Ive been through a lot of interviews, but none of them have been fort jobs. Almost every interview i’ve done has been related to wrestling, whether it was about my performance, thoughts on the year, how i’m preparing for an tournament, or my experience as an athlete. I think because of this most of my interviews have felt like more natural conversations rather than something formal. Thinking back on it this made them feel more comfortable, however it also made them less effective in a way.
I think the most effective parts of these interviews is when the media people or coaches asked specific questions about my mentality, work ethic, how i handle different kinds of pressure, or how i contribute to the team. I believe these questions hold more validity because they are unique to my performance and behavior in a competitive team/individual environment. The learning materials also talked about how interviews are more validity when they focus on specific job related skills or experiences.
Since many of these interviews most likely lacked structure. Many of the decisions seemed to be made on first impressions, personality ir how well we connected. I think this reduces reliability, as not every athlete is interviewed in the same way. Our learning materials talked about how unstructured interviews can lead to bias and inconsistent decisions. Based on my experiences it felt like likability and reputation played almost as big of a role as your actual ability to compete.
If i could go back i would suggest they make the interviews a little bit more structured. I think they coaches could have a set group of questions to ask every athlete, just to compare answers and see where people stand. I know they already review competition and how athletes preform. However, i think adding in some kinds of review of athlete work ethic in the practice room and classroom would be helpful in improving decision making.
Overall, i felt like my interviews flowed naturally. However, i think they could be improved on by being more consistent, structured and focused on measurable performances rather than just impressions.
References:
Lecture 2: Introduction to Selection (W5 Lecture 2 – Introduction to Selection. pptx)
Knight, R. (2018) 7 Practical Ways to Reduce Bias in Your Hiring Processes, Society for Human Resources Management.