What My Interview Experiences Taught Me About Hiring Effectiveness

I have had both good and bad interviews as a candidate. Applying this week’s readings to those experiences, reliability, validity, and utility explain why some interviews were fair and instructive, and others were subjective and inconsistent.

I found that the best interviews identified strengths and talents rather than surprising candidates. Great managers seek talent patterns rather than depending on intuition (Buckingham and Coffman, 2016). Behavioral, job-related interviews were more valid since they focused on candidates’ real performance in relevant scenarios rather than hypothetical responses.

Unstructured talks and “gut feelings” dominated less productive interviews. These interviews were unreliable since candidates were offered different questions, making comparisons difficult. Unstructured interviews raise bias and lower decision quality (Bohnet, 2018). Interviews that focused on cultural similarities or personal rapport were less objective and less related to work performance.

Several readings highlighted how organizations are boosting utility by integrating interviews and data-driven tools. Structured evaluations, situational judgment tests, and online tools can enhance interviewing and prediction accuracy (Chamorro-Premuzic and Steinmetz, 2013). Google’s employment procedure includes consistent evaluation tools to assess problem-solving and learning skills rather than a single interview (Bock, 2014).

Based on my experience, I would recommend structured interviews, standardized scoring guides, and a variety of assessment methods to employers. These approaches decrease bias, increase reliability and validity, and help businesses and candidates make better recruiting decisions.

Sources:

Buckingham, M., & Coffman, C. (2016). First, break all the rules: What the world’s greatest managers do differently (2020 ed.). Gallup Press.

Chamorro-Premuzic, T., & Steinmetz, C. (2013). The perfect hire. Scientific American Mind, 24(3), 42–47. https://doi.org/10.1038/scientificamericanmind0613-42

Bock, L. (2014). Get a job at Google. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com

Bohnet, I. (2018). How to take the bias out of interviews. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2018/04/how-to-take-the-bias-out-of-interviews