Chapter 4: Interviewing job applicants

Question 1

Name four advantages of interviews?

Answer 1

1. Good to learn how applicants solve problems.
2. Ability to assess verbal and presentation skills of applicants; and social skills
3. Good PR-opportunity; interviews are considered as one of the fairest recruitment methods
4. Opportunity to explore fit with company culture (especially important with unique company culture). Has to fit with both the job and organization

Question 1

Name the three types of interviews?

Answer 1

1. Initial or prescreening interviews; narrowing the pool of potential candidates
2. Evaluative interviews: identify most qualified candidates
3. Contingent/follow-up interviews: right before an offer is placed

Question 2

Name four disadvantages of interviews?

Answer 2

1. Substantial proportion of job seekers is badly prepared
2. Some interviewers ask inappropriate questions
3. Interviewers base opinion on first few impressions; interviewer might have already written someone off before first question has been answered.
4. Interviewers rely on their intuition too much and sometimes ignore their access to better information about the applicant.

Question 3

Name the two criteria for the most effective interviews?

Answer 3

1. Structure content of interview
2. Structure interviews evaluation beforehand

Question 4

How should you structure the content of the interview?

Answer 4

Good interviews should have an interview protocol – standard list of interview topics that will be discussed, developed before any applications have been submitted.
- Going off-script because of applicant’s demographics lowers the criterion-related validity.
- By developing an interview protocol, you should be clear on what you want to know about each applicant.

Question 5

What are behavioral interview questions?

Answer 5

asks the job applicant to reflect on their experience to find links between job and applicant’s history.

Question 6

What are situational interview questions?

Answer 6

Situational interview questions ask applicants to respond to hypothetical work situations and how they would deal with these situations. They are similar to the situational judgment tests, but situational interview questions are given in open format.

Question 7

How should you structure the interview evaluation?

Answer 7

You should have a system on how you will grade answers (e.g. anchored rating) made up before the first interview.
Each interview question is designed to measure a particular skill or competency and the interviewer matches the applicant’s answer to a specific point on that rating scale.

Question 8

Name two ways of innovative interviewing practices?

Answer 8

1. Panel interviews
2. Technology-administered interviews

Question 9

What are panel interviews?

Answer 9

group of interviews take turns asking questions to a single job applicant. Alternatively, companies could host team interviews where the applicant is interviewed by their future team leader and coworkers.

Question 10

What are technology-administered interviews?

Answer 10

Using technology to streamline interview process, like video interviews (zoom).
There are software programs that automate this process.

Question 11

What are the benefits of technology-administered interviews?

Answer 11

1. Standardization
2. No worries about inappropriate questions by interviewers

Question 12

Name three disadvantages of technology-administered interviews?

Answer 12

• Applicants definitely prefer in-person interviews.
• No opportunity for positive PR
• No opportunity to measure fit with organization