Behaviour Based Interviewing

Recently I presented a short webinar on the basics of behaviour based interviewing that got me thinking even more about the interview process. The key to effective interviewing is preparation. So many managers and small business owners go into an interview and "wing it". Winging it is great if you want a snack during a football game, disasterous when hiring someone. The Society for Human Resource Management did a survey and found that the majority of hiring decisions are made in the first 5 minutes of an interview. This means that most of the questions that get asked are just verifying the fact that the hiring manager likes the person in front of them. So how effective is hiring someone in the first 5 minutes, not very. According to a study by the University of Waterloo regular unstructured interviews are only effective 19% of the time. I would submit that most interviews are unstructured and so most hires in North America only work out 19% of the time. No wonder turnover costs billions each year. Remember that the cost of a bad hire is generally twice the monthly salary if caught in time, much more expensive if you keep the person long term. So what investments are you making to make your Hiring more effective? Are you investing the time to prepare for interviews? Are you using assessments to objectively support and review the interview information. Are you investing in courses to learn the proper interview techniques. A small investment at hiring can bring large returns when you calculate the costs involved in bad hiring. For more ideas on Hiring systems check out the services at www.empowergroup.ca.

Jim