Hiring for Success: Behavioral Interviewing Techniques

This two-day workshop will help you teach participants how to:

• Recognize the costs incurred by an organization when a wrong hiring decision is made.
• Develop a fair and consistent interviewing process for selecting employees.
• Prepare better job advertisements and use a variety of markets.
• Be able to develop a job analysis and position profile.
• Use traditional, behavioral, achievement oriented, holistic, and situational (critical incident) interview questions.
• Enhance communication skills that are essential for a skilled recruiter.
• Effectively interview difficult applicants.
• Check references more effectively.
• Understand the basic employment and human rights laws that can affect the hiring process.

Course Overview

• You will spend the first part of the day getting to know participants and discussing what will take place during the workshop. Students will also have an opportunity to identify their personal learning objectives.

History of the Interviewing Process

• The day will begin with a brief lecture on the history of the interviewing process, including Alfred Binet’s ideas, stress interviewing, and structured interviewing.

The Recruitment and Selection Process

• During this session, we will take a quick look at the six stages of the hiring process.

Factors in the Hiring Process

• We will examine the three levels of factors in the hiring process in this session.

Cost Analysis

• During this session, participants will analyze the cost of hiring an employee.

Job Analysis and Position Profiles

• Determining just what you’re hiring for is the second stage of the hiring process. We will look at performing a job analysis and writing a position profile in this session.

Determining the Skills You Need

• Once you have analyzed what the job will entail, you will need to determine what technical and performance skills the candidate will need. We will examine various ways of doing this during this session.

Finding Candidates

• During this session, we will examine the advantages and disadvantages of various advertising methods.

Advertising Guidelines

• If you’re going to spend time and money looking for a candidate, you should make sure your ad passes the ten tests of advertising. In this session, participants will learn about these tests and apply them to job advertisements.

Screening Resumes

• Now that you have the stack of resumes on your desk, what are you going to do with them? Our recommendation is to use a resume screening guide. During this session, participants will learn what that is, how to develop one, and how to use it.

Performance Assessments

• In addition to interviewing, you may also choose to have candidates complete a technical or performance exercise. Participants will look at both types of exercises in this session.

Problems Recruiters Face

• During this session, participants will discuss some common mistakes recruiters make and how to avoid them.

Interviewing Barriers

• There are also some human mistakes that recruiters make; that will be your focus during this lecture.

Non-Verbal Communication

• During an interview, it is crucial to be aware of the non-verbal signals that you are giving and receiving. In this session, participants will explore some of these signals through a lecture and an exercise.

Types of Questions

• Obviously, the ability to ask questions is crucial to an interview. During this session, participants will learn how to use open questions, closed questions, and probes.

Case Study: Itlex Manufacturing

• To wrap up the first day, participants will work on a case study to help Mitchel Hampton figure out why he had to fire an employee he recently hired.

Traditional vs. Behavior Interviews

• During this session, participants will look at what behavioral interviewing is and how it differs from traditional interviewing. Participants will also have the opportunity to develop some sample behavioral questions.

Other Types of Questions

• There are two more key types of questions that you can use during an interview: achievement oriented and holistic. Participants will take a brief look at both types during this session.

The Critical Incident Technique

• Another type of interview question asks the candidate how they might behave in a certain situation. Participants will explore why these questions are so valuable, how to develop them, and how to use them.

Listening for Answers

• Listening for what the candidate does and does not say is just as important as asking the right questions. During this session, participants will learn some key listening skills.

Difficult Applicants

• During this session, participants will role play one of four difficult applicants in a mock interview. They will also learn ways to get the information they’re looking for out of these types of people.

Interview Preparation and Format

• During this session, participants will learn some things that they should do before, during, and after the interview.

Other Interview Techniques

• During the interview, there are some techniques that interviewers can use to keep things moving. This session will cover five of the most common methods.

Scoring Responses

• During this session, participants will learn how to use performance-based rating scales.

Checking References

• In this session, participants will learn how to check references and use a reference guide.

Human Rights

• Through a brief lecture, participants will learn about some of the key human rights issues that recruiters face.

Skill Application

• Participants will spend the afternoon of Day Two developing an interview guide and role-playing the interview using all the skills they have learned.

Pre-Assignment Review

• The course will wrap up with a review of the pre-assignment.

Workshop Wrap-Up

• At the end of the course, students will have an opportunity to ask questions and fill out an action plan.