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Decrease Employee Turnover Through Behavioral Interviewing
Posted: 12-06-2010 03:55 AM
Views: 3196
Synopsis:
Turnover is a huge problem in every organization; however some are worse than others. Most estimates say that employee turnover costs from 35% to as much as 100% of an employee's salary. The cost to recruit, interview, hire and train new employees increases every year. Turnover, of course, cannot be fully stopped, but one of the most effective ways to lower it is to higher better employees from the beginning. If you the employee that you hire has the skills, knowledge, ability and desire to do the job you hired them for then there is a much better chance that they won't quit or be terminated. The most effect way to hire a solid, productive, happy employee is through behavior based interviewing.
Turnover is a huge problem in every organization; however some are worse than others. Most estimates say that employee turnover costs from 35% to as much as 100% of an employee's salary. The cost to recruit, interview, hire and train new employees increases every year. Turnover, of course, cannot be fully stopped, but one of the most effective ways to lower it is to higher better employees from the beginning. If you the employee that you hire has the skills, knowledge, ability and desire to do the job you hired them for then there is a much better chance that they won't quit or be terminated. The most effect way to hire a solid, productive, happy employee is through behavior based interviewing.
Much of the hiring that goes on in the business world is based on assumptions or gut feelings and not on facts. This type of interviewing is tainted by biases and preconceptions that each interviewer has. Many times this leads down the road to disastrous hiring, because it's really a shot in the dark.
Behavior-based interviewing involves asking questions in an interview that have the candidate relate past job experiences. The behaviors shown in these experiences are used to formulate an idea of how the candidate will react and handle work situations in the future. The type of interviewing has been proven time and time again in workplace studies to provide the best window into how an employee will behave in the future.
By asking effective behavioral interviewing questions, you will get your candidate to provide you specific examples of their past work. Each question you ask is done to garner facts about a particular skill that the applicant needs to do the job they are interviewing for. A good behavioral interviewer will be probe, redirect and use silence to get the candidate to relate the behaviors that they need to formulate and educated opinion on the suitability of the candidate to the job. If a candidate has a difficult time giving you any facts to base your hiring decision on, then they probably don't have the skills necessary.
The most effective way to hire a solid, productive, happy employee is through behavioral interviewing. When you know specific, fact based information about the skills of a candidate you can make and educated decision that is more than a gut feeling. You won't be able to completely eliminate turnover, but behavioral interviewing will drastically reduce it.
Charlie Bentson King, a writer and producer of training videos for TrainingABC, is on a crusade to promote behavior-based interviewing. TrainingABC is a distributor of DVD programs such as More Than a Gut Feeling and other interviewing training videos.