Interviewing

Candidates
Chapter 7

Presented by: FSZ

 Learning Objectives
 List the main types of selection interviews
 List and explain the main errors that can undermine an interview’s usefulness
 Define a structured situational interview
 Explain and illustrate each guideline for being a more effective interviewer
 Give several examples of situational questions, behavioral questions, and
background questions that provide structure

2
 Interviews
 interview is a procedure designed to obtain information from a person through
oral responses to oral inquiries

 ex: performance appraisal interviews, exit interviews

 selection interview is a selection procedure designed to predict future job

performance based on applicant’s oral responses to oral inquiries

 should support the employer’s strategic aims

3
 Types of Interviews
 Structure

 Content

 Administration

4
 Structured vs. Unstructured
Interviews
Structured Interview Unstructured Interview

 follows set format  follows no set format

 interviewers list the questions ahead  interviewers don’t list the questions ahead

of time; scores might be listed of time; scores might be listed

 maintains a formal guide for scoring  seldom a formal guide for scoring “right”

“right” or “wrong” answers or “wrong” answers

5
 Structured vs. Unstructured
Interviews
 structured interviews generally superior

 all interviewers ask the same question to all the applicants

 more reliable and valid

 also help less experienced interviewers conduct better interviews

 increases consistency across applicants; enhances job relatedness; reduces subjectivity and
potential biasness

 may enhance the ability to withstand legal challenge

6
 Interview Content

 based on the types of question asked

 Situational Interview:

- a series of job-related questions that focus on how the candidate would behave in a given
situation

- “Suppose you were faced with the following situation…what would you do?”

7
 Interview Content
 Behavioral Interview:

- a series of job-related questions that focus on how the candidate reacted in actual situations in
the past

- “Can you think of a time……?”

 Job-related Interview:

- a series of job-related questions that focus on relevant past job-related behaviors

- the aim is to draw conclusions about the applicant’s ability to handle the operations of the
organization

8
 Interview Content

 Stress Interview:

- interviewer seeks to make the applicant uncomfortable with occasionally rude questions

- aim is to spot sensitive applicants & those with high/low stress tolerance

 Puzzle Questions:

- recruiters like to use them to see how candidates think under pressure

9
 Administering the Interview

 One-on-one or panel

 Sequentially or all at once

 Computerized or personally

 most interviews are one-on-one and sequential

 in one-on-one interviews, two people meet and one interviews the other

 in sequential interviews, several persons interview the applicant in sequence, one-on-one, and
make the hiring decision

10
 Administering the Interview
 Panel Interviews
- also known as board interviews
- mass interviews are more stressful; the
- conducted by a board of interviewers, who together
panel interviews several candidates
interview each candidate and then combine their ratings
into a final panel score simultaneously & observe which

- candidate takes the lead in answering

contrasts with one-on-one and sequential interviews
- enables to ask follow-up questions
- may elicit more meaningful responses
- applicants might inhibit responses because of stress

11
 Administering the Interview
 Phone Interviews
- more useful than face-to-face interviews for judging an applicant’s conscientiousness, intelligence, and
interpersonal skills

- can focus on more substantive answers

- give more spontaneous answers

 Online Video Interviews

 Computerized Interviews
- in which a job candidate’s oral and/or computerized replies are obtained in response to computerized oral,
visual, or written questions/situations
12
 Making an Interview Useful

 Use structured situational interviews

 Carefully select traits to assess

 Beware of committing interview errors

13
 Errors Undermining Interview’s
Effectiveness
 First Impression (Snap Judgments)

- interviewers tend to jump to conclusions about the candidates during the first few minutes of
interview

- especially damaging when the previous information is negative

- interviewers are more influenced by unfavorable than favorable information

- their impressions are much more likely to change from favorable to unfavorable

- most interviews are probably loaded against the applicants

14
 Errors Undermining Interview’s
Effectiveness
 Not clarifying what the job requires

- interviewers tend to make decisions based on incorrect impressions or stereotype of what a

good applicant is, when they don’t possess enough job related information

- should clarify what sorts of traits are being looked for and why, before starting the
interview

