How to Conduct Competency and Behavioral Interviews

How to Conduct Competency and Behavioral Interviews

In a recent survey by a UK based Consultancy, a staggering 80% of companies questioned said they only used a standard interview as their preferred method of identifying talent.  Standard Interviews are proven to be only 0.07 reliable, with structured Interviews 0.23 reliable.  According to one CEO, after only conducting interviews to employ new recruits he found that 46% of the new hires failed within 18 months and only 19% were totally successful in their roles!

Most companies measure employee turnover and in some industries (retail, customer service, hospitality) turnover rates of 30-40% are common and sometimes even accepted.  Many studies show that the total cost of losing an employee can range from tens of thousands or 40% of their annual salary.  The real "total cost" of losing an employee is:

• Cost of hiring a new person (advertising, interviewing, screening, hiring)
• Cost of onboarding a new person (training, management time)
• Lost productivity (a new person may take 1-2 years to reach the productivity of an existing person)
• Lost engagement (other employees who see high turnover disengage and lose productivity)
• Customer service and errors (new employees take longer and are often less adept at solving problems)
• Training cost (over 2-3 years you likely invest 10-20% of an employee's salary or more in training)
• Cultural impact (whenever someone leaves others take time to ask "why?")
• People are an "appreciating asset." The longer an employee stays with an organization the more productive they become as they learn the systems, products, team working and create the culture

In addition to using Talent Assessment Tools, training your managers to use Competency and Behavioral Based Interviewing can lead to getting the right people in to the right jobs.  For example, once the Competencies for the role are identified, such as Decision Making, the Interview Questions can be framed around the Competency:

'Describe a situation where you have had to take a decision that involved a range of options.  What were the circumstances and how did you reach your decision?  What was the outcome and what did you learn?'

Natural Talent's Development Module allows managers to learn and practise Competency and Behavioral Based Interviewing Skills, which are proven to be highly effective instead of the worn-out standard questions which candidates can easily print off the internet and practice.  Managers learn and practise how to build on this type of questioning by asking the candidate to provide real specifics around key Leadership and Management scenarios. The ROI of using such methods greatly outweighs the costs of bad hires. 

'Another great training module thank you. We now know how we can be more effective in recruiting the best talent.'  Senior Manager, Public Sector

Please read some of our Client Success Stories here and watch one of our videos here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HklFMnZ94Lc&t=2s  Please contact us to discuss your requirements or to book a Coaching or Training module via video call.