Integrating Behavioral-Based Interviewing Into the Curricula
Author(s): Thomas J. Brumm, Steven K. Mickelson and Patricia N. White
Source: NACTA Journal, June 2006, Vol. 50, No. 2 (June 2006), pp. 28-31
(Published by: North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture (NACTA
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Integrating Behavioral-Based Interviewing
Thomas J. Brumm1
Steven K. Mickelson 2 NACTA
Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering
Patricia N. White3
Engineering Career Services
Iowa State University
Ames , IA 50011
Abstract Based Interviewing (BBI), aims to discover and
Behavioral-based interviewing (BBI) is based on examine examples of past behavior through guided
the premise that past behavior is the best predictor of questioning. The traditional interview is oriented to
future performance. Many interviewers of students revealing personality traits, whereas BBI is oriented
in the Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering to the demonstration of competencies. Competencies
(ABE) Department at Iowa State University use BBI are application of knowledge, skills, attitudes and
to gain detailed job-related examples from a candi- values, and behaviors (Elwell, 1984), and are now the
focus of many companies' hiring and employee
date, and to assess past performance and competen-
cies. One technique of preparing for BBI experiences assessment processes. Typical competencies might
is the STAR method - examples of competency include innovation, analysis and judgment, team-
demonstrations that include a situation or task, the work, and communication. By assessing competen-
specific action taken, and the result of the action. cies, the interviewer increases the consistency among
ABE students, starting their freshman year, develop interviews to avoid interviewing bias, and allows the
a "library" of STARs that encompass the 14 compe- interviewer to make decisions based on standard,
tencies central to the ABE outcomes assessment objective assessment criteria.
program. Students develop, reflect upon, and update Development Dimensions International, Inc., a
these STARs throughout their academic careers and global provider of competency-based performance
include them in their electronic portfolios. They use management tools and services (DDI, 2004), is a
their STARs to prepare for career interviews that use leader in teaching managers how to interview
BBI. Integrating BBI and STAR into the curriculum candidates. They call this method Targeted
helps students focus and reflect upon their past Selection®. While this technique is called by many
experiences and how those experiences contribute to names, the underlying premise is the same past
competency development their success as practicing behavior is the best predictor of future performance.
professionals. Traditional interviews often include such
questions as: (1) "What are your strengths and
weaknesses?" (2) "Why are you interested in working
Introduction for us?" and (3) "Tell me about yourself?" While the
Career interviews for engineering and technol- answers may be interesting, they are opinions (even
ogy students are evolving from interrogation sessions when answered truthfully) and may not predict
to structured conversations. This evolution is future performance.
facilitated by the proliferation of information BBI questions, however, emphasize past perfor-
technology that has automated many of the previ- mance and behaviors. Typical questions in a BBI
ously manual tasks such as reviewing resumes and setting might include: (1) "Think of an occasion when
scheduling interviews. This frees recruiters to spend you had to deal with a difficult team member."
more time networking and building relationships (2) "Tell me about a time when you had too many
with job candidates (Burton, 2003). The real impetus
things to do and you were required to prioritize your
for this evolution is the realization that past behavior tasks." and (3) "Give me a specific example of a time
is the best predictor of future performance (Byham when you used good analysis and judgment in solving
and Pickett, 1997). And after all, future performance a problem."
is what any interviewer is trying to ascertain.
