Welcome! Grab some post-its! Think about the skills, knowledge, attitudes, and experiences that you typically want in an ideal candidate. Jot those down on post-its and add them to the wall.

Looking for a Mind at Work Ele Luna Jennifer Post Southern Methodist University

You Don’t want to Miss Your Shot: Hiring the Wrong Person is Costly $37,500 Per bad hire (Goth, 2014) 3.5X The person’s annual salary to replace (American Management Association) Lower Moral Lower Performance Dysfunction Slower Momentum Higher Turnover (Anderson, 2008)

Main Points Review Identifying your wants and needs What is a Behavioral Interview Question How to formulate your Interview

Tell your Story: Identifying your Brown Shorts is the best place to start Murphy, 2012

You’ll be back: Bad questions create bad interviews Tell us about yourself? What are your strengths? What are your weaknesses? What’s your favorite student development theory? Murphy, 2012

Rise Up: Behavioral Interview Questions were our Solution Past performance is the best predictor of future performance Instead of asking, “What’s your favorite student development theory” You might ask, “Tell me about a time you used a student development theory”

Write like you’re running out of time: your Behavioral Interview Questions Identify a brown shorts characteristic “Tell me about a time…” Insert a situation that would require or elicit that characteristic Murphy, 2012 Resiliency: Tell me about a time you faced a set back at work. Decide how much you want to lead or quantify

Wait for it: An example Brown Shorts Quality: Initiative Situation: You saw an opportunity for student learning Lead-in: At SMU we value initiative, Qualifier: and created something new to address that need. Initiative: “At SMU we value initiative. Tell me about a time you saw an opportunity for student learning, and created something new to address that need.”

Wait for it: An example Brown Shorts Quality: Navigating Ambiguity Situation: You completed a project Lead-in: As we develop our new residential college model, we are constantly coming up with new ideas. Qualifier: with little or no direction. Navigating Ambiguity: “As we develop our new residential college model, we are constantly coming up with new ideas. Can you describe a time you completed a project with little or no direction.

May you always be satisfied: SMU wants candidates to be successful 1. Begin with a Softball Question 2. Tell them exactly what we’re looking for Explain the STAR Method 3. Ask Behavioral Questions Prompt them to complete an incomplete answer 4. End on a High Note

Helpless: Help Complete the STAR Quality: Diversity Question: Tell us about a time where you challenged a student to consider a perspective different from his or her own. Answer: One time, I was advising a student group, and two of the exec board members clearly weren’t getting along. They were different personalities completely – one valued structure and planning while the other was a more creative type – great with ideas, but not as organized. I could tell that the creative student was making some false assumptions about the other, so I had a conversation with that student after the meeting. Since I’m a highly structured person, I was able to give the student some perspective into where the other exec board member was coming from. It was a great educational conversation.

Helpless: Help Complete the STAR Quality: Emotional Stability Question: Sometimes we need to remain calm on the outside, even when we are really upset on the inside. Give me an example of a time when this happened to you. How did you handle it? Answer: I was having a really tough on call week. I was sleep deprived, and then our fire alarm went off at 3 alarm. When the police officer informed me that someone pulled the fire alarm, I was furious. After my conduct meeting, the responsible student apologized, and has really turned around his behavior in the community since.

Helpless: Help Complete the STAR Quality: Problem Solving Question: One of our core values is calculated risk taking. Tell me about a time when you had came up with a creative solution and it paid off? Answer: Well, we were really struggling to learn what we needed to know about a candidate after an interview. So we researched behavioral interview questions, and built a new set of questions that focused on past experiences.

Rewind - Main Points Review Identifying your wants and needs What is a Behavioral Interview Question How to formulate your Interview Murphy, Mark. (2012). Hiring for Attitude: A Revolutionary Approach to Recruiting Star Performers with both Tremendous Skill and Superb Attitude. New York: McGraw-Hill. Questions: Ele Luna, eeford@smu.edu