How to use performance-based interviews to hire outstanding employees
Ugh, interviewing. It can be tough, can’t it? You have so many other things you need to be doing with your day, but you also know that hiring the right people is crucial to the success of your business and the happiness of your team.
No matter how much preparation you put into an interview and how many probing questions you ask, you can still be left wondering if you got a good enough understanding of the person and their capabilities.
Research shows that the best predictor of future behaviour is past behaviour – so maybe it’s time to bring out the PBIs? Sure, it sounds like something nasty picked up by the contestants on Love Island, but it’s actually short for “Performance Based Interviews”. Designed to assess performance and potential, this interview style will give you a clearer idea of whether a candidate will suit the role – and your company.
Get revealing in-depth answers
PBI questions force the candidate to give in-depth answers about their previous jobs, the situations they faced in those roles and – most revealing of all – how they responded to them. It also ensures the interview flows naturally because these questions don’t allow for short yes/no answers.
Get an idea of personality and performance
Another benefit of PBI is that you can find out more about the candidate’s past successes, how they problem solve and how they handle high-intensity or time-critical situations. By asking for examples of specific scenarios from a previous job, you can start to understand how an applicant is likely to react in future situations.
Now you know the why. Here’s the HOW…
We’ve given you a few of our favourite PBI questions below. Tweak them for your needs, try them out and, hopefully, you’ll start to feel like all your interviews are positive and productive.
1. Describe a challenging negotiation you’ve been involved with. Was it successful?
2. Tell me about a time you were responsible for getting other people to improve their productivity. What role did you play and what actions did you take?
3. Tell me two suggestions you’ve made to your manager in the past year. How did you come up with the ideas? What happened?
4. Describe a situation when you’ve managed to get a task done even though there was very little support or supervision. How did you approach this?
5. In your current job, what organisational or process changes have you made that you’re proud of, and why?
6. Tell me about a time when you used good judgment and decision-making to solve a problem
Go forth and multiply your team
Right, so now you’re armed with some of our favourite example questions, all that’s left is to put them into practice in your next interview! Remember to bring something to take notes. It’s handy to have something to refer back to when you’re making your decisions about each candidate. Let us know how you get on.
And, if you need help finding the best candidates for your business, drop us a line.
