Reflecting on past experience with interviews that I have participated in, I have encountered both effective and ineffective practices. The first interview I ever had was very casual and was an unstructured interview. Unstructured interviews can be very ineffective when predicting job performance (Bohnet, 2016). The interviewer asked broad questions and frequently used “yes/no” questions. These types of questions lack validity since they would not help the interviewer to see if I have the necessary skills and qualities for the position (Swift, 2021). Looking back on this interview after reviewing this week’s material, it is evident now that it has low reliability since it was not a consistent way of interviewing applicants. Each applicant was asked random, inconsistent, and tactless questions for the position.
In my most recent interview, it was much more formal and was a structured interview. The interviewer asked me tactful questions like real-life scenarios and asked me how I would handle them. The interviewer also used an assessment center, using a specific work example and role playing (Swift, 2021). This increased the interview’s validity and utility, since these scenarios and questions were relevant to my job and allowed the employer to see how I would perform in a similar situation. Additionally, the interview being structured assisted in its reliability; applicants were asked the same or similar questions, and this minimized bias. A way that this interview can be seen as ineffective is the use of snap judgment. It seems the interviewer heavily considered first impressions and also participated in the contrast effect and pressure to hire. He mentioned how I was an applicant for the whole day and hired me on the spot. I believe he felt pressure to hire someone.
If I could advise these past employers, I would recommend that they follow and use a structured interview, ask job-relevant questions or scenarios, and ensure that all applicants are being asked the same questions to limit bias (Swift, 2021). Additionally, I would recommend that they truly select the best applicant, not the most recent applicant, due to desperation. I believe these recommendations could help improve reliability, validity, and utility for their future interviews.
References:
Bohnet, I. (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, M. (2021). Choosing Selection Methods [Video] MGMT 453. Canvas.
