Behavioral Interview 101

Ground Rules
Training Objectives

What you will learn by the end of today’s session :

• Understand Behavioral Interview as selection process

• Understand structure, process and practice the skill to perform Behavioral Interview
Agenda
Items

Section 1 : Interview as Selection Process

Section 2 : Behavioral Interview Practice

Section 3 : Closing
Interview as Selection Process
Think of us like we are in battlefield… To win the battle against our
competitors
And we need sufficient number and
the right soldiers… And for expanding our markets
What are the costs of not having the right employees?

Because when we hire the wrong soldiers, we risk:

▪ Productivity cost: it will absorb everybody’s time and effort to manage poorly performing
employees

▪ Financial cost: pay a salary to someone who may not be performing to our expectations,
pay additional training, severance pay (if we decide to let the employee go), the cost
incurred from doing employee search and hire replacement

▪ Employee morale cost: in many cases, bad hires don’t get along with other employees
which may lead to the rest of the team become dissatisfied and disengaged

▪ Reputation cost: If you have a bad hire in the mix, you should monitor your reputation
closely to make sure this individual isn’t causing a bad experience for the rest of your team.
Interview is the main tool in Traveloka used to select best candidates

Sourcing Screening Interview Offering

With interview as the key selection tool, it is important that we ensure that all interview processes are
effective to filter good candidates with the lesser ones.
Good interview linked with positive employer branding.

Agree?
Reflection

What are the challenges you face when

conducting an interview?
Comparing interviews
Reflection

Comments? What should be improved?

Reflection

What make the differences?

Behavioral Interview Practice
To begin with...

The purpose of interviewing is not finding out what the

candidates can’t do, but look into how they can give
added value to the company
What is Behavioral Interview?

Behavioral Interview is a
thorough, planned, systematic
way to gather and evaluate
information about what
candidates have done in the past
to show how they would handle
the future situations
Advantages of using past behavior

▪ Using behavior eliminates misunderstandings

about candidate’s past experience

▪ Using behavior prevents personal impressions

from affecting the evaluation

▪ Using behavior reduces applicant ‘faking’

How we structure behavioral interview - POICA

Preparation Opening Interview Closing After

interview
• Understand vacant • Introduce both • Deliver main • Summarize the • Assess interview and
position and get to parties (interviewer & questions, probe interview and provide communicate the
know the candidate interviewee) and candidate’s answers, relevant information result
prior to the interview. break the ice before check candidate’s before the interview
the interview starts motivational fit, finishes
assess with STAR

Create positive candidate’s experience that leads to strengthening Traveloka’s branding

“Employer brand and candidate experience are linked, and they matter greatly to recruit and retain your talent.”
https://www.forbes.com/sites/meghanbiro/2014/04/27/your-employer-brand-owns-the-candidate-experience/#3983c6ab74f5
Behavioral Interview: Step 1

Preparation

• Understand vacant position and get to

know the candidate prior to the
interview.
Preparation: what do you need to know prior to the interview?

Understand the vacant position Familiarize with the Ready for

▪ Understand the job descriptions expected from the candidate interview!
vacant job position which includes its:
- roles & responsibilities ▪ Read the candidate’s
▪ What does the vacant position expect to accomplish? CVs & reviews
▪ What will be the role of the person holding this role?
▪ What would be his/her key responsibilities?
▪ What are the deliverables?
▪ Does he/she has responsibility to lead? ▪ Prepare your questions
based on the profile –
- reporting line and team structure focus on interesting
▪ To whom will this person report his/her work? aspects of the
▪ How would be the composition of his/her team?
candidate experience
- required skills & knowledge (competency)
▪ What are the knowledge & skills (soft and technical) required by the person to
be successful in this position?
Sample of soft competency

Orientation to Impact Resilience Leadership

. Maintain appropriate behavior under stress or - Ability to motivate and inspire confidence in
- Deliver excellence quality with systematic way
difficult circumstances others
- Balance workload
(i.e.handling several problems or tasks at once, etc) - Set and provide the right contexts, expectation,
- Create meaningful impact with long-term
• Show positive attitude in time of change and goals
sustainability
• Focus on end goals under ambiguitious situation - Provide resources, give freedom, delegate and
support others
- Build high performing teams

