Chapter: 7Interviewing Candidates

Chapter: 7Interviewing Candidates

I.Basic Features of Interviews

Types of Interviews include:

Appraisal interviews: an appraisal interview is a discussion, following a performance appraisal, in which supervisor and employee discuss the employee’s ratings and possible remedial actions.

Exit interviews: When an employee leaves a firm, one often conducts an exit interview. This aims at eliciting information that might provide some insight into what’s right or wrong about the firm.

Selection interviews: This chapter focuses on selection interviews.

1.Structured vs. Unstructured Interviews – Unstructured or nondirective interviews generally have no set format. Structured or directive interviews generally identify questions and all applicants are asked the same questions. Sometimes acceptable responses are specified in advance and the responses are rated for appropriateness of content. Examples of structured interview guides are provided in Figure 7-1.

2. Interview Content: Types of Questions – Interviews can be classified according to the nature or content of their questions, such as:

Situational interviews:situational interviews are based on how an applicant might behave in a hypothetical situation.
Job-related interviews:ask job-related questions to assess the applicant's ability to perform the job.
Behavioral interviews:ask applicants to describe how they reacted to actual situations in the past.
Stress interviews: try to make an applicant uncomfortable by asking rude questions periodically.

B.Administering the Interview

1.In-person Interviews – tend to be one-on-one where two people meet alone and one interviews the other by seeking oral responses to oral inquiries. Frequently, candidates are interviewed by several persons sequentially.

2.Panel Interviews – occur when a group (panel) of interviewers questions the candidate together. A mass interview is where a panel interviews several candidates simultaneously.

Phone and Video Interviews – are often conducted entirely by phone. Technology has also made interviewing by videoconferencing possible, saving time and travel costs.

Computerized Interviews – involve computers administering the interview. Typically the questions are presented in a multiple-choice format, one at a time, and the applicant is expected to respond to the questions on the screen by pressing a key.

Web Assisted Interviews – utilize PC video cameras to conduct interviews on line via Webcasts.

Are Interviews Useful? – Studies confirm that the validity of interviews is greater than previously thought. Structured interviews are more valid than unstructured interviews for predicting job performance. Some traits, however, are not able to be accurately assessed in an interview.

II.What Can Undermine An Interview’s Usefulness?

A. First Impressions –interviewers tend to jump to conclusions about candidates during the first few minutes of the interview.

B. Misunderstanding the Job – Interviewers who don’t know precisely what the job entails and what sort of candidate is best suited for it usually make their decisions based on incorrect or incomplete stereotypes of what a good applicant is.

C.Candidate-Order (Contrast) Error and Pressure to Hire – means that the order in which you see applicants affects how you rate them.

D. Nonverbal Behavior – Inexperienced interviewers may try to infer the interviewee’s personality from vocal and visual cues such as energy level, voice modulation and level of extraversion

Impression Management – Ingratiation, agreeing with the interviewer’s opinions, and self-promotion to create an impression of competence are used by clever interviewees to manage the impression they present,

Effect of Personal Characteristics: Attractiveness, Gender, Race – Interviewers have to guard against letting an applicant’s attractiveness, gender, and race play a role in their rating.

Interviewer Behavior - the interviewer inadvertently evoking the expected answers.

III.Designing and Conducting the Effective Interview

A.The Structured Situational Interview procedure is as follows: Step 1: Job Analysis; Step 2: Rate the Job’s Duty; Step 3: Create Interview Questions; Step 4: Create Benchmark Answers; and Step 5: Appoint the Interview Panel and Conduct Interviews. Web-based programs are available to help interviewers design and organize behavior based selection interviews.

B. How to Conduct a More Effective Interview

1.Structure Your Interview – a) base questions on job duties; b) use specific job-knowledge, situational, or behaviorally-oriented questions and objective criteria to evaluate the interviewee’s responses; c) train interviewers; d) use the same questions with all candidates; e) use rating scales to rate answers; f) use multiple interviewers or panel interviews; g) design questions that reduce subjectivity, inaccurate conclusions, and bias; h) use a structured interview form; i) control the interview; and j) take brief notes.

2.Prepare for the Interview – The interview should take place in a private room where interruptions can be minimized. Prior to the interview, the interviewer should review the candidate’s application and resume, as well as the job duties and required skills and traits.

3.Establish Rapport – The interviewer should put the interviewee at ease so he/she can find out the necessary information about the interviewee. Studies show that people who feel more self-confident about their interviewing skills perform better in interviews.

4.Ask Questions – The interviewer should follow the interview guide.

5.Close the Interview – Leave time to answer any questions the candidate may have and, if appropriate, advocate your firm to the candidate. Try to end the interview on a positive note.

6.Review the Interview – Once the candidate leaves, and while the interview is fresh on the interviewer’s mind, he/she should review his/her notes and fill in the structured interview guide.

