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January 08, 2001 (Computerworld) -- Many IT managers nowadays need ask potential hires only two questions:
What do you know?
When can you start?
Still, in spite of record-low unemployment rates and record-high demand for IT personnel, that quickie conversation isn't in effect everywhere. At some corporations, hiring is still a complex and extensive process using a variety of techniques to select individuals who will be as right for the culture of the company as for the job itself.
At Capital One Financial Corp., for example, a candidate's development potential is as important as his ability to fill the current position. With an IT staff that has grown from 400 to 2,000 in four years, "we often look not only at what the person can do now, but what [he] can do in the next job," says IT recruiting director Jim Kutz, himself a hands-on IT manager just a few months ago.
Among the complex and interlocking methods used by the Falls Church, Va.-based credit card company are a series of behavioral interviews. These are a key part of the process, Kutz says.
What Is a Behavioral Interview?
John Madigan, IT human resources vice president at The Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. in Hartford, Conn., explains that a behavioral job interview is designed to reveal a pattern of behavior.
"We actually ask what you did in specific situations," Madigan says. "Concrete examples will demonstrate a person's preferred way of dealing with those situations and give you a better idea of that person and how they're likely to act on the job."
Madigan offers several examples of behavioral interview questions that might be asked of IT professionals with different levels of experience. For a lower-level employee, he might probe for competency and for teamwork skills: "Tell me about the last time you were asked to help out on a project that you weren't directly assigned to." As follow-up questions, he suggests, "What was the project and what was your workload at the time? What did you do? How successful was your assistance, what impact did it have? Did you seek feedback on your assistance, and if so, what was it?"
For interviewers who are trying to assess a higher-level IT professional's ability to lead a team, he suggests questions along these lines:
"Tell me about a time when you were most successful in leading a group or team toward accomplishing an important goal." Then as follow-up questions, "What was the goal and who defined it? When did this happen? How were the steps leading to the goal defined? What was your role in implementing the process? How close did you come to meeting the goal?"
How Do You Do It?
Behavioral interviews should be a key part of every employer's hiring process, says Norman L.
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