I was at a conference not too long ago where the keynote speaker asked a question to a woman in the front of the audience: "Do you have any children?" "Yes, I have a 14-year-old son," she said.

Then he offered a scenario: "Let’s say that you are near a pond. Your son is on the other side and falls in. Shortly after he falls, you see motion in the water where an alligator is heading toward your son. What would you do?"

"I would jump in and swim over to save my son," she responded without hesitation, which was met with a round of applause.

Then the speaker turned his question to the audience: "How many of you would jump in to save her son if you saw this happen?" Almost everyone in the audience immediately raised their hand. The speaker then encouraged the mother to look around the room at all the people willing to risk their life for her child. She was visibly touched, and we all felt great that we were selfless (although completely hypothetical) heroes.

While I have no doubt that the mother’s maternal instinct would immediately kick in, I was more than a bit skeptical that everyone else would wrestle an alligator for a stranger. It’s a nice thought, but some of these people are the same ones that won’t let you merge into their lane on the highway. The problem with this question is that we have no way of proving that the supposed behavior would really happen (I don’t think there would be much funding available for a study that tossed a kid into an alligator-infested pond to see how people react).

Going Beyond the Theoretical

While not life or death, the same basic issue occurs when we ask candidates about theoretical situations. "What would you do if a customer was unhappy about the service provided?" is essentially asking a candidate to provide you with what they think the answer should be—not what they would actually do. No one is going to respond "I would get defensive, raise my voice, and tell them that is our policy and if they don’t like it they can shop somewhere else." Yet that’s what a lot of employees end up doing.

That is why behavioral questions are so important in assessing how a candidate would perform in the position they are being considered for. A behavioral question asks the candidate to give a specific example of past behavior, which we all know is the best predictor of future performance. Yet very few recruiters ask behavioral questions or are even familiar with them.

Behavioral questions are valuable in a variety of ways. They provide insight into how a candidate has approached similar situations to ones they will experience in the new job. They can bring to light behavioral issues that could impact performance. They uncover areas where they don’t have the experience they claim to have. And they can reveal additional strengths and experiences that would be of value in the new role, but otherwise wouldn’t be known just with technical questions or on their résumé.

Bridging the Gap

In a labor market where there is increasing value placed on a candidate’s traits and potential rather than similar experience, behavioral questions can help bridge that gap. You do this by first identifying the characteristics that are most successful in the role you are recruiting for. Maybe you are looking for someone that is good at building long-lasting relationships. A revealing behavioral question could be "Tell me about the client relationship you are most proud of."

Or your client has had challenges in the past with employees not getting along with their co-workers. A relevant behavioral question could be "We’ve all had times where we didn’t get along with a co-worker. Tell me about a time that you had a difficult co-worker—how did you handle it? What was the result?" Notice I didn’t say "have you," which would result in a "yes" or "no" reply. Instead, I’m asking an open-ended question that requires a specific example and provides insight into how they handle conflict, whether they take any self-responsibility, and how they resolve problems.

Uncovering Potential—or Flaws

The key to getting the most out of behavioral questions is to not let candidates off the hook when you get a generic response, or they refuse to answer the question. "I always get along with my co-workers" seems like a great answer on the surface, but it’s probably not true. An appropriate follow-up question would be "That’s great, but I’m sure there has been at least one fellow employee with whom you’ve had some sort of issue. Walk me through that situation and how you handled it." If you still don’t get a specific answer, then let them know you’ll give them time to think about it and come back to the question later.

Behavioral questions are one of the most effective ways of truly uncovering the potential, and the pitfalls, of your candidates. Incorporating these questions into your interviews will ultimately result in better screening, better placements, and happier clients and employees.

This article was published in Staffing Success magazine by the American Staffing Association. I'm a contributor to the Recruiting Today series.

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