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Behavioral Interviewing
February 2, 2008 We have observed that an increasing number of law firms are using behavior interviewing in assessing candidates for senior administrative positions. Behavioral interviewing is a technique aimed at predicting a candidate’s suitability based on previous behavior. Typically, the interviewer will present a situation and ask the candidate to describe, in detail, how they have handled similar situations in the past. Often the situations involve interactions with “high maintenance” partners, disgruntled clients or forms of harassment or discrimination.
Behavioral interviewing can be a powerful tool but can also give terribly inaccurate evaluations of a candidate and, at the extreme, can open the firm for charges of discrimination. If you elect to use behavioral interviewing, or are aware of members of your firm using it, you may want to consider the following issues:
- Avoid situations that are extremely complex or controversial. The candidate may get lost in the minutia and fail to respond appropriately.
- Avoid situations that represent “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” situations.
- Avoid “truth or dare” type questions that could be embarrassing or offensive (particularly if they could involve religious or political beliefs).
- Prepare situational questions in advance and test them on current staff members who are performing well.
- Ask the same situational questions of all candidates for a specific position.
- Avoid questions that are too similar to actual situations in your firm. There is a risk that your evaluation of the response will be tainted by subjective and factual information the candidate does not have.
- Don’t use behavioral interviews too early in the selection process. Wait until the second interview when the candidate feels more comfortable and is more likely to give a less guarded response.
- Remember, candidates will infer that the situations you describe represent the actual culture and nature of relationships in your firm.
- Offer training for interviewers intending to use behavior questions. Most HR publishers have such training programs.
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