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Behavioral based interviews are designed to enable interviewers to gather information about how well candidates previously performed tasks, solved problems and used competencies that are similar to tasks and problems they will encounter and competencies they will need mastery of in order to perform well in the job for which they are being interviewed. Behavioral based interviewing techniques, known by many acronyms, are based upon work developed by industrial psychologists. Behavioral based interviews include questions that can be answered with portrayals of work accomplished. Each portrayal has a beginning - a description of the work, task or situation the candidate encountered, a middle - the actions taken, and a conclusion - the outcome. The technique described below seeks a Context, Activity, and Outcome (CAO) for each work circumstance portrayed.

The CAO technique is the most basic unit of information about the candidate's past job performance. Using the CAO technique enables interviewers to gather performance and job related data in a systematic way from all interviewed candidates. All candidates interviewed for a particular position are asked the same pre-determined job related questions. Behavioral or competency based interviewing works well when interviewing seasoned employees, because it centers around information about past work behaviors, challenges and task solutions rather than hypothetical situations. For entry-level employees or new college graduates, the interview should be modified to ask about other experiences, as there is little work experience for the candidate to draw upon.

Be sure to prepare your questions in advance of the interview, and to ask each candidate the same questions for the particular position you seek to fill. Determine the knowledge, skills and abilities needed for the position and ask questions that will reveal those in the candidate's work history. The North Carolina Office of State Personnel has adapted an interviewing guide from which you can start to formulate your questions.

Behavioral examples are composed of the following parts:

• Context — The circumstances, situation or task leading to the candidate's actions
• Activity — Active attempts the candidate made to make a change or to influence events
• Outcome — The results or consequences of the candidate's actions

Not all behavioral examples are created equal. Only those that provide focused, job related information should be acceptable. Unusable behavioral examples (false CAOs) fall into the following categories:

Feelings or opinions: "I have always strongly believed in loyalty."

This may be true, but there is no evidence that the candidate has demonstrated this. Further, is "loyalty" required in the target position?

Theoretical statements: "If a team project were assigned, I would anticipate team supply needs."

This response gives no information about whether the candidate has actually done this before.

Future-oriented statements: "I plan to complete the Public Managers' Program."

It doesn't count until you have done it.

vague statements: "My idea turned out all right and people were happy with it."

As an interviewer, ask yourself "Which idea?" By what measure was it "all right?" Which "people" were happy and by what measure? Until the interviewer asks key questions that provide more objective information, this example cannot be used.

Incomplete behavioral statements: "We were running 20% over budget. I made some changes to get the project back in line. As a result, we came in 5% under budget."

This sounds good, but the interviewer needs to ask what the changes were. Certainly, taking unethical or illegal shortcuts would cast this example in a completely different light.

Seeking more detail

The interviewer should seek more detail when the candidate does not provide enough of the specifics of a behavioral example to clearly illustrate the context, activity or action and outcome. The interviewer should:

• Clarify misunderstood questions or unclear candidate responses.
• Encourage responses by reinforcing the appropriate level of detail with responses such as, "That is the kind of specificity we need. Thank you."
• Use silence. Sometimes this technique encourages the candidate to speak.
• Probe for more information to get a complete context, activity and outcome scenario. Use prompts such as those shown in the follow-up questions section, below.

Seeking less detail

Sometimes the interviewer gets more detail than necessary. This can prolong the interview or reduce time for questioning in other areas. When this happens, use the following techniques:

• Establish interview ground rules during the introduction. Ask for brief but detailed and focused answers to the questions.
• If the applicant response drifts, interrupt the candidate and redirect the discussion to a specific area.
• Summarize the discussion and transition to another area.
• Reinforce brief answers.
• Discourage lengthy answers.

Asking follow-up questions

• Frequently, the candidate does not give a complete behavioral example on the first question for a particular behavior or competency. This happens when the candidate is unfamiliar with behavioral interviewing. Remember that many candidates are accustomed to the traditional interview format and may never have participated in a behavioral interview.
• If the candidate offers a false or incomplete CAO, ask a follow-up question to get a usable one.
• Probe for more information to get a complete context, activity and outcome scenario. Use prompts such as these:
• Tell me more about...
• What happened before...
• Specifically, what did you do...
• What was the result?
• How did you deal with...
• Even if the candidate reports a complete CAO, this can be an opportunity to seek another one to confirm or clarify the previous one. For behaviors or competencies which comprise the largest percentages of the job function, the interviewers should ask multiple questions designed to get more data about those particular behaviors or competencies.

Evaluating Responses

The interviewer(s) should use the same criteria in evaluating each applicant. Each candidate who exhibits the same level of effectiveness in a competency should be given the same credit. In evaluating the candidates, the interviewers should pay close attention to:

• More significant behavior
• More recent behavior
• Behavior more related to the target position

Do not give credit for incomplete CAOs.

Please see sample Interview Worksheet and Decision Matrix items. When interviews are complete, follow a plan to reach consensus with other interviewers for each candidate. It is important to discuss the results as soon as possible after each interview — immediately is best — so that your impressions are captured while still fresh. You can find more interviewing tips on this site.