Harish Navuluru

I cannot agree with this Interviewing technique more, as I have been trained in BEI (Behavioural Event Interviewing), have interviewed thousands of candidates and have been a BEI trainer myself. This is a very good approach compared to the traditional interviewing techniques as it draws upon the fact that what you are today is because of events in the past.

There are 36 traits that any organization can choose from to define based on their needs. Needless to say, no organization can implement all 36 traits. So when we are in the process of choosing our mode of interviewing for our organization, we have to first make a checklist of traits that we look for in the candidates based on our organizational goals and objectives. We had used 4 behavioural traits in my last firm which were very meaningful and ensured that we had a fit/non-fit at all times. BEI reduces the risk of personal judgements which can be very detrimental to the organization. Personal biases are almost completely eliminated because the interviewer is expected to note down the instances/events that the candidate has mentioned in the interview in the Interview Assessment Form.
Also it increases the chances of finding the right candidate as typical questions like “tell me about yourself” are not asked. At no point in time, a subjective question is asked and each question asked has to conform to a set parameter of the need for the candidate in the first place.

Incidentally, when we look at identification of an interviewing technique for the organization, we take into account the key attributes/traits that we feel are important and necessary for our organization, from the perspective of performance, retain-ability, enhancement, OD, Organization culture, etc. So the question of implementing BEI for an existing employee is something I fail to understand
Thanks for your time on this.

We would be right to say that no interview technique gives a clear picture. Having said that, I must add that the various interview techniques in practise is to arrive at a meaningful and objective selection criteria/process. You are again right when you say behaviour is a complex matter but it has been established beyond doubt that past behaviour is a definite and sure shot indicator or future performance, unless superseding events do not come into play. In that case, it would be an exception rather than a rule. We are talking about the rule here. When an interviewee gives hear-say examples, or cooked up examples, it is easy to crack him open by probing on specific instances. For example, a question like “Tell me of an instance when your opinion was not heeded to by your Team Lead” would make the candidate think. When he gives us an example, we probe further, how big was the team, what was your role in it, what was the situation, what type of client it was, what were the expectations from your role as well as the team’s, when did this event take place, can you give us a reference of your TL for reference check, etc, are some of the probing questions we would ask to ascertain if the candidate is giving a genuine example or an imaginary story.

If we study the psychology of candidates, we would know that they are under the impression that in an interview it is only your achievements and high points that are going to be discussed. BEI eliminates that completely and creates a platform to discuss purely events and not adjectives. For example, words like hard-working, diligent, are of no consequence in a BEI as, unless they are supported by solid examples which can be verified, they are of no use.

BEI is not a tool to take out somebody’s negative traits alone. It even covers the positive traits as well as the achievements of the candidates. Needless to say, even the positive traits have to be illustrated with examples from the candidates’ background. For example, if the candidate says, “I am a very hard working person”. We would say “Excellent, could you please give us examples from your prior stints where you exhibited your hard work ?” When the candidate gives a vague reference, we probe, indicating to him that we need more inputs, specific instances, people involved, so that we can check the story with references.

So labelling BEI merely as a tool to bring out people’s negative side may not be the right thing to do.

This article is an excerpt from my replies to a forum topic on www.hrlink.in

Here is the link to the original discussion : http://hrlink.in/topics/what-is-behavioral-interviewing#PgTop