Interviews are supposed to help employers figure out whether someone will be good at a job, but based on my experience, they don\u2019t always do that very well. I\u2019ve been in interviews that felt organized and meaningful, and others that felt more like random conversations that didn\u2019t really measure much at all.<\/p>\n
The best interviews I\u2019ve had were structured and clearly connected to the job. The interviewer asked behavioral questions like how I handled a tough situation or worked through a problem in the past. Those interviews felt more reliable because everyone was likely being asked similar questions, and they felt more valid because the questions were actually related to the skills needed for the role (Buckingham & Coffman, 2016). I also felt like I had a fair chance to show what I could do instead of just trying to make a good first impression.<\/p>\n
The worst interviews were the opposite. Some felt unplanned, with interviewers jumping from topic to topic or spending most of the time talking about themselves. Others focused too much on \u201cfit\u201d or personality without explaining what that meant. These interviews didn\u2019t feel reliable since different candidates probably had totally different experiences, and they weren\u2019t very valid because likability often mattered more than ability. Research shows that unstructured interviews are especially prone to bias, even when interviewers think they\u2019re being objective (Bohnet, 2018).<\/p>\n
If I could give advice to those employers, I\u2019d tell them to slow down and add more structure. Using the same core questions, clear scoring guidelines, and more than one interviewer would make interviews more consistent and fair. Adding situational judgment questions or job related tasks could also improve how well interviews predict performance (Chamorro-Premuzic & Steinmetz, 2013).<\/p>\n
At the end of the day, interviews work best when they\u2019re treated like a real evaluation tool, not just a conversation.<\/p>\n\n\n
Buckingham, M. (2012). First, break all the rules: What the world\u2019s greatest managers do differently<\/em>. Must Read Summaries. Bohnet, I. (2016, April 18). How to take the bias out of interviews<\/em>. Harvard Business Review. https:\/\/hbr.org\/2016\/04\/how-to-take-the-bias-out-of-interviews
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