Motivation Collaboration & Teamwork Communication

- Shows eagerness to develop - Collaborate with others and keep everyone on - Deliver and receive messages effectively
- Candidate aspiration fits with Traveloka needs the same page (whether through processes, - Influence various stakeholders
tools, habits, etc.) - Bridge various contexts across cultures and/or
- Manage and anticipate conflict to maintain a functions.
good social climate. - Listening skill

Problem Solving & Decision Entrepreneurial Mindset Customer Focus

Making
- Embrace and manage volatility, uncertainty, - Adopt customer point of view
- Acquire in-depth understanding of the problem complexity, and ambiguity situation at work - Apply the mindset of customer empathy when
context - Identify Opportunity available designing, developing, and executing works
- Objectively identify & analyze options to select
the most effective course of action and solve a
specific problem
- Use business context, user context, technical
context, and domain context to make good
judgment during decision making
Activity: Identify the required competency from a job position

1. Read job description

1. Based on the job description, identify the required competency

1. Group in three and share your thoughts

Behavioral Interview: Step 2

Opening

• Introduce both parties (interviewer &

interviewee) and break the ice before
the interview starts
The day comes and you need to interview a candidate…

Before jumping into questions, it is important to create a conducive environment to make the candidate feels
comfortable from the start and throughout the interview process.

Don’t jump into the main questions without proper opening. If the time is limited, shorten the opening but don’t
skip it.

▪ Come to the interview ▪ GREET the interviewee and ▪ Explain the AGENDA of the ▪ Mind your GESTURES since
session ON-TIME, don’t introduce yourself interview (duration of the beginning: your facial
let the interviewee wait interview, if there is activity expression, body language,
for too long. ▪ Build rapport / ice breaker - other than interview eg. your voice and tone
make sure candidate is case study, etc)
▪ Do apologize when you comfortable (‘How are
are late you?”, “Did you come ▪ Explain the position being
straight from home?”, processed
▪ Remember that the “How was the traffic” , etc)
interview process is part
of employer branding.
 Avoid these facial expressions during interview

▪ Intentionally infuse fear or pressure to the

candidate for example through fierce facial
expression, overly loud voice, etc.

▪ Appear uninterested to the candidate.

Appreciate their time and be excited, each
candidate has the possibility to be the right
one for the position
Behavioral Interview: Step 3

Interview

• Deliver main questions, probe

candidate’s answers, check candidate’s
motivational fit, assess with STAR
Behavioral Interview – the basics

Three types of information that we need

to know about a candidate to make
accurate performance prediction:
1. The candidate’s work and
Current or past educational history
behavior is a good 2. What the candidate is motivated to
predictor of future do
behavior 3. Specific things the candidate has
done during the history
How does STAR framework look like?

It is a technique employed by interviewers to evaluate candidate’s past behavior in order to

predict his/her future behavior in a particular situation.

S T A R
Situation Task Action Result
How does STAR framework look like?
Question setup What to look for Example on exploring candidate’s
communication skill
Tell me about a time when you The context Tell me about a time when you had to
Situation had to… communicate an important decision to other
stakeholder
▪ What was the decision?
▪ To whom did you need to deliver the
information?
▪ How was the situation upon the decision
made?
What were you expected to do? Problem definition What were the specific tasks assigned to you?
Task (Objective/Issues/Obstacles)
Task displaying defined
competency:
• e.g. deal with a difficult client
(resilience)
How did you handle it? Action taken by the candidate How did you manage to complete the tasks? What
Action were your actions?

And what was the result? Outcome of action taken by the How was the result?
Result candidate
Answers you may get – complete vs partial vs false

Complete STAR Partial STAR False STAR

Response that encompasses all parts of Response that does not contain or leaves out Response that gives a lot of info but no
expected answer: Situation, Task, Action, and important details of one or more STAR substance.
Result components.
Vague statements (provide no specific):
“I usually…” , “I always…”

Opinions:
“I was the most accurate compare to other
employees”, “I think coaching is the most
important”

Theoretical or future oriented statements:

“I would…”, “I would have…”, “I would like to…”

May lead to misjudgment, wrong conclusion or prediction due to wrong or incomplete information

