Interviewing

Candidates
Interviews
 Procedure designed to obtain
information from a person
through oral responses to oral
inquiries.
 Employers use several
interviews at work,
 Performance appraisal
interviews and
 Exit interviews.
selection interview
Basic types of interviews

We can classify selection interviews according

to:

.
1 How structured they are
2. Their content the types of questions
they contain
3. How the firm administers the interviews
Basic types of interviews

Structured Versus Unstructured Interviews

 In unstructured (or nondirective) interviews, the manager
follows no set format.

 in structured (or directive) interviews, the employer lists

the questions ahead of time, and may even list and score
possible answers for appropriateness.
Basic types of interviews

 WHICH TO USE?
 In structured interviews, all interviewers generally ask all
applicants the same questions.
 These interviews tend to be more reliable and valid.
 help less talented interviewers conduct better interviews.
 increases consistency across candidates,
 enhances job relatedness,
 reduces overall subjectivity and thus the potential for bias,
Basic types of interviews
 Interview Content (What Types
of Questions to Ask)
 Situational Questions/interview
 ask the candidate what his or her
behavior would be in a given
situation.
 For example, you might ask a
supervisory candidate how he or she
would act in response to a
subordinate coming to work late 3
days in a row.
Basic types of interviews
 Interview Content (What Types of Questions to Ask)
Behavioral Questions
 Behavioral interviews ask applicants to describe how
they reacted to actual situations in the past.
 For example, when Citizens Banking Corporation in Flint, Michigan, found
that 31 of the 50 people in its call center quit in one year, Cynthia Wilson,
the center s head, switched to behavioral interviews. Many of those who
left did so because they didn't ‘t enjoy fielding questions from
occasionally irate clients. So Wilson no longer tries to predict how
candidates will act based on asking them if they want to work with angry
clients. Instead, she asks behavioral questions like, Tell me about a time
you were speaking with an irate person, and how you turned the
situation around.
Basic types of interviews
 Interview Content (What Types of
Questions to Ask)
Other Types Of Questions
 job-related interview
 the interviewer asks applicants questions about
relevant past experiences. such as, Which courses did
you like best in business school?
 stress interview
 make the applicant uncomfortable with occasionally
rude questions. The aim is to spot sensitive applicants
and those with low (or high) stress tolerance.
 Help to unearth hypersensitive applicants who might
overreact to mild criticism with anger and abuse
How Should We Administer the Interview?
 one-on-one interview
 two people meet alone, and one interviews the
other by seeking oral responses to oral inquiries.
 Panel Interviews
 interview conducted by a team of interviewers
(usually two to three), who together interview
each candidate and then combine their ratings
into a final panel score.
 Phone Interviews
 more accurate than face-to-face interviews for
judging an applicant s conscientiousness,
intelligence, and interpersonal skills. Here,
neither party need worry about things like
appearance or handshakes, so each can focus on
substantive answers
How Should We Administer the Interview?
 Video/Web-assisted Interviews
 Cisco Systems, Inc., recruiters
conduct preliminary interviews
online. Applicants use their own
camera-supported PC or iPads.

 Make sure you look presentable.

 Clean up the room
 Test first.
 Do a dry run
 Relax.
 Three Ways to Make the Interview Useful

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The Errors That Undermine An Interview’s
Usefulness
First Impressions (Snap
Judgments)
 jump to conclusions about candidates
during the first few minutes .
 even before the interview starts,
based on test scores or résumé data.
 researcher estimates that in 85% of
the cases, interviewers had made up
their minds before the interview even
began, based on first impressions from
candidates applications and personal
appearance.
The Errors That Undermine An Interview’s
Usefulness
First Impressions (Snap
Judgments)
 Really, to make a good impression, you don t
even get time to open your mouth. . . . An
interviewer s response to you will generally
be preverbal how you walk through the
door, what your posture is like, whether you
smile, whether you have a captivating aura,
whether you have a firm, confident
handshake. You‘ve got about half a minute
to make an impact and after that all you are
doing is building on a good or bad first
impression. . . . It s a very emotional
response.
The Errors That Undermine An Interview’s
Usefulness
Not Clarifying What the Job Requires
 Erroneously match interviewees with their incorrect
stereotypes.
 More job knowledge translated into better interviews.
The Errors That Undermine An Interview’s
Usefulness

Candidate-Order (Contrast)
Error
 the order in which you see applicants
affects how you rate them.
 In one study, managers had to evaluate a
candidate who was just average after first
evaluating several unfavorable candidates. They
scored the average candidate more favorably
than they might otherwise have done because,
in contrast to the unfavorable candidates, the
average one looked better than he actually was.
The Errors That Undermine An Interview’s
Usefulness
 Nonverbal Behavior
 The applicant s nonverbal behavior
(smiling, avoiding your gaze, and so on)
can also have a surprisingly large impact
on his or her rating.
 Impression Management
 Clever candidates capitalize on that fact
 For instance, the candidates praised the
interviewers or appeared to agree with
their opinions.
The Errors That Undermine An Interview’s
Usefulness
 Effect of Personal Characteristics:
Attractiveness, Gender, Race.
 People usually ascribe more favorable
traits and more successful life outcomes
to attractive people.

 The white members of a racially balanced

interview panel rated white candidates
higher, while the black interviewers rated
black candidates higher.
HOW TO DESIGN EFFECTIVE INTERVIEW
Designing a Structured Situational Interview
 series of job-relevant questions with predetermined answers
that interviewers ask of all applicants for the job produces
superior results.
 Step 1: Analyze The Job
 Step 2: Rate The Job S Main Duties
 Step 3: Create Interview Questions
 situational questions pose a hypothetical job situation, such
as What would you do if the machine suddenly began
heating up?
 Job knowledge questions assess knowledge essential to job
performance (such as What is HTML?
HOW TO DESIGN AN EFFECTIVE INTERVIEW

Designing a Structured Situational Interview

 Step 4: Create Benchmark Answers
 Develop ideal (benchmark) answers for good (a 5 rating),
marginal (a 3 rating), and poor (a 1 rating) answers.
 Step 5: Appoint The Interview Panel And Conduct Interviews
 The panel usually consists of three to six members, preferably
the same ones who wrote the questions and answers.
 It may also include the job’s supervisor
 human resources representative.
 The same panel interviews all candidates for the job
How to Conduct an Effective Interview
 Step 1: First, Make Sure You Know The Job
 Study the job description.

 Step 2: Structure The Interview

 Base questions on actual job duties.
 Use job knowledge, situational, or behavioral questions,
 Use the same questions with all candidates.
 Use descriptive rating scales (excellent, fair, poor) to rate
answers.
 If possible, use a standardized interview form.
How to Conduct an Effective Interview
How to Conduct an Effective Interview
 Step 3: Get Organized
 Hold the interview in a private room
 Prior to the interview, review the candidate s application and
résumé

 Step 4: Establish Rapport With Candidate

 Greet the candidate and start the interview by asking a
noncontroversial question,
 receive friendly, courteous treatment,

 Step 5: Ask Questions

 Try to follow the situational, behavioral, and job
 knowledge questions you wrote out ahead of time
How to Conduct an Effective Interview

Supplementary
questions
How to Conduct an Effective Interview
 Step 6: Take Brief, Unobtrusive Notes During The
Interview
 Step 7: Close The Interview
 Leave time to answer any questions
 Try to end the interview on a positive note.
 Tell the applicant whether there is any interest and, if so, what
the next step will be.
 Make rejections diplomatically
 For instance, Although your background is impressive, there
are other candidates whose experience is closer to our
requirements.
 Step 8: Review The Interview