Issue
39 -May 23, 2007
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Issue
39 -May 23, 2007 |
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About This Issue Why do we do the things we do? Although that’s a rather introspective question, one you might pose to yourself during a moment of reflection, the answer can be quite enlightening when it comes to finding the right job or discovering the right candidate. In this issue of The Animal Science Monitor, we tackle the subject of behavioral-based interviewing from two different viewpoints, with an emphasis on preparation for the purpose of making a truly perfect fit. We hope that you enjoy this issue of The ASM, and of course, we promise to be on our best behavior. —Dan and Don Tips for the Boss Recruiting Stars Using the STAR Approach (By Dan Simmons) Nobody wants to hire the wrong person. Worse yet, nobody wants to hire the wrong person when they thought it was right person. But it happens all the time, and it’s probably going to happen to you. One way to reduce the odds of having a mis-hire is to incorporate behavioral-based interviewing into your process. Step #1— Evaluate the positionThe first step is to evaluate the position as the previous person left it. Determine what the position entailed and what it was intended to accomplish. Also—and this is vitally important—what should it accomplish in the future? How will the position grow and change with the company’s vision and objectives? You need to set these criteria first before selecting an individual to fill that position. Keep in mind that this gives you a fresh start to re-engineer this position or refocus it on the right priorities. It is quite possible that the person who left the position focused on things that he/she saw as important, but they may have strayed from your goals. (Often these conflicting views of what is important is the reason the job is now open.) So now you have a profile in mind for the person you want. You have both short-term and long-term expectations for the position, in addition to the skills and behaviors you believe the person will need in order to carry them out. Reaching this point is half the battle. Many times, the wrong person is hired because not enough attention has been paid to the parameters of the position in its current state, to say nothing of where the position may go in the future. Step #2—Evaluate the candidatesThe next step is the interviewing of the candidate, and their answers to your questions will help you to determine if they possess the necessary behaviors to excel in the position. The key, however, is to ask questions that will elicit detailed responses that focus not only on the candidate’s skills, but also on how they utilize those skills and in what manner they facilitate their problem-solving strategies and their character. That means that many of your questions might be “situational” in nature. The situation may be a real one from the candidate’s past or a fictitious one that you’re posing to them to see how they react. And it’s not enough to ask the initial question and leave it at that. Follow-up questions are essential to discovering how the candidate will think and act in a given situation—in short, how they’ll behave as a member of your team. Instead of asking “Tell me about yourself,” you might say, “Tell me about a situation where you had to overcome a conflict, either between you and another co-worker or between two other co-workers, in order to accomplish a common goal.” And while the candidate tells their story, you can ask additional questions, such as “What were you thinking at that point” or “What led you to make that particular decision?” These questions will help you to uncover the candidate’s behaviors, characteristics, and interpersonal skills. Some call this approach STAR interviewing. This acronym stands for Situation, Task, Action & Result. You present the background and the objective and ask what action(s) they would take to achieve certain results. Another way to do this is to ask them to provide an example of a situation from their career and walk through how they dealt with it. Long-term perspectiveBehavioral-based interviewing has been in use for quite some time, but has recently become more and more prevalent. And when it comes to constructing behavioral-based interviewing questions, you’re only limited by your imagination and the extent to which you’d like to tie the question to your current company culture or other aspect of the company. While it’s true that behavioral-based interviewing is more time-consuming from beginning to end, it can be much more effective at finding a candidate who’s a fit all the way around. One of the trainers in the recruiting industry, “People are hired for what they do, and they’re fired for who they are.” If you hire people for both who they are and what they do, you’ll find they might (productively) stick around for a long, long time. If you have any questions about behavioral-based interviewing or any other aspect of the screening and interviewing process, you can contact me at dan@consearch.com. Hot Jobs The ASM is pleased to publish information regarding exciting new opportunities. If you’re interested in any of the positions below, please email Don Hunter at brg@charterinternet.com. To Search all of our Jobs,
click the following
links: Swine Management Positions Dairy Nutrition Sales Manager - Protien Encapsulated Fats
Don't see what you're looking for? There are positions we can't advertise, such as General Manager for a pet food company, Manager of International Business, Manager of Technical Services and more. These confidential searches might be right for you. Make certain we know who you are. Send your resume to Don at brg@charterinternet.com. Is Your Company Recruiting? Are you in the process of searching for top talent in the marketplace? Then you should sign up for Simmons Says, the monthly e-newsletter exclusively for hiring managers written by executive recruiter Dan Simmons of Continental Search & Outplacement, Inc. Dan is a 15-year veteran of the recruiting industry, and Continental Search has provided targeted search and placement services for over a decade. Each issue of Simmons Says is designed to inform and educate about a variety of workplace issues, recruiting trends, and marketplace dynamics. Sign up today, and take the next step in making 2007 a great year! To sign up for Simmons Says or to find out more about the recruiting services offered by Dan and Continental Search, send an email to dan@consearch.com. |
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Featured Job Listings Manager/Lecturer Dairy Research and Training
Facility Specific duties include: coordination of research; teaching and assisting
with classes and Dairy Club activities; coaching the Dairy Cattle Judging
team; assisting with on-farm short courses; hosting tours of the facility;
and supervising dairy farm staff. The person hired will represent the
SDSU Dairy Research and Training Facility at producer meetings and
extension functions. An earned B.S. in Dairy Production/Animal
Science with 2 years post-B.S. experience in dairy farm management
is required. An M.S. in Dairy Production or related field is
preferred. Application Deadline: April 30, 2007 or until filled
. For questions on the position, please contact Dr. Arnold
Hippen at 605/688-5490 or arnold.hippen@sdstate.edu. To
apply, visit the online employment site at http://YourFuture.sdbor.edu.
