Hints From Recruitment Agency for Excelling at Value Based Interview

How to Excel at Value Based Interview

Performing and preparing for a value based interview

Value based interviews (VBIs) are increasingly being adopted into recruitment processes to ensure that organisations hire staff that fit into their ethos and culture. Particularly in organisations where client, customer or patient care is critical to success, value-based interviews have become a popular technique to gain insight into the way people think or may make decisions.

Over the last few years, both public and commercial organisations, such as the NHS¹ and Nissan^2, have invested in value-based methods of recruitment to find the right staff.

With this in mind, Aaron Wallis Sales Recruitment has collated some essential tips for preparing and performing for a value based interview:

Preparation is key

Like any interview, preparation is half the battle. However, in the case of a value-based interview, you’ll probably need to go beyond rehearsing why you think you’d be a good fit for the role or where you’d like to be in 5 years time. Thoroughly research an organisation’s values before the interview, as this will give you clear insight into the type of questions they may ask you. It can be a good idea to go through the company’s ‘About Us’ page on their website, to give you any valuable details about their mission and vision.

Match an organisation’s values to your experiences

After collecting a list of values from the available information you have about an organisation, think about experiences in your professional life where you have shown each value. Write down a list of the top 5 values you think could come up during the interview and think back over everything you’ve achieved in your career so far that could show how you meet these values. These experiences may need to be discussed during the interview to ensure they are anecdotes which could reasonably be conversed in an interview environment!

Rehearse these values

Type up each experience before the interview and rehearse how you would tell an interviewer about the experience which shows a particular value.  It can be a good idea to use the STAR technique (situation, task, aim, result) when discussing an experience to properly structure your answer and give an interviewer the full picture of how you demonstrated a value. Don’t be afraid to rehearse your answers in front of the mirror! Practice definitely gets you closer to perfect.

Ask value based questions in return

It’s good practice to have questions on hand to ask at the end of an interview to show your enthusiasm and interest in a role. If you’re in the situation of a value based interview, why not ask a value based question in return to show that you’re serious about working in an organisation which has a clear vision and workplace culture. By asking “Can you tell me about the workplace culture of the company?” or “What are the long-term ambitions of this organisation?” it shows that you’re a serious candidate who knows the type of company they want to work within day-to-day.

Robert Scott, Managing Director at Aaron Wallis Sales Recruitment said: “Value-based interviews can often be daunting as they follow a different format to the traditional interviews which people are used to. Despite this, as long as you’ve prepared and practised thoroughly, there’s really nothing to be concerned about. Thorough research before the interview is the key to success - it can be a good idea to trawl through company documents online, or if you already have contacts within that organisation ask them the values which the company has expressed to follow”.

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