- more job knowledge translates into better interviews

15
 Errors Undermining Interview’s
Effectiveness
 Candidate-Order (Contrast) Error and Pressure to Hire

- an error of judgment on the part of the interviewer due to interviewing one or more very
good or very bad candidates just before the interview in question

- the order in which interviewer sees applicants affects how they are rated

- managers rated a “just average” candidate more favorably after evaluating several
“unfavorable” candidates

- pressure to hire accentuates this problem

16
 Errors Undermining Interview’s
Effectiveness
 Nonverbal Behavior and Impression Management

- the applicant’s nonverbal behavior may also have large impact on rating

- important because interviewers infer personality from the way of act during the interview

- impression management - use of ingratiation and self promotion

- ingratiation involves agreeing with the recruiter's opinions and signaling that they share similar beliefs

- self-promotion means promoting one’s own skills and abilities to create the impression of competence

17
 Errors Undermining Interview’s
Effectiveness
 Effect of Personal Characteristics: Attractiveness, Gender, Race

- physical attributes may also distort rating

- people usually ascribe more favorable traits and more successful life outcomes to
attractive people

- interviewers’ reactions to stereotypical minority behavior are complex

18
 Errors Undermining Interview’s
Effectiveness
 Interviewer Behavior
- some interviewers inadvertently telegraph the expected answers, “This job calls for handling a lot of stress. You
can do that, can’t you?

- some talk too much and others let the applicant dominate the interview without asking all their questions

- when interviewers have favorable pre-interview impressions, they tend to act more positively

- some play amateur psychologist, unprofessionally probing for hidden meanings in everything

- others ask improper questions; some are inept, unable to formulate decent questions

19
 How to Design & Conduct an
Effective Interview
 the rule for conducting effective selection interviews is to structure the interview
around job-relevant, situational and behavioral questions

20
 Designing a Structured Situational
Interview
 Step 1: Analyze the Job
- Willingness questions gauge the applicant’s willingness
 Step 2: Rate the Job’s Main Duties and motivation to meet the job’s requirements

 Step 3: Create Interview Questions - Behavioral questions ask how they’ve handled similar

situations
- Situational questions pose a hypothetical job
Step 4: Create Benchmark Answers
situation
Step 5: Appoint the Interview Panel & Conduct
- Job knowledge questions assess knowledge
Interview
essential to job performance

21
 Conducting an Effective Interview
 Step 1: First, Make Sure you Know the Job

 Step 2: Structure the Interview

- base questions on actual job duties; this will minimize irrelevant questions

- use job knowledge, situational or behavioral questions

- use same questions with all candidates; makes it more reliable & unbiased

- use descriptive rating scales

- use standardized interview forms

22
 Conducting an Effective Interview
 Step 3: Get Organized

- minimize interruptions

- prior to the interview, review the candidate’s application and resume

 Step 4: Establish Rapport

- put the candidate at ease

- start asking a noncontroversial question

23
 Conducting an Effective Interview
 Step 5: Ask Questions

- don’t telegraph the desired answer

- don’t interrogate like a trial

 Step 6: Take Brief, Unobtrusive Notes during the Interview

- may help in avoiding snap judgments

24
 Conducting an Effective Interview

 Step 7: Close the Interview

- leave time to answer the questions of the candidate

- try to end on a positive note

- share the next step with the candidate

- if not sure about the decision convey that also

 Step 8: Review the Interview

25
 Developing & Extending Job Offer

 Judgmental Approach

 Statistical Approach

 Hybrid Approach

26
 Thanks!
Any questions?
You can find me at
faseeha.zabir@northsouth.edu

27
 Reference
Dessler, G. (2012). Human Resource Management (13th Edition).
New York: Pearson.

28