Be prepared for a few surprises at your next interview. As well as standard questions on what you achieved, you could be asked to describe exactly what you did, how you did it and why. If your interviewer is just as interested in how you get your results as the results themselves, you're probably experiencing behavioral screening.
Also known as performance-oriented prediction, behavioral screening is becoming increasingly common among executive search firms. It's based on the premise that because human behavior is highly repetitive it's the best predictor of future performance. Armed with this insight, companies are using behavioral screening to identify the specific challenges of their key leadership roles and uncover the types of behavior required to overcome these challenges.
Your best course of action is to understand and prepare for behavioral screening for every
interview. Even if this process isn't being used, it is good practice to focus on your methods for achieving results before an interview. If the process is being used, you will be ready to rise to the challenge.
According to a recent article by Spencer Stuart consultants Richard A Smith and Lee Esler, who are based in our Atlanta office, this new search and selection process is tighter and faster than traditional techniques – and increases opportunities for candidates with solid transferable skills.
Why do companies use behavioral screening?
A company using behavioral screening at interview is undertaking a clearly structured
recruitment process. It has developed a common understanding of critical challenges facing
the organization.
Then it has agreed the specific modes of behavior required to overcome these challenges.
Finally, it has developed behavioral screens so it can identify and evaluate candidates with the required behavior.
Employers benefit because the process is closely aligned with their corporate goals and helps them think more laterally about the person they need. Candidates, in turn, benefit because they are sought and screened according to their competencies rather than the narrow focus of industry or job title.
Attracting the best talent is the most critical challenge that organizations face, say Smith and Esler, but the practices of identifying and assessing talent haven't changed in nearly 50 years.
How does behavioral screening work?
Traditionally, executive recruitment starts with a search committee, which usually creates a
laundry list of skills and expertise that doesn't exist in any one individual. The result is a long, costly and haphazard recruitment that often results in confusion and lack of consensus.
Behavioral screening takes a critical view of recruitment and assessment that is modelled
closely on best practices such as capital asset acquisition. Organizations making major
capital investments analyze what's needed to meet their agreed strategic goals and draw up a
clear specification for the new asset.
The behavioral screening process starts with alignment. Typically, the search team identifies the specific objectives that must be overseen by the candidate over the next 18 to 36 months. They do this by agreeing a list of the most significant and likely challenges to be faced by the company and then – crucially – trimming it to those challenges that apply only to the role.
The team then agrees the precise types of behavior that the candidate must demonstrate to
overcome these challenges. This creates a short list of typically four or five specifically
designed "behavioral competencies" which can be used to identify and consistently evaluate
qualified prospects.
The result is that the selection of candidates focuses on competency, not on industry. This
encourages hirers to look outside their immediate sector, expanding the universe for the role.
Candidates who are highly skilled at managing customer service, turnaround or mergers, for
example, can come from any number of industries.
Once the prospects are filtered to a reasonable number of candidates, the executive
committee will focus on what to look for in the interview.
How should you prepare?
Firstly, rather than focusing on past performance, the interview focuses on past patterns of
behavior. So be prepared for the interview to probe past behavior that is specifically
related to situations likely to be encountered once hired. These don't have to be industry-specific.
As opposed to the more common interview questions about situation, role and results, a
behavior-based interview will ask you to explain specifically what you did, why you did it and how it made an impact on people and the business.
The interviewer will be looking to uncover and document actual behavior. It's easy to expound on your leadership beliefs, but it is much more difficult to fabricate actual behavior. When asked, most people give an accurate account of their actions.
Your referees will be asked to focus on specific behavior not general descriptions and to put examples in their proper context. "Growing revenues by 30%", for example, makes sense only when you know what had happened before and after.
To complete the 360-degree view of your behavior, hirers will seek out third-party
references from observers who can provide impartial references – peers, team members
and line managers.
Companies that use behavioral screening display a strong sense of direction. They have
reached a common understanding about the state of the organization, prioritised the
challenges, distilled the specific behavioral competencies required and validated them in a
clear and consistent process.
So if you find yourself in a behavior-based interview, it's a positive sign. It means the hirer has a clear understanding of how the role will contribute to corporate goals. And it means they want to confirm how your competencies will help them meet specific challenges. The only thing left is to provide this confirmation. Over to you.
Things to remember...
- Behavioral screening demonstrates an organization with a strong sense of direction
and a strategic approach to recruitment and assessment.
- By focusing the search process on competency rather than industry, it encourages
companies to look beyond their immediate vertical sector.
- The process gives solid candidates the chance to shine and move ahead of candidates
with more important-sounding job titles.
- Prepare for behavior-based interviews with specific examples of things you have
done, why you did them, how others reacted and impact of them on the business.
- Be honest and factual – the truth will come out in the reference process.
Richard Smith is the co-managing director of the venture capital/private equity practice,
and director of the technology, communications & media practice. Before joining Spencer Stuart, he held senior positions with Diamond Technology Partners and EDS in the US and Europe. He has a Master's of management in entrepreneurship
from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University and a BSc, with honours, from the University of Florida.
Lee Esler is a member of the firm's technology, communications & media and consumer goods & services practices. He is an officer of the National Association of Corporate Directors, a board member of the Michael J. Coles College of Business
at Kennesaw State University, and an active member of the Technology Association of Georgia and the Kellogg Alumni.
For information about copying, distributing and displaying this work, contact permissions@spencerstuart.com.