Follows up to get a second STAR. Continue to Follow up to get a complete STAR. Identify what Follow up to get a true STAR. Probe the
assess whether the candidate has other component is missing and ask the candidate candidate to be able to produce concrete
required competency from different situation. answer, the things he/she actually did in the
past.
How to follow up candidate’s answer

Following a planned behavioral question:

Follow-up to get a complete STAR

1. Partial
1. Recognize which parts are missing: 2. Ask a behavioral follow-up question to pin-down the missing/unclear parts, such as:
a) Situation? Task? a) Did you close the sale at the end?
b) Action? b) So when you caught this person breaking the rules, did you just drop it or did you
c) Result? report it to your supervisor?
c) What was the result of that situation?
d) What did you do then, given the task?

2. False Follow-up to get a true STAR

Vague responses Opinions Theoretical or future oriented responses
Ask for confirmation of the facts by Lead to experience and facts, such as: Lead to facts by following up with
following up with questions such as: • Why are you sure that your client is questions such as:
• Tell me in specific, what happened? happy, was there an indicator? • How would you handle a conflict with a
• Tell me more, as an example, one of • Can you explain more on that? teammate?
your experiences when you put • How do you typically plan your day?
customer first over yourself..

3. Complete Follow-up to get 2nd complete STAR

Exercise : Partial STAR – what’s missing?

When deadline of project was approaching, I needed to check whether all tasks are completed, and I
S T -What is the result for having regular
checkpoint?
regularly conducted checkpoint with all team members. I did it every once in two days.

I was one of the negotiation team member for the project. It was a very challenging process of
S -What was the assignment for you during
the negotiation?
negotiation. Every party would like to win the negotiation, however at the end I could make them to
-What did you specifically do?
R
follow our terms.

When I got rejection in my sales presentation, I tried to find ways to make myself calm before I took -What did you do to calm yourself?

S T
-How was the result?
the next action.

When I joined that organization, there was no proper sales performance system. So I took initiative to -What did you do to create it?
S T
-How was the result?
create it.
Exercise : False STAR - why are they false?

I always take the time to find out what customers want and I’ve made a lot of customers happy that -Tell me more about a time when you took
time to find out what customers want
(followed by other questions to get Task,
way. Action, Result)
-How do you know that the customers are
happy? What are the indicators?

The result of my test was about average. -Can you help to elaborate more on what
you mean by average?

-Tell me more about a time when you

When it seemed like we wouldn’t make the deadline, I will gather all the PICs to explain to me what really experienced that (followed by other
questions to get Task, Action, Result)

are the challenges.

-Tell me more about a time when you

really experienced that (followed by other
I always get along with my peers and they respect me. questions to get Task, Action, Result)
-How do you know that they respect you?
What are the indicators?
Motivational check – the basics

Job Fit Location Fit Cultural Fit

When? • Geography Company?
• Why do you think you would like it here?
•Ask candidate to identify a time • Travelling
• Why you move from other company?
satisfied/dissatisfied with job • Availability and quality of
related activities….. education, health care Team?
entertainment, etc. • What kind of team environment that can
What? make you comfortable and more
motivated at work?
•Specifically what candidate • What characteristics you wouldn’t like to
liked/disliked about a particular see in your team?
activity…
Leader?
Why? • What kind of leader you would expect to
lead you?
•Why the situation
• What characteristics, do you think, should
satisfying/dissatisfying?… be in a leader, that can stimulate you to
•Why do you change your job? work your best?
Questions you should avoid asking
Type of Question Example

Leading questions — these questions ▪ As a leader you need to be able to coach your team members right?
suggest the expected answer ▪ Don’t you think we need to focus on increasing our revenue?

Multiple questions — these questions have ▪ From your previous experience, what project did you manage, what were
two or more distinct parts requiring an the challenges, and was there any delay on the implementation?
answer, and they should be asked ▪ Can you tell me about your experience when you need to take difficult
separately decision and how did you manage the impacted stakeholders?

Long questions — some questions have so ▪ Can you tell me your experience where you were assigned as the project
much background and scene-setting that it manager, and you had made implementation plan for the project,
is hard for the candidate to work out what however due to some reasons you need to shift your priority and caused
the question is you to rearrange the whole schedule and resources, to ensure that the
project can be finished as per agreed timeline?

