Behavioural Assessment: 3 Chances To Get It Right

Behavioural assessments are often the crucial missing piece before hiring a new employee, which can lead to surprises (not good ones) when the candidate commences the role.

Behaviours describe how a person acts and conducts themselves, especially towards others. If the resume looks good, you are impressed with their skills and experience, but this does not indicate what they are like to work with or how they will fit in to the team dynamic of your company.

Rather than relying on ‘gut feel’, you have 3 chances during an interview process to get behavioural assessment right.

The Interview

• Two interviewers are better than one. You will be able to better assess interaction and style, and can observe more if you are not always ‘in’ the conversation. The casual interaction before and after the formal interview is also valuable.
• Ask behavioural interview questions. For example, ‘Tell me about a time when you have disagreed with a manager?’ The answer will highlight key personal traits such as self-awareness and willingness to contribute.
• Structure your interviews and have a prepared set of questions. Include at least two behavioural questions and listen carefully, there will be behavioural clues coming your way.

The Reference Check

• Referees do not typically volunteer bad feedback – you need to ask specific questions and keep probing.
• If you pick up on some themes from the behavioural questions during the interview stage, this is your chance to further explore.
• Try this question – ‘If you could change one aspect of their personal style, what would it be?’

The External Assessment

• When seeking an external provider, put some of your existing team through the process. How well does it describe the behaviours of the people you know well?
• Hopefully, you will see consistent behavioural themes that you have drawn from the interview and reference checking.

Once you start assessing behaviours throughout the interview process, you will quickly see what was missing previously, and will now be in a position to make far more informed decisions and ultimately, better hires.