I have participated in several interviews throughout my time in college. A few that were notable were my interview to be a Home Care Worker, Resident Assistant, and Elections Program Technician. There were several factors that made some of these interviews more/less effective than others, especially when considering reliability, validity, and utility. As we learned in one of this week’s lectures, reliability is “the consistency and dependability of a performance measure,” validity is “the extent to which a performance measure […] assesses what it’s supposed to measure,” and utility is “the extent to which a selection procedure is worth the time and money” (Swift, 2023).
The Home Care Worker interview was free form, and though it resulted in valid responses, there may be issues of reliability with regards to comparisons to other candidates. Since there were no standardized questions, there was no reliable way of getting standardized feedback from each candidate. On the other hand, the Resident Assistant (RA) and Elections Program Technician positions both had structured interviews. This enhanced the reliability of getting the information out of each candidate, and in my opinion provided greater utility. The RA and technician interviews were also conducted by interview panels, which resulted in the interviewers being able to stay on task (focus on their particular questions), which resulted in more effective interviewing. Finally, the RA interview was a multi-phased interview process, involving various activities, in addition to the sit-down questions, which enhanced it’s effectiveness at getting to know each candidate.
If I could go back to these three interviews, I would likely only comment on the Home Care Worker interview, and the Election’s Program Technician interview, as the RA interview process was thoroughly involved. For the Home Care Worker interview, I would recommend the interviewer ask standardized questions. For the Election’s Program Technician position, I would tell them that they could improve their interview effectiveness by including an activity to get to know each candidate more.
Works Cited:
Swift, M. (2023). W5 Lecture 2 – Introduction to Selection [PowerPoint slides]. College of Business. Oregon State University.
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