Week 5 Blog – Job Interviews

Reflecting on my interview experiences, I can draw clear connections to the concepts of reliability, validity, and utility as discussed in this week’s readings. I’ve had the opportunity to participate in three interviews: one for a Player Services position at a golf course, and two for Project Engineer roles at WPI and IES. Each interview brought unique insights into effective and ineffective interview practices.

Effective Elements
All three interviews shared strong elements that contributed to their reliability and validity. The interviewers used structured questions relevant to the job roles, which increased the consistency of the interview process (reliability). During the Project Engineer interviews at both WPI and IES, the technical and situational questions were used to assess my practical construction knowledge and problem solving abilities. 

The Player Services interview at the golf course demonstrated high utility. The questions were not  overly technical, but effective in determining my customer service skills and ability to work in a team oriented environment. This demonstrated how utility using interviews that provide practical value in predicting job performance was a focus.

Ineffective Aspects
There were areas for improvement. For example, some questions during the interviews felt too generic, lacking predictive validity and the ability to forecast actual job performance. This was noticeable in the general “tell me about yourself” questions I was asked, which while useful for breaking the ice, did not always create job relevant information. The interviewers could have enhanced reliability by including more job specific follow up questions to deepen the evaluation.

Recommendations for Improvement
If I were advising these employers, I’d suggest incorporating behavioral interview techniques more consistently. Questions like “Tell me about a time when you solved a complex problem under pressure” which covers the criterion-related validity and provides insight into how candidates might perform in real job scenarios. Also a structured scoring system for responses would help ensure fairness and reliability across everyone.

In conclusion, while my interview experiences were positive and informative, adding structured, behavior based questions and clear evaluation criteria would make them better.