Why you need to add Behavior Based Questions to your Interviews

Behavior based interview questions are the most effective way to dive deeper into a candidate's experiences. Many candidates have prepared answers for common interview questions. These can mask their true personality, experience, and behaviors.

As an interviewer, your goal should be to determine what this person will be like after they get hired. Standard interview questions such as, "Tell me about you," or "Tell me about what you did in a particular job" are great for understanding their background. However, they do not give you an insight into:

• how they handle situations,
• how they handle stress,
• how they solve problems,
• what their beliefs and attitudes are,
• and are they sharp and quick-witted.

Behavior questions focus on how they approach and think about situations. These can be the most difficult questions to answer. They challenge candidates to think creatively and to recall examples of how they have had to handle similar situations.

Warning: Be ready for resistance. I have actually had candidates get up and walk out when these questions were asked. While this may seem dramatic, I am so thankful to have uncovered either their inability to handle stress or their overbearing ego that would not have worked well on our team or for our clients. Since our long term success is based on the people we hire for ourselves and our clients, we only look for people who are adaptable, willing to take on new challenges, and not be stuck in their old ways.

Amazon has built an entire empire utilizing its Amazon Leadership Principles. In every interview, they ask candidates several of these behavioral questions based on whichever of these Principles are most appropriate for the position they are seeking.

Therefore, Fortify Experts has developed behavioral questions formulated around these Amazon Leadership Principles which we would like to share with you. Here is a savable PDF version or you can see these same questions on our website here: Fortify Experts Behavior-Based Interview Questions

For each position, select one or two questions from several of the most appropriate leadership principles to ask each candidate. If there are multiple interview rounds, you may want to give each interviewer one or two of these principles to cover. It is best to ask the same behavior questions in each interview round to give yourself a better way to compare candidates.

PRO INTERVIEWER: Always asks the same behavioral questions of each candidate to compare answers.

By taking the time to select the most appropriate behavioral questions, you can uncover the leadership skills and personality traits you seek to add to your team.

If you want to dive any deeper into a candidates' behavioral attitudes and understandings, I would highly recommend also running them through a Birkman Assessment prior to hiring. These can help you onboard new hires faster and provide deep insights on how to coach and manage them to become their best.

Related Posts:

• Birkman Behavior and Occupational Assessment & Coaching
• Why you want an Employee Operating Manual?.

About Tim Howard

Tim Howard is the founder of Energy Sourcing (www.energysourcing.com) and Fortify Experts (www.fortifyexperts.com) which helps companies find exceptional “Embedded” talent through executive search, permanent placement, and project consultants. 

Tim Howard is also a Certified Birkman Personality Coach which helps company’s develop High Performance Teams by increasing effective communication and reducing personal conflicts.

He has been leading technology staffing teams for over 15 years and is the founder of three other technology firms. He has degrees from Texas A&M University in Industrial Distribution and Marketing.  

Invite me to connect:  www.dhirubhai.net/in/timhoward