? What skills are required to be successful? Are these functional or adaptive skills, or content-based? Many companies have already done this in their efforts to comply with the ADA.

Once skill sets and traits are identified, interview questionnaires can be developed that focus on eliciting examples from candidates. BBI questions are most often open-ended questions asking the applicant to "Tell me about a time you _____.", "Describe a situation where you _____.", "When have you _____?".

Interviewers need to be trained in BBI techniques, particularly learning how to probe candidates for more information and recognizing when they've obtained a "complete" behavioral example. The focus is on encouraging candidates to discuss when they've used required skills in activities or tasks, what they specifically did in that situation, and the results. Wherever possible, BBI interviewers try to get applicants to quantify results (e.g. "increased employee participation by 20 percent", "decreased line defects by 15 percent over the previous quarter" etc.) to assess their bottom-line impact.

Candidates are also encouraged to provide examples of when results didn't turn out as they planned. What did they do then? What did they learn from the process?

Behavior-based interviewing works, because it's 1) structured, 2) based upon well-defined job requirements, 3) utilizes questions based upon job-related behaviors, and 4) applied consistently with all applicants. And, the premise is simple, if an applicant has successfully used certain skills in the past, they can probably use the same or similar skills in the future.

Behavior-based interviewing can be a win-win for employers and candidates alike. With its emphasis on job specific skills, BBI keeps HR staff and hiring managers focused on essential candidate qualifications while allowing applicants to demonstrate related behavior from any of their past experiences.

Note: Contact Larry Beck at Ball State for more information about behavior-based interviewing at (765) 285-24241 or
e-mail at Lbeck@bsu.edu.

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