Interview Effectiveness

Effective Interviews

I’ve experienced several effective interviews. Those interviews were one-on-one and structured. I’ve been asked situational questions and behavioral questions. Interviewers asked me these to determine what my judgement looks like and what qualities I possess that align with the job analysis (Smith, 2021). These were effective interviews as the structure gave the interviewer insight to how I would handle situations and what characteristics I would bring to the job that would benefit or hinder the company (Smith, 2021).

In terms of reliability, validity, and utility these interviews are noteworthy. They asked all interviewees the same questions in the same order, including follow-up questions, leaving little room for interviewer discretion. Interviews with high level of structure are shown to have greater reliability since the interview is less conversational and more direct (Chamorro-Premuzic et al., 2013). As a result, interviewers come to the similar conclusions about the candidates. Validity was present as they asked behavioral and situational questions that gave them a better picture of how I problem solve. Lastly, utility was great as candidates who were hired had great job performance, so it was worth the time and money.

Ineffective Interviews

Contrastingly, I’ve experienced ineffective interviews, as well. I was once interviewed panel-style, where four people took turns asking me questions. Bohnet (2016) states that it’s best to keep interviewers “as independent of each other as possible.” That way they are not influenced by each other’s implicit bias’, opinions, or follow up questions. I’ve also had an interviewer ask me only two questions, then the rest of our time was conversational and relaxed (and they even hired me). These interviews were not reliable or valid as several people asked me different questions, so the scores were not comparable. Furthermore, I was not asked any behavioral questions, so the interview was not valid. I would advise these interviewers to revise their interviewing practices by implementing structured interviews where they ask a series of the same of questions to each interviewee. Additionally, I would suggest they implement one-on-one interviews rather than panel style or group interviews. Our learning materials state how four individual scores rather than one collective score is more reliable and predicts better performance (Bohnet, 2016). With these considerations in mind, organizations can improve their interview effectiveness and achieve better employee performance.

References

Bohnet, Iris. (2016). How to Take the Bias Out of Interviews. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2016/04/how-to-take-the-bias-out-of-interviews

Swift, Michele. (2021). Recruiting & Selection. Lectures 1-5.