Turnover is a huge problem in every organization; however, some are worse than others. Most estimates say employee turnover costs 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 the employee 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. Behavior-based interviewing is the most effective way to hire a solid, productive, happy employee.

Much of the hiring that happens in the business world is based on assumptions or gut feelings rather than facts. This type of interviewing is tainted by each interviewer’s biases and preconceptions. Many times, this leads to disastrous hiring because it’s really a shot in the dark.

Behavior-based interviewing involves asking questions that ask the candidate to 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. This 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 with 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 probing, redirecting, and using silence to get the candidate to relate the behaviors they need to formulate and an educated opinion on the candidate’s suitability to the job. If a candidate has difficulty giving you any facts to base your hiring decision on, then they probably don’t have the necessary skills.

The most effective way to hire a solid, productive, happy employee is through behavioral interviewing. When you have specific, fact-based information about a candidate’s skills, you can make an educated decision that is more than a gut feeling. You won’t be able to eliminate turnover completely, but behavioral interviewing will drastically reduce it.