TrainingBriefs® Interviewing: Probing Techniques

During an interview, when a candidate’s answer is a generality, self-promotional, not behavioral, isn’t complete or the candidate’s non-verbals don’t match what the candidate is saying, follow-up with behavioral probes to draw out more information. You discover that the specifics the candidate gives can be linked to job requirements.

During an interview, a candidate will often give a lot of information about past events and performance without really providing useful information about current skills. Probing for more information will help you get the answers you need to make a good hiring decision.