October 2003
In the July “Ethics Moment” column, Philip Sallee (salleep@isp.state.il.us), a member of the Central Illinois ASPA Chapter, posed a most interesting inquiry:
“I'm working on updating interview questions for individuals seeking employment with my agency. I'd like to add an ethics question. Specifically, I'd like a question without a clear-cut 'correct' answer. I don't want the applicants to think we want a specific answer. The situations presented in your column often don't have clear-cut answers for professionals, but for an applicant, getting the question from an interviewer, they might appear to. I'm interested in how a potential employee reaches a decision more so than the decision itself. Can you suggest an appropriate question?”
ASPA member Jody L. Harris responds: In Maine state government we are implementing something called “competency-based interviewing” or “behavioral event interviewing.” A competency is something that goes beyond technical job skill or education. It focuses on a behavior, attitude, or leadership skill: such as vision or creativity, problem-solving, or judgment. It focuses on the actual behavior of a candidate rather than on a hypothetical situation. It requires more time. You might, for example, spend 15-20 minutes on a single question.The questions ask the candidate to describe what they actually did that demonstrates the competency or behavior for which you are looking. For example, to assess integrity or ethical judgment, you might ask, “Tell me about a time when a policy decision was made that conflicted with your personal beliefs and ethics. How did you resolve it?” The questions should be broad so as to give the candidate room to find a situation in their experience where they demonstrated the competency.
It is important that the candidate select their own “incident” or “story” (no leading by the interviewer). Key is to get the person to describe what they actually did, said, thought and felt. If they say, “We did something...,” ask them, “What did you do specifically?” There are lots of resources on the technique. An excerpt from our Manager's Guide that describes the interview process more fully can be secured from me.
Competency-based interviewing requires skill and practice and, of course, the competencies or behaviors you interview for must be related to the job to be performed. But the research says you get better candidates and the candidates that are not selected are more satisfied that the process was fair.
Submitted by:
Jody L. Harris
Strategic Planning Coordinator
State Planning Office
38 State House Station
Augusta, ME 04333
(207) 287-5424