For questions on the electronic employment process, contact SDSU Human
Resources at (605) 688-4128. SDSU is an AA/EEO employer.” Managing Your Career Navigating a Behavioral-Based Interview  (By Don Hunter) How do you prepare for an interview? Most likely, you ready yourself to answer the most basic of questions pertaining to your qualifications and abilities, perhaps even a few more advanced questions that delve into other specific skills. But what if you’re asked questions you’re not prepared for, questions you’ve never been asked during an interview, questions that are very detailed and that reference specific instances from your work or life history? Are you now being evaluated by a different set of criteria and more importantly, will that evaluation play a large role in whether or not you get the job? Chances are good that’s exactly what is happening. Like everything else in today’s job market, the screening, interviewing, and hiring process has evolved and become more refined and more targeted. In essence, it’s become more effective, and you should be aware of the techniques being employed in order to weed out the pretenders from the contenders. One such technique is the behavioral-based interview. Not your father’s interviewYou know what you’ve accomplished as an employee (or as a student). You might even suspect what you’re capable of accomplishing in the future. But do you know why you have these capacities? Perhaps this isn’t even a question you’ve asked yourself before. If not, you should ask it now, because your next opportunity could hinge upon your answer. Okay, first for the bad news. Behavioral-based interviews are more difficult to prepare for than traditional interviews, mainly because the number and type of questions you might be asked is nearly endless. It all depends on the company conducting the interview. The good news, however, is that if you know how to navigate this type of interview, you can use this knowledge to your advantage. This is how it works: the company is attempting to evaluate your past behaviors and experiences in order to predict how successful you’ll be if you work for them. In essence, you’re being evaluated based upon certain job-related characteristics as opposed to cut-and-dried talent or skills. These characteristics include, but aren’t limited to, self-confidence, willingness to learn, and the capacity to show initiative and be a self-starter. The questions you’re asked during a behavioral-based interview will be linked to those characteristics. In fact, many of them might not be questions at all, but directives such as “Describe for me a situation . . .” The interviewer wants to know about a challenge or task you tackled, the specific action you took to address the situation, and the ultimate outcome. If you’re prepared, you can use the nature of this type of interview to your benefit and seize upon the opportunity to “sell yourself” in a big way. What the interviewer is looking for is a story, a small story, to be sure, but a story just the same. The key is to be concise while being specific at the same time. The interviewer is seeking examples of past behaviors that they can apply to their open position, and those behaviors are based in the characteristics described above, among which are self-confidence, willingness to learn, etc. What it boils down to is this: they want to find out who you are just as much as they want to know what you can do. Your to-do listSo—what specific steps can you take to prepare for a behavioral-based interview? Start with the following:
Knowing how to navigate a behavioral-based interview gives you a distinct advantage over candidates who don’t know how to do so or don’t even know what such an interview is. It also helps you to take another step toward building the type of career you’ve always wanted. If you have any questions about this topic, please send me an email at brg@charterinternet.com. And if you’re currently engaged in a job search or are interested in advancing the scope of your career, be sure to send me your resume. I’d be happy to discuss your career goals and ambitions, including ways in which I can help you to achieve them. Keep in mind that any exchange of information, including resumes, will be kept in total confidence and handled in a discreet fashion. Ever Wonder About The ASM? What is it? The Animal Science Monitor is an email newsletter published at least once a month with news and information about both the current job market and also the Animal Science industry. Who publishes it? The ASM is published by executive recruiters Dan Simmons, CPC of Continental Search & Outplacement, Inc. and Don Hunter of Bay Resource Group. Click here for more information about Dan and Don. How can The ASM benefit my organization?
What are some other related Web sites? |
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