Trick questions and using stress tactics — ▪ If you were a team leader in Traveloka like me, what do you think about
these questions are designed to mislead the approach I take to develop my team members through giving
the applicant. difficult assignments?
Questions you should avoid asking
Type of Question Example
Personal / sensitive / non-ethical In the United States, for example, it’s illegal to ask questions related to:
questions – may lead to candidates feel ▪ Age/date of birth
offended and uncomfortable ▪ Religion
▪ Race
▪ Citizenship
▪ Physical attributes
▪ Sexual orientation
▪ National origin
▪ Marital status
▪ Children
▪ Day care arrangements
▪ Arrests
▪ Place of residence (own or rent)
▪ Previous worker's compensation claims
▪ Disabilities/physical ailments
▪ Specific promise of salary expectations

Which question from the list above that you still often ask to the candidates?
Tips and tricks!

▪ During the interview, verify your assumptions and check your understanding. Do not make any conclusion based
on your assumptions

▪ Take note of the candidate’s body language (tone of voice, facial expression, seating gesture, etc). This can also
be consideration to decide the status of candidate.

▪ Identify possible potential & development opportunities

▪ Overall, the candidate should be talking for 80% of the interview, and the interviewer(s) for 20%
Behavioral Interview: Step 4

Closing

• Summarize the interview and provide

relevant information before the
interview finishes
Before you end the interview session…

Give opportunities for candidate to ask questions

If the candidate fit based on your early assessment,

sell the positions/job openings based on candidate
aspirations

Explain the next process and thank candidate

for their time
Behavioral Interview: Step 5

After Interview

• Assess interview and communicate the

result
You have finished your interview, then what?

You need to analyze the interview

result and practice judgement!
You have finished your interview, then what?

You need to rate the candidate!

You can use the rating from Smart Recruiters:

1 star: Strong no
2 stars: No
3 stars: Maybe
4 stars: Yes
5 stars: Strong yes
Don’t forget to do these too!

▪ Submit your interview reviews in

Smartrecruiters

▪ Update recruiters with important

information
Yeay! You have finished the overall cycle of Behavioral Interview

Preparation Opening Interview Closing After

interview
• Understand vacant • Introduce both • Deliver main • Summarize the • Assess interview and
position and get to parties (interviewer & questions, probe interview and provide communicate the
know the candidate interviewee) and candidate’s answers, relevant information result
prior to the interview. break the ice before check candidate’s before the interview
the interview starts motivational fit, finishes
assess with STAR

Create positive candidate’s experience that leads to strengthening Traveloka’s branding

“Employer brand and candidate experience are linked, and they matter greatly to recruit and retain your talent.”
https://www.forbes.com/sites/meghanbiro/2014/04/27/your-employer-brand-owns-the-candidate-experience/#3983c6ab74f5
Watch out for common interviewer pitfalls

We don’t welcome the Not reading their resume

(do not spare time to read candidate’s resume)
candidates properly
(left the candidate waiting for long)

We don’t care and it shows

(detached, distracted, unenthusiastic, don’t take
notes, and look anywhere but them) We dominate the discussion
(interrupt conversation, endless talking)

Questions asked are annoying

(any irrelevant questions, rhetorical or overly
complicated questions)

We are too honest

(tell candidate that their chances to be hired are
We boast low, give feedback)
(get carried away, exaggerate stuffs to impress,
praise ourselves)

We rush the process Questions are dodged

(unreasonably shorten the interview process ) (condescend questions from interviewer, create
Anything else? lies to answer)
Exercise: Role Play
Activity: Role play – behavioral interview

Group practice: in 10 mins

• Divide in group of 3 and allocate roles : interviewer, interviewee and observer

• The interviewee will be the candidate for Story Lab Coordinator

• Training participants will take turns as interviewer and observer.

Class practice: in 10 mins

• Randomly invite some participants to take the role of interviewer

• The interviewee will be the candidate for Story Lab Coordinator

• Training participants will observe and feedback.

Closing
Reflection and commitment

What is the ONE THING that

you commit to do differently in
conducting interview?
What is your feedback?

https://goo.gl/forms/9bqHkTLDDvAO6gzH3