When you’re a small business owner, hiring new employees can be overwhelming. You have a company to run –and you need to get someone into the position fast so you can get back to your own to-do list. However, you don’t want to rush through the process and hire a candidate who turns out to be a bad fit. How do you get the information you need to make the best decision in the least amount of time so you can get back to business? Behavioral interview questions may be the answer.
In today’s fast paced business world, it’s not enough to just hire a candidate who is qualified to do the job. You need to hire the candidate most likely to perform the job well within your company’s environment. You want to select the candidate who will easily become one of the team –the one who fits within the company culture. Asking behavioral interview questions is the most efficient way to determine the future performance of candidates.
Typical interview questions are those such as, “where do you see yourself in five years?” and “what were your duties at your last position?” A behavioral interview question goes deeper. Rather than allowing for rehearsed answers, a behavioral interview question requires candidates to describe how they’ve handled work-related tasks and challenges in the past.
Depending on your needs, you may want to ask questions that will reveal how candidates handled customer and interpersonal problems, communicated with supervisors and other team members, and reacted to criticism or coaching in their past positions. You may want to ascertain their flexibility, ability to solve problems creatively, decision-making processes and proclivity to teamwork.
Your goal is to encourage each candidate to tell you stories about his or her past performance in situations he or she may encounter while working for you. A few examples of behavioral interview questions include:
-Tell me about a time you disagreed with a coworker. How did you resolve the issue?
-Let’s say you have to create a new design. How would you describe your creative process start to finish?
-Has a supervisor ever constructively criticized you? Why? How did you react to the experience?
-Have you ever worked as part of a team? Tell me what that experience was like.
-Let’s say you need to make a decision on a project and I’m not in the office. What would you do?
Past behavior is often the best predictor of future behavior, so the answers you receive from candidates should provide you with exactly the sort of information you need to narrow down your selection. You can then order criminal record background checks through Advanced Research Systems. This is an important step to protect yourself from potential negligent hiring lawsuits and ensure you’re making the best hiring decision.
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