How to Use Behavioral Interview Questions to Check References

How to Use Behavioral Interview Questions to Check References How to Use Behavioral Interview Questions to Check References After all, who in their right mind would risk giving you the name of areference that might say bad things about them? Naturally, candidates only offer references whom they believe will compliment their work, honesty, and reliability.Verification of employment dates and job titles can be obtained by contacting the human resources departments of previous employers but dont expect HRtoprovide much more information about acandidate. HR proshave been trained well not to offer much help here.So, does this mean references are always worthless? elend necessarily.Next time you are checking a candidates references, try askinga few behavioral vorstellungsgesprch questions. You may be surprised at what you learn.Use Behavioral Interview Questions to get an Honest Answer Lets take a new look at a trusted hiring tool, the behavioral interview question, and consider using i t in a different way. I discussedbehavioral interviewing in an earlier post, but Id like today to offer a new approach to this tactic using it to draw valuable information out of references.Consider this example Recently, I hired for a critical position in our company. It was known and discussed during previous interviews with the finalist, Jason, that budgets would be constrained at first. He understood we were a privately held startup with the typical challenges and pace of any such company. Any viable candidate would have to be self-sufficient, hard-working, and willing to do whatever it takes to make the company successful.I gave this background information to Jasons former supervisor before asking the following questionsTell me about a time when Jason had to deliver on a project where he did not have all of the resources he needed.Give me an example of a time when Jason had to start from scratch and build a new team.Describe for me the environment in which Jason did his best wo rk.Any strength, when overused, can become a liability. Describe a situation where this might have been true for Jason.Tell me something you often had to remind Jason to do.Digging Deeper When Checking ReferencesThe complete answer youre trying to uncoverthrough behavioral interview questions is always made up of the same three parts, whether youre interviewing candidates or references. For our purposes in the example above, we were looking for the followingProblem This answers the question, What problem Jason was trying to solve?ActionThis is a description of the actions that Jason took to address the problem he was facing.ResultHere, the goal is to uncover any results Jason achieved through his actions.I call this the PAR (problem, action, result) technique. To get PAR, youre listening for each one of the three and mentally checking them off as the persongives them to you. If the person skips any one of the three, ask them about it. Be persistent. Dont stop until you get the probl em, action, and result.What I Learned From Jasons SupervisorWhile answering my questions, Jasons former supervisor told me stories about Jasons creativity and cleverness in gathering resources. This was in a situation where he had the drive and the passion, but not the budget. He also explained that Jason was a good builder of teams and very skilled at selecting people. Further, I was able to learn that Jason works extremely hard when he is connected to and strongly believes in the mission of the organization.Jasons supervisor alsomade clear to me that my challenge would be ensuring thatJason maintain a healthy work-life balance that he leave work at a reasonable hour and is not on email all night long to the detriment of his personal relationships.I also learned that Jasons initiative can be annoying if left unchecked. Hecan find himself lost in the weeds because he has not stopped and asked for others opinions or feedback.As a result of using behavioral questions during this refe rence call, I was able to get useful information that could help me a lot in managing Jason more effectively. Compare that to the generic praise you usually receive on a reference call, and youll landsee why behavioral interview questions are the way to go whether youre interviewing a candidate or trying to get some good information out of their references.Master the art of closing deals and making placements. Take our Recruiter Certification Program today. Were SHRM certified. Learn at your own pace during this 12-week program. Access over 20 courses. Great for those who want to break into recruiting, or recruiters who want to further their career.