Best of 2000: How to engage job applicants

by Mike Walton | Jan 01, 2001 8:00:00 AM

Tags: Mike Walton

Takeaway: We're counting down the top five IT Manager articles of 2000 this week, beginning today with No. 5. Read this article and find out why so many members were interested in behavior-based interviewing techniques.

Applicants for IT jobs often provide uninformative answers to job interview questions, sounding as if they have all been reading the same how-to-get-a-job book.

IT managers who faced this problem found help by reading “Searching the soul of an IT job applicant,” one of the most popular articles during 2000 in the IT Manager Republic.

The article explains behavior-based interviewing—a technique in which an employer asks questions that prompt action-oriented responses. There’s a theory that past job performance will tell you how someone will work in the future. The trick is asking questions that get the job applicant to reveal that performance history.

Check out “Searching the soul of an IT job applicant,” the fifth most popular article of 2000, for a look at how to adopt this interviewing method.

Top five of 2000
We will be presenting the top five articles of 2000 this week in IT Manager Republic. Come back every day this week and revisit the most popular IT Manager articles.
How do you go about separating the best job candidates from the also-rans? When applicants have similar qualifications, is it simply a coin toss? Have you ever tried behavior-based interviewing? Post a comment below or send us an e-mail.