Behavioural Interviewing and How it Can Benefit Your Business

Behavioural interviewing is a great approach that recruiters often use to gain a deeper understanding of candidates through asking detailed questions and using those answers to predict how the person might react in the future.

At JP Smith Recruitment and HR, we often use the STAR or SAR approach. In this method we will ask our candidates questions such as:

“Tell me about a time where you prioritised your tasks in order to meet deadlines”

Or;

“Describe a time where you were faced with a difficult customer/client”

We are listening closely to their response to pick up on the following:

Situation – This is the candidate’s opportunity to provide a good amount of detail of a previous event.
Task – The interviewee will then describe their responsibility in the situation. Did they manage the situation, or did they require help from a colleague or manager?
Action – The candidate may then provide the exact steps that they took to address the situation.
Result – Lastly, what was the outcome. Did they handle the situation, was it handed over, etc?

By asking candidates these questions we can gain a real life understanding of how they handle situations and their ability to explain previous events in a reflective and constructive manner – Bonus points if they can acknowledge areas to improve!

Throughout each stage of the STAR process, we are faced with new opportunities to interpret how individuals will perform in different situations. Perhaps they seemed to step back from responsibility of the Task, or maybe the Result was not positive.

This can be a beneficial tool that we use when both interviewing and reference checking candidates to ensure that they are the best fit for you.

Next time you are using our recruitment or reference checking services, think about the behavioural evidence that we can provide to you and your business!