COURSE TITLE
HIRING SMART: BEHAVIOURAL AND PERFORMANCE-BASED TECHNIQUES
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OVERVIEW  

The most important thing you can do as a manager is hire good people. This is easier said than done. Hiring is not yet a science. However, there are things we can do to give ourselves the best chance to choose the right people. Behavioural Interviewing is a very reliable and valid candidate selection technique based on the work of Tom Janz, of the University of Calgary. While we all may say that past behavior is the best indicator of future behavior, we don’t act as if we believe this when we are interviewing candidates—often because we aren’t certain how to ask questions that will tell us about past performance. This workshop concentrates on the pre-interview preparation, developing questions and their value, the interview techniques that get specific, behavior-based examples of past performance, and the strategies that follow through on this process. In addition to the work of Tom Janz, this workshop draws from the work of Stephen Jackson, who takes the behavioural interview one step further with a twelve-step process for hiring top performers.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES  

Participants who complete this workshop will:

  • Have a process for identifying competency requirements and integrate them into a job description
  • Develop a fair and consistent interviewing process for selecting employees, using a variety of interview strategies, including behavior description interview (BDI) techniques
  • Understand the implications of hiring errors
  • Understand why behavioural interviews are two to five times more accurate than traditional interviews. Identify and apply the principles of behaviour interviews, and performance-based selection methods
  • Recognize the pattern of behavioural questions and use this pattern to design job-specific, behavioural, performance-based questions
  • Enhance communication skills of listening, asking questions and observing, that are essential for a skilled recruiter
  • Understand the implications of basic employment rights and human rights that affect the hiring process
  • Enhance professional interviewing skills with effective communication strategies and behavioural interviews techniques
  • Role play and practice using behavioural interviewing skills*
  • Develop a defensible scoring and evaluation process
  • Complete the process through testing and reference checking.
COURSE OUTLINE  

Day One

  1. Introduction
  2. History of the Interviewing Process
  3. Cost Analysis
  4. Performing a Job Analysis and Creating a Position Profile
  5. Determining What Skills You Need
  6. Identifying Skills
  7. Finding Candidates
  8. Advertising Guidelines
  9. Screening Resumes
  10. Developing Assessments
  11. Rating Resumes
  12. Problems Recruiters Face
    • Talking too much
    • Relying on first impressions
    • Inconsistent questions
    • No plan
  13. Interviewing Barriers
    • Leniency/stringency factors
    • Error of central tendency
    • The halo/horns effect
  14. Traditional vs. Behavioral Interviews

Day Two

  1. Asking Questions and Listening for Answers
  2. Using the Critical Incident Technique
  3. Interview Preparation and Format
  4. Scoring Responses
  5. Human Rights
  6. Checking References
  7. Developing a Guide
METHODOLOGY  
  • Large group discussion and activities
  • Lecturettes
  • Individual work, reflection and exercises
  • Small group discussion, exercises and activities
  • Case studies / Critical incidents
  • Simulations / Role Plays / Practice
WHO SHOULD ATTEND  
  • Managers/Supervisors who recruit, interview, and/or hire employees into the organization
PRE-REQUISITES

 
  • Completed pre-assignment
DURATION  
  • 2 Days
CLASS SIZE  
  • .6 – 20