Being interviewed is a standard component in the hiring process. I’ve participated in interviews on both sides of the table, as the interviewee and the interviewer. In both instances, I felt that the most effective interviews were when the questions asked were centered around the job and the answers were assessed against specified criteria. Unfortunately, not all of my experiences were the most effective. I’ve often left interviews feeling unsure about the job expectations or what the day-to-day operations look like even when those are questions that I asked at the end of the interview. Another issue is that I felt that at the end of the interview I’ve been left wondering what’s next and the interviewers have kept it vague such as “we will follow up with you when we have made a decision” instead of providing a definitive date for follow up or a good contact to reach out to for any unanswered questions.
There are a few ways that I would advise the previous employers on how to improve the effectiveness of their interviews. First, they should ensure that they have a solid understanding of the job roles and what is listed within the job description while ensuring that the job description utilizes gender neutral adjectives (Knight, 2017; Oregon State University, n.d.). Second, I would encourage them to standardize their interviews, not only through their questions, but also by assessing the answers against clearly defined criteria (Knight, 2017; Oregon State University, n.d.). Third, I would encourage them to ensure that there is a well-defined follow up process in place to ensure continued communication with the applicants after the interview has been completed to continue to keep applicable applicants engaged in the process.
Knight, R. (2018). 7 Practical Ways to Reduce Bias in Your Hiring Processes. Society for Human Resources Management.
Oregon State University. (n.d.). W5 Lecture 4 – Increasing Interview Effectiveness. Human Resource Management – MGMT 453.
