Hello everyone! I previously worked for my family’s jewelry business, where over the years I personally interviewed countless candidates—from sales assistants to jewelers. Reflecting on those experiences alongside this week’s HR coursework, I’ve come to realize that the success or failure of an interview directly determines the reliability and effectiveness of the recruitment process. Today I’ll share my story and offer suggestions for improvement.
The Painful Lessons of Ineffective Interviews
In the beginning, I favored unstructured interviews—casual chats like: Do you like jewelry? What do you do on weekends?“ It felt friendly and like a way to ”get to know the person.“ The result? I hired a salesperson who was ”smooth-talking“ but couldn’t handle the pressure during peak seasons and left after just three months. Why was it ineffective? As Iris Bohnet points out in her HBR article ”How to Take the Bias Out of Interviews” (2016), while unstructured interviews are popular, they predict performance the worst, far inferior to competency-based assessments. The course materials also emphasized that they’re prone to first-impression biases and negative prejudices, leading to low reliability and poor validity—failing to accurately measure KSAOs (Knowledge, Skills, Attitudes, and Opinions). Worse still, they’re inefficient: time-consuming, costly to implement, and yielding a mere 30% retention rate.
The Turning Point for Effective Interviews
Later, I wised up. To recruit jewelry artisans, I designed structured behavioral questions, such as “Describe an experience repairing complex jewelry and its outcome,” along with benchmark answer-scoring sheets. Preparation involved resume screening and private interview spaces; during interviews, I built rapport, followed a standardized question sequence, and actively listened while taking notes. The result? New artisans adapted quickly, quality hires increased, and 90% retention within one year! This boosted predictive validity and effectiveness.
Based on these family business experiences, my three recommendations for employers are:
- Know the role before asking: Develop scenario/behavioral questions based on the job analysis, avoiding illegal topics such as age or children.
- Prevent bias with structure: Use scoring cards and multiple evaluators to reduce comparison effects.
- Track effectiveness: Evaluate sources using the recruitment output pyramid to optimize time allocation.
Interviews aren’t casual chats—they’re scientific selection! Through structuring, my family business shifted from “trial and error” to “precision.”
reference
How to Take the Bias Out of Interviews
Mgmt week 5 lecture