Interview Techniques

Behavioural interviewing process

There are many methods of recruiting employees. Taking into account the dynamically changing labour market, we see businesses more and more often deciding to take multi-path activities and look for specialists in various ways. The process of recruiting employees and varied techniques that go along the way are also inherently related to the selection of the best candidates. Here is everything you need to know on how different recruitment methods can save you time in the recruitment process and find you the best fit for your business.

Your decision on finding a person who fits the job profile, is highly motivated and committed to a new job shouldn't be rushed. When preparing to launch the recruitment process, you should consider the fact that recruiting process is a difficult and time-consuming task.

Recruitment is known as the process of selecting information about given candidate in terms of the requirements of the job to which they aspire. Therefore, it requires determining what specific abilities, talents, predispositions, and skills should the person you are looking for have. Very different research tools have been developed for this purpose, checking the predispositions desired by the employer to a greater or lesser extent. But are these tools able to provide you with adequate knowledge about the person you recruit? Our experience from hundreds of interviews conducted over the last years shows that all the information you need can be obtained during a well-conducted interview process.

Iceberg model

When you look at an iceberg, what you see above water is only 20% of the iceberg — its other 80% is below water. That 20% above water represents skills. The other 80% below water consists of mindset (40%) and legacy (40%).

To implement the iceberg interviewing model, try this during your next interview.

Spend 20% of the time assessing skill set: Either through different interviewing techniques/questions or test projects, figure out whether or not the candidate has the basic skills to do the job you're recruiting for.

Spend 40% of the time assessing mindset: If the role requires the person to create new products or services, then you may want to assess whether or not your candidates have the mindset of risk-taking by asking them to tell you a career story where they had to take a risk to create something new. They may have all the skills needed to create new products, but not the mindset of risk-taking when it comes to creating new products. And that may stifle your business growth. So think about the mindset(s) required to succeed in that role, and then take the time to assess all those within each candidate so that you don't end up hiring a "false positive."

Spend the last 40% of the time assessing legacy: This is that part of the interview where you want to assess whether your candidates want your job just for the pay check so they can pay their bills, or if they really see their job as their craft. Organisations and employees succeed when they both want to leave a legacy behind with their remarkable work.

The iceberg model for interviewing candidates can help you hire top talent every single time — talent who will take your organisation to the next level. The question is, do you want to throw away the "old" interviewing template and try something new? Let us know if you wish to receive a list of questions that you can ask your candidate or be ready to answer them if you're preparing yourself for an interview.

DISC model

DISC recruitment method is made of 4 styles of behaviour developed by the American psychologist William Marston. By analysing human behaviour in a specific environment and in specific situations, it turned out that people with similar styles usually behave very similarly. Interestingly, every person has these 4 styles of behaviour, but to a different degree of their intensity; DISC is an abbreviation of the English terms for specific styles: Dominant, Influencing, Steady, Compliance.  

The DISC competence test gives feedback about:

• Communication style
• Sales predispositions
• Individual approach to customer service
• Factors motivating to achieve results
• Determines the level of decision-making
• Resistance to stress
• Attitude towards change
• Analytical skills
• Preferred team roles or values ​​in the workplace

What does the DISC competency test define and measure:

• What are your candidate's strengths and what motivates your candidate to achieve even better results
• How does your candidate cope with difficult situations
• How does your candidate see changes - as an opportunity or an obstacle?
• How quickly does your candidate adapt to changes
• What is your candidate's attitude towards applicable standards and procedures
• How does your candidate try to influence the behaviour of others or convince them to be right
• How does your candidate select the arguments in the conversation

Recommended uses: recruiting, team building, sales, leadership

We are convinced that the key to the successful hiring process is the appropriate selection of the search method and DISC method is highly recommended by us. Here is a simple DISC competency test that you can utilise in your business for no cost.

Dilts Logical levels model

Another, and one of the most accurate models in selecting the best candidate is the use of the so-called Robert Dilts model of neurological levels.

This model shows the brain organisation of the most important life components in order to function and be consistent in everything the person does. When reading the Dilts pyramid, you should start from its foundation - the vision (spirituality), that shows what is the most important factor in a person's life. If the successive levels of the pyramid follow one another, you can say that the candidate is consistent in everything he/she thinks, says and does. If there is a gap or a disturbance on any of the level of the pyramid, the consistency might be lost.

How to translate this model into practice? 

The first level you want to check is the career mission. We do recommend ignoring the level of spirituality, because this level is suited better with coaching rather than in recruitment - it is a level that is quite difficult to define and almost impossible to confine.

MISSION - What for?

• Why do you want to work in this company?
• Why do you communicate with other teams?

The next level of the pyramid is IDENTITY - who is your candidate? We can use the following questions to check this:

• What is your role in your current company?
• Who do you want to be? Define your role.

BASIC ASSUMPTION - what is possible?

• What tasks are feasible?
• How would you describe a good relationship with your boss?

It is also worth talking very carefully about VALUES - what is important?

• What is important in contact with external customers?
• What is important in keeping a good relations internally?

As you are closer and closer to the surface and moving towards what you can already see at this stage, you can talk about SKILLS:

• What can you do by using your own hands?
• What can you do best?

You can make sure your first impression is right and you can check BEHAVIOUR data - what does your candidate do?

• What do you do when…?
• What do you do in contact with an external client?

All the previous levels shape the ENVIRONMENT in which the candidate operates. You can discuss this topic with your candidate using these questions:

• Where do you work? (Even when you already know this from the candidate's CV)
• Where do you perform your duties?

Considering that the candidate should know who he/she is and who he/she wants to be, the answers to these questions give you information about the degree of identification of a given person with the role they are to play when working for you. If the candidates are unable to identify themselves with their future role, they will most likely have little commitment to what they will be tasked with. They will come to work to do their job and earn a living, not to pursue their plans and dreams.

It is very important to discuss VALUES and BASIC ASSUMPTIONS with the candidate, as these are the main determinants of human actions. Answers to the related questions allow you to obtain information about the most important personal motives, their beliefs about their own abilities and limitations. It is important that people in their work have a chance to realise their values. Otherwise, they will quickly become discouraged.

What is important to your candidates and what they believe in affects their SKILLS. You can check this area by talking to the candidate about their strengths or their development plans. You should reconsider employing people who know everything or can't or won't identify areas where they should improve.

BEHAVIOUR is a result of habits shaped by the knowledge and skills and can easily clarify on the earlier steps of the discussion. 

And finally, ENVIRONMENT - this is a specific place where people operate using their skills, where they are motivated by values ​​and beliefs and where they play specific roles. What people do and say determines their results in the environment in which they choose to operate.

Summary

We shared the most effective recruitment tools we know and have been using in our recruitment process for many years. We would like to inspire you to think about recruitment as a creative work in which you need both intuition of people, analytical knowledge, quick combination of facts and finally accurate conclusions and courage in making decisions. We keep our fingers crossed for your successful recruitment but if you're in doubt and need someone to take this process of your shoulder. We are here to help.