Figure 1 gives a comparison of the "traditional"
The structured conversation approach to
interviewing and BBI. In the BBI approach, the
interviewing, commonly referred to as Behavioral
Assistant Professor; 107 Davidson Hall; Email: tbrumm@iastate.edu
2Associate Professor; 103 Davidson Hall; Email: estaben@iastate.edu
3Manager of Student and Alumni Career Services; 301 Marston Hall; Email: patwhite@iastate.edu
28 NACTA Journal • June 2006
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interviewer uses detailed job-related examples from a Iowa State University have been proactive in inte-
candidate to assess past experience, performance, grating BBI and STAR into the Agricultural
and competencies. BBI prompts the candidate to Engineering (AE) and Agricultural Systems
provide more than "canned" responses and focuses Technology (AST) undergraduate programs. This
the interview on past actions, not perceptions. The process has been enhanced by the new ABE outcomes
interviewer can use follow-up questions to clarify an assessment process (ABE, 2005a) initiated by the
answer or to probe deeper. department. This process involves the evaluation of
Career specialists suggest that applicants answer fourteen competencies (Table 2) through electronic
BBI-type questions through the use of the STAR portfolios (Brumm et al., 2003), cooperative educa-
method. STAR involves providing an example of a tion and internship evaluations (Mickelson et al.,
past behavior which includes a situation or task, the 2004), and evaluations of ABE graduates two years
specific action taken, and the result of the action post-graduation. The fourteen competencies were
(Byham and Pickett, 1997). Table 1 provides an developed through dialogue with stakeholders ~
example of a student using STAR to answer the employers, alumni, parents, faculty, and students
question, "Tell me about a time when you showed (Hanneman et al., 2002).
initiative."
Anecdotal evidence suggests that over 80% of the
Integrating BBI and STAR into the
companies interviewing Iowa State students for Curriculum
engineering and technology positions use BBI to BBI and STAR are integrated into the ABE
some degree. Therefore, faculty in the Department of
undergraduate curriculum during the first semester.
Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering (ABE) at Both the AE and Ab I programs
have a first semester orientation
course (ENGR 101 and AST 110)
as part of the ABE Learning
Community. The courses meet for
one hour each week for 15 weeks.
BBI and STAR have been inte-
grated into two class sessions of
each course.
During the first of these class
sessions, students are introduced
to the 14 competencies listed in
Table 2. Students are first asked
to generate a list of skills, motiva-
tions and behaviors characteristic
of a successful practicing profes-
sion in their field. Their list often
encompasses the 14 competen-
cies. Next, they are asked to read
and reflect on the descriptions of
seven of these competencies,
those that are mentioned by a
Figure 1. Comparison of traditional interviewing and behavioral-based majority of the employers of our
interviewing (BBI). graduates: Engineering/Technical
Knowledge, General
Table 1. Example STAR (ECS, 2005). Knowledge, Analysis and
Judgment, Communication,
Interview
Question Tellmeabout a timewhen youtookinitiative. Continuous Learning,
/Task
Situation I wasa member ofthestudent XYZ. Weplanned
organization, tohave for
a float Initiative, and Teamwork.
VEISHEA [anIowa State student-run Ourpresident
festival]. stoppedattending Then students are asked to
meetingsorcommunicatingwith theother
officers.
Attendance
dropped andnothing
happenedatmeetings.Ourorganizationhadbeenoncampusfora longtimeandhada write a STAR for three of
great
reputation. the seven with the require-
Action AlthoughI was notanelected I asked
leader, twoofficers
tomeetmeatthe[student] ment that they describe
uniontotalkaboutthefloat. their STAR completely
Result Atthemeeting, ImentionedthatXYZ hada great andmyDad talked
reputation about enough to demonstrate the
XYZ when hewas a student.
Thevicepresident tomeet
agreed with the to
president competency.
hisrole.
clarity the
We learned president problems
was having that
andwas relieved the
vicepresident
waswillingtoassume ofuslooked
Thethree
leadership. atthe During the second class
intheby-laws
requirements andtook thenecessary tochange
steps tothe
theleadership session, students are asked
vicepresident.
Icontacted
themembers whostopped Wegota latestart,
attending. but to analyze a company job
wepulledtogetherandhadthefloatintheparade.
description in order to
determine the workplace
NACTA Journal • June 2006 29
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Integrating Behavioral
Table 2. The 14 ISU Competencies in the
ABE departmental outcomes assessment Success in the
process (ABE, 2005a; ABE, 2005b). workplace depends on
much more than
Engineering/Technical
Knowledge Innovation Teamwork
academic knowledge .
