The Interview
Gordon Scott




Past Performance - A Good Indicator

Perhaps you’ve heard of performance-based (or behavioral-based) interviewing. If not, the concept is easy enough - the execution is somewhat more complex. It’s based on the proven idea that past performance (or behavior) is a good indication of future performance (or behavior).

In the past, many interviews were conducted with a so-called psychological approach. For instance, some of the questions would be like “would you rather be a tree or a flower?” or “how would you deal with an employee who is constantly late?”. These questions may have been somewhat successful in discerning personality or people skills, but by asking esoteric or fictitious questions, they missed the purpose of the interview - can this candidate do this job, for this company at this time?

Candidates can mask personality traits, and people skills can only be determined over time and only then within the context of the company's culture. The hiring authority must understand if this candidate is the best person for the job, not the best interviewee.

A good interview should start with a good question (after some small exchange of pleasantries). The best one I know for the interviewer is “tell me something about yourself”. This question (more accurately, a request for information) actually has a specific answer - one that the interviewer should look for - one that says the interviewee has prepared for the interview. Ideally, the candidate should speak for about one minute and tell you 1) who they are - business-wise; 2) what their best accomplishment is; and 3) what they will do for the company (what they will “bring to the table”).

The hiring authority now has a set of three facts, articulated by the candidate, that can be the structure for the interview. The remainder of the time can now be spent “drilling down” to get a more detailed response, thus isolating past performance or behavior. For instance, if the candidate stated that their best accomplishment was to “increase company profits”, the next questions could be “by how much?” or “did you work as part of a team?”. The phrase “and then what happened?” can be employed several times to get to the most detailed level of explanation, thus revealing performance (behavior) based on a real event.

There are many books and courses that can enlighten you on the techniques that focus on the candidate's past performance in a previous job and not on their performance in the current interview. Of course, most hiring authorities don’t have time to become an interviewing expert. If there’s a credentialed HR person on staff (PHR, SPHR, etc...), that employee could take the lead by conducting the interview with the hiring authority (who has the specific job expertise), thus forming a “hiring team”. Or, the HR function could be outsourced, for a modest fee.

Gordon Scott Associates is available to assist both hiring authorities and candidates prepare for the interview. As personnel consultants, we can function as part of the "hiring team", moderating the interview process to assure the best possible outcome for both client and candidate. Contact us today for additional information.