1.Explain and illustrate the basic ways in which you can classify selection interviews. Interviews can be classified according to: (1) degree of structure. This is the extent to which interviews are, or are not, structured with previously designed questions so that each candidate must answer the same questions. (2) purpose. Interviews may be designed to accomplish several purposes, including selection, performance appraisal, and feedback. (3) content. The content of the questions may be situational, job-related, or psychological. (4) the way the interview is administered. Interviews might be conducted by a panel of interviewers, sequentially or all at once, computerized, or personally. Students should also provide some illustrations of each. (LO 7.1; AACSB: Analytic Skills; Learning Outcome: Describe effective interviewing techniques)

2.Briefly describe each of the following possible types of interviews: unstructured panel interviews; structured sequential interviews; job-related structured interviews. In the unstructured panel interview, the panel of interviewers asks questions as they come to mind. They do not have a list of questions or points that need to be covered but may follow many different directions. The structured sequential interview consists of the candidate being interviewed one by one with several different interviewers. Each interviewer conducts a structured interview that consists of pre-determined questions and a structured evaluation form to complete. The job-related structured interview consists of pre-determined questions, all of which are designed to assess the applicant's past behaviors for job-related information. (LO 7.1; AACSB: Communication Abilities & Reflective Thinking Skills; Learning Outcome: Describe effective interviewing techniques)

3.For what sorts of jobs do you think computerized interviews are most appropriate? Why? The computerized interview can be used as a screening device for virtually any type of position that may generate a large number of applicants. It is less likely to be used for managerial positions. However, if there are large numbers of applicants, it could certainly be just as useful there as in skilled, professional, and unskilled positions. (LO 7.1; AACSB: Analytic Skills; Learning Outcome: Describe effective interviewing techniques)

4.Why do you think situational interviews yield a higher mean validity than do job-related or behavioral interviews, which in turn yield a higher mean validity than do psychological interviews? The situational interview allows the candidate to answer situational questions based on past experiences in which he or she might have made mistakes but learned from them. The job-related (or behavioral) interview focuses primarily on past situations, but it does not allow for changes in the candidate due to the lessons that he or she might have learned from those experiences. The psychological interview tends to be more speculative regarding traits that are difficult to measure. (LO 7.3; AACSB: Analytic Skills; Learning Outcome: Describe effective interviewing techniques)

5.Similarly, how do you explain the fact that structured interviews, regardless of content, are more valid than unstructured interviews for predicting job performance? The structured interview helps to keep the interviewer focused on the types of behaviors, traits, or answers that are desired and that are good predictors of job performance. Unstructured interviews allow interviewers to become sidetracked with things like common interests and other items that are not good predictors of job success. (LO 7.3; AACSB: Analytic Skills; Learning Outcome: Describe effective interviewing techniques)

Briefly discuss and give examples of at least five common interviewing mistakes. What recommendations would you give for avoiding these interviewing mistakes?

Snap Judgments: This is where the interviewer jumps to a conclusion about the candidate during the first few minutes of the interview. Using a structured interview is one way to help avoid this, as well as training interviewers.
Negative Emphasis: When an interviewer has received negative information about the candidate, through references or other sources, he or she will almost always view the candidate negatively. The best way to avoid this is to keep references or other information from the interviewer. If possible, have different people perform the reference checks and the interviews and not share the information until afterwards.
Misunderstanding the Job: When interviewers do not have a good understanding of the job requirements, they do not make good selections of candidates. All interviewers should clearly understand the jobs and know what is needed for success in those jobs.
Pressure to Hire: Anytime an interviewer is told that they must hire a certain number of people within a short time frame, poor selection decisions may be made. This type of pressure should be avoided whenever possible.
Candidate-Order (Contrast) Error: When an adequate candidate is preceded by either an outstanding, or a poor candidate, by contrast he or she looks either less satisfactory or much better. This can be countered by training interviewers, allowing time between interviews, and structuring interviews with structured rating forms.
Influence of Nonverbal Behavior: Candidates who exhibit stronger nonverbal behavior, such as eye contact and energy level, are perceived as stronger by the interviewers. This can be minimized through interviewer training and structured interviews.
Telegraphing: An interviewer might "give" the right answers to candidates that they hope to hire. This can be combated through structured interview questions, multiple interviewers, and interviewer training.
Too Much / Too Little Talking: On either end of these extremes, the interviewer may not gather all the information that is really needed to make an appropriate selection decision. Structured interviews help keep this from happening.
Playing District Attorney or Psychologist: Some interviewers misuse their power by turning the interview into a game of "gotcha" or by probing for hidden meanings in everything the applicants say. Structured interviews help keep this from happening.

(LO 7.2; AACSB: Communication Abilities; Learning Outcome: Describe effective interviewing techniques)

Briefly discuss what an interviewer can do to improve his or her performance. The students should refer to the section in the chapter on designing and conducting the effective interview to form his/her suggestions for how an interviewer can improve his/her perfomance. (LO 7.4; AACSB: Communication Abilities; Learning Outcome: Describe effective interviewing techniques)