Corporate Interview Blueprint

BEHAVIORAL INTERVIEWING

Theoretical questions vs. behavioral questions The heart of the behavioral interviewing technique is getting candidates to tell you about specific situations where they dealt with challenges similar to the types of situations and challenges they would deal with at Simon. Behavioral interviewing is effective because it focuses on behavioral- based questions instead of theoretical questions. In the absence of this interview approach, we hire candidates that we like versus candidates who will thrive and perform best in the role. Example: “What would you do if you have a performance problem with an employee?” The above question is theoretical. Theoretical questions are appropriate when you really want to assess candidates’ textbook knowledge or philosophy. However, these types of questions are easy to rehearse and often lead to false positives. It’s important to remember that just because candidates know they ought to behave in a certain way or believe in a certain philosophy doesn’t necessarily mean they will behave as such. A better way to ask this question would be: “Tell me about a time you had an employee with a performance problem. What did you do?” Asking the question in this manner will give you a true picture of how your candidates actually handled a situation instead of how they think they would handle a situation.

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