In the past I have cited some of the many studies which have proven that the generic and theoretical interviews which many companies use have zero predictive validity.  That was not a typo - ZERO.

I have tried to think of a tactful way to put this, but I decided to be frank.  If you are using these types of interviews, you're wasting your time.  At best, you have many "surprises" after hire.  You don't want to think about the worst case scenarios.  If you are thinking about them, you're having nightmares like the client I mentioned in my last article.

If you're going to spend time doing interviews, why not get some bang for your buck?  Learn how to design and conduct behavior-based interviews to really understand how a prospective caregiver thinks, communicates, makes decisions, and solves problems.  In behavior-based interviews, applicants are asked to describe in detail an actual situation they encountered in the past, how they handled it, and what the outcome was.  This is commonly referred to as the STAR approach (Situation/Task, Action, Result).

Since behavioral questions are looking for how applicants actually behaved in the past in situations similar to those they will encounter in the open position, they begin with phrases such as:

• Tell me about a time when you had to . . .
• Describe a situation when you encountered . . .
• Give me a specific example of when you handled . . .  

Here are some examples of behavior-based interview questions:

• Tell me about a time when you had to deal with an upset client.  Walk me through what you did and what the outcome was.
• Give me a specific example of when a client wanted you to do something that was a violation of medical protocol.  How did you handle it, and what happened?
• Describe a situation where you encountered a problem with a client.  What did you do and what was the result?
• Tell me about a specific situation where you went the extra mile to provide exceptional service to a client.

I invite you to leave the land of the generic and theoretical and move to the more fruitful land of specific behavioral interviewing.  The Private Duty Caregiver Selection System e-book will provide you with the best interviewing techniques available, for only $149.

After you've taken this first, basic step in improving your hiring process, I invite you to take the giant leap into conducting behavioral interviews based on the objective results of The Private Duty Caregiver Pre-employment Assessment. In addition to green (a good fit), yellow (some concern), or red (serious concern) indicators for critical integrity and behavioral traits, our system will automatically generate behavioral follow up questions based on assessment results.

The system will also tell you exactly which questions on the integrity assessment applicants answered in a way that is yellow or red.  In only 15 minutes this morning, I found applicants who:  get very angry; frighten people with anger; hit people when angry; tell people off when angry; bought stolen items; lie; lie on applications; given unauthorized discounts; used illegal drugs at work; used cocaine at work; helped others beat the system at work; do only enough work to get by; satisfied with work that is "good enough"; did not report co-workers who stole; e-mail pornography; e-mail racial jokes; stare at attractive co-workers and tell sexual jokes at work.

If you want to get started with behavioral interviewing, order the Private Duty Caregiver Selection System e-book.  Then the purchase price for your e-book can be credited to fully cover the one-time start-up fee for the Caregiver Pre-employment Assessment.