Behavioral Interviewing

Better Interviews. Better Hires.

Interviews are a wild card in the hiring process. Nearly every business uses them, but few get them right. In fact, many managers are never trained to conduct interviews. The risk? Bias can get in the way of hiring.

Remember, candidates are interviewing the company, too. There’s nothing worse than finding the right candidate, only to have them turn you down because of a poor interview experience.

Enter Targeted Selection®, DDI’s behavioral interviewing system that ensures fair, accurate candidate evaluation and great candidate experiences. Behavioral interviewing is the world’s most widely used interviewing approach today. And Targeted Selection is the most accurate interviewing system in the world.

BY THE NUMBERS

Behavioral Interviewing Makes a Difference

Data shows behavioral interviewing results in better hiring decisions.

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USE BEHAVIORAL INTERVIEWING

75% of employers use behavioral interview questions to assess soft skills

Career Builder

64

CARE ABOUT INTERVIEW EXPERIENCE

64% of job seekers are unlikely to accept a job offer after a negative candidate experience

Software Advice

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LACK CONFIDENCE

78% of leaders lack confidence in making the right hiring decisions

Global Leadership Forecast, 2023

smiling man leader looking up confidently because he uses DDI's behavioral interviewing solutions for hiring the right candidates?fm=webp&q=75

What Is Behavioral Interviewing?

Behavioral interviewing is a structured interviewing approach built on research. The process shows that past behavior predicts future behavior.

In a behavioral interview, candidates provide concrete examples of how they have used specific behaviors and skills on the job. These examples help interviewers understand not only what candidates can do, but how they do it.

Behavioral interviews are also designed to gather consistent criteria across candidates for a job. That way, hiring teams can evaluate and compare candidates fairly. The result? Less bias and greater confidence in hiring teams to select the strongest talent to move your business forward.

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Every Leader Needs Behavioral Interviewing in Their Toolkit

An essential task of every leader is hiring the right people. Talent decisions are a long-term investment that can pay off with a highly skilled employee. But the wrong hiring decision can cause a drop in revenue, productivity, morale, and business performance.

That’s why it’s critical that leaders don’t hire for only what a person can do. They need to hire for how they do it. And that’s only the first step. A new hire’s performance and retention depends on how the leader onboards, coaches, delegates, engages, and so much more.

This is why behavioral interviewing skills should be part of every leader’s development. With a DDI Leadership Development Subscription, you can improve how your leaders hire, grow, and retain their teams.

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The speed to productivity once somebody’s hired is significantly higher. They have a clear and consistent picture of what their job role is going to be and what competencies are expected starting before the interview.

Cory Kreeck, Vice President of Organizational Development, Beachbody

What Are Behavioral Interview Questions?

You might know behavioral interviewing questions as the ones that start with “tell me about a time when…” But asking questions this way is only the beginning. You also need to structure questions around the competencies for the job.

Behavioral interviewing questions are designed to show how candidates demonstrated a specific behavior or skill in a situation. This format deters candidates from speaking in generalities or talking only about what they would do. Instead, the candidate can explain exactly how they achieved their accomplishments.

DDI's STAR method that's used to capture information about how a candidate performed on the job during behavioral interviewing, featuring a diagram outlining the pieces of STAR: ST (Situation and Task) written on the top point of the STAR diagram, the bottom left "A" (Action) and the bottom right point of the STAR has an "R" for result?fm=webp&q=75

Using the STAR Method in Interviewing

Have you heard of the STAR method of interviewing? It's a key part of behavioral interviewing. DDI brought the STAR method to market in the 1970s.

The STAR method helps interviewers capture complete information about how a candidate has performed on the job.

Learn about STAR

How Do You Master Behavioral Interviews?

At DDI, we train leaders to master both the art and the science of interviewing. The art of interviewing helps you learn how to handle the job interview. For example, managers learn how to build rapport with candidates and ask focused, behavioral-based questions.

The science of interviewing is a process that helps you ensure consistency and reduce bias. For example, managers learn how to score candidates on a consistent scale and integrate the data for a final decision.

icon of a head with a magnifying glass inside it with a question mark inside of that, and a conversation bubble coming out of the head to show that behavioral interviewing can help you evaluate candidates for motivational fit?fm=webp&q=75

Can a Behavioral Interview Evaluate Job Fit?

A common misconception is that you can evaluate job fit in an interview. But too often, “job fit” can be a loose term for bias. It’s easy to make snap judgments about how someone will fit in.

What’s more important is motivational fit. Motivational fit indicates how a candidate’s preferences align with the requirements of the job, location, and company. Motivational fit also shows whether someone wants to do the job versus being able to do the job. 

By evaluating motivational fit, you’re more likely to select a candidate who will be satisfied on the job.

a woman job candidate being interviewed by a man interviewer, the woman looking confident and talking with her hands and the interviewer asking the candidate behavioral interviewing questions

Webinar

Transform Your Interviewing

Learn how NewYork-Presbyterian uses behavioral interviewing. Plus, see how they rapidly transformed their approach to hiring, even while the hospital was at its most vulnerable.

Get tips and lessons learned to refresh your interview process.

Watch on demand