Hiring and Retaining Top Talent Blog

Behavioral Interviewing is Flawed

The concept behind behavioral interviewing is that, past performance is the best indicator of future performance. Our position is that this concept is flawed for two reasons; 1) too much depends on the qualifications of the person interpreting the indicator and 2) it completely ignores the ability to adapt to the new culture, management style, resources and behavior. It just assume that because they were a great X at their last job, they will be a great X in our company. NOT TRUE. You have to take it this concept one step further. You have to check for what we call in our book (You’re NOT the Person I Hired) “Adaptability.”

Can they adapt that past performance to your culture, your environment, your resources, etc. The best way to do this is to “put them in the job-BEFORE your hire them.” You should be asking every candidate; “ We need to accomplish X with XX number of months. How will you accomplish this once you come on board and what would your plan look like.” Our belief is if they can’t tell you know or at least engage you in a meaningful discussion before you hire them, they aren’t going to have a vision between accepting the offer and coming on board. These are reasons why companies that use behavioral interviewing often still have a high failure rates for new employees. You can learn more about “Adaptability” at our website www.impacthiringsolutions.com.

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