General Knowledge Cultural
Adaptability Integrity The 14 competencies,
ContinuousLearning Analysis & Judgment Professional Impact derived from stake-
holder dialogue, define
Quality Orientation Planning Customer Focus
what it means to be a
Initiative Communication
successful practicing
professional. The act
competencies necessary for resume develop- of creating a STAR
ment/modification, interview STAR preparation, and forces students to reflect on their experiences and
career success. After evaluating the job descriptions how they relate to competency development and
for key phrases that relate to the competencies, the demonstration. "Critical reflection on one's practice
student chooses one of the more frequently men- and understanding leads to higher-order thinking,"
tioned competencies to develop a STAR for interview- and "action without reflection is unlikely to produce
ing preparation. learning" (Shulman, 2002).
The focus on BBI and STAR are continued during
the second semester for each program via one credit Outcomes Assessment and STARs
"experiencing" courses (AE 110 and AST 103). The The ABE departmental outcomes assessment
purpose of these courses is to expose students in a
process is based on competencies. STARs are essen-
hands-on, interactive way to each of the programs' a demonstration of a particular competency.
tially
options. Students are required to develop a STAR for STARs are used by students as artifacts in their
each competency every week. Since the class is electronic portfolio, which is a collection of artifacts
broken up into peer groups, group discussion and
that demonstrate the development of the 14 compe-
evaluation take place each week related to the tencies. ABE students are required to have an
STARs. Students also upload each STAR to their
acceptable portfolio as a requirement for graduation.
electronic portfolio.
However, a portfolio consisting entirely of STARs
Another activity in these courses involves peer would not be an acceptable demonstration that a
mentors from the ABE Learning Community con- student has developed the competencies. There needs
ducting "mock" BBI sessions with course partici- to be examples of actual student work that provide
pants. Both gain valuable experience in this exercise. verification that the competency was achieved. Other
As a follow-up, interviewer and interviewee rate and artifacts could be, for example, classwork, design
reflect on the experience and discuss it at their
projects, and/or video of presentations. None the less,
regular peer group meetings. some experiences may be difficult to present in any
manner other than STARs, because the demonstra-
Student Use of STAR tion of a competency may not result in an artifact that
Based on course activities completed during the could be loaded into an electronic database.
first year in the program, students are well prepared As students begin to create their portfolios, they
for BBI. Upper-level students in both programs can generally have not had enough experiences to
refer to their STAR and BBI assignments to help generate enough artifacts to cover all the competen-
prepare for co-op, internship, or summer employ- cies. STARs fill that gap nicely. They give the students
ment interviews. In a student focus group about something to fill the "holes," and provides them with
interviewing, one student remarked: "They asked me the opportunity to reflect upon and learn from the
a question just like one we did in mock interviews. I experiences. Many of the STARs initially placed in
used the STAR I used then." This response is typical the portfolio are replaced by more concrete artifacts
of AE and AST students' experience with BBI they as time goes on.
are much more comfortable during employment Students' portfolio artifacts (including STARs)
interviews than other students that have not been are examined during the process of development, as
introduced to STAR and BBI. they progress from freshman to senior. They receive
Students are also asked to reference their STARs feedback on their artifacts from the instructors in
to update or replace them as they gain new work or second- semester "experiencing" course, as well as
life experiences that better demonstrate a certain from the instructors of required sophomore and
competency. Another important benefit of having junior seminar classes in which they work on their
students complete STARs is that these encourage portfolios. This feedback helps students understand
students to reflect on their past experiences to help how well their STARs encompass the Key Actions of
chart their future academic and life direction. Since the competency, and thus how well it demonstrates
the students store these in electronic portfolios, they the competency.
are easily accessible for making additions and
updates.
30 NACTA Journal • June 2006
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Integrating Behavioral
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