Interviewee’s Perspective– Analyzing a Small Design Firms Interview and Screening Process
Reflecting on a past interview experience for a visual design-based position, I wanted to highlight some of the effective and ineffective elements throughout the process. First, the interview was hosted in a workshare space, which felt very informal and there were many distractions. At one point in the interview, the boss of the small firm interrupted to introduce herself. I thought that this was very ineffective because it shifted the focus of the interview. The setting choice was very ineffective because it doesn’t create a reliable space to conduct the interview. Additionally, team members interrupting the interview can skew how the interviewee performs. I would suggest that they use a private closed-door setting and eliminate distractions to provide more reliability. This would also improve the validity of the interview. Furthermore, the boss only coming in shortly could create interview bias, due to the snap judgment she could have formed from the first impression (Swift, 2021).
The interview did have some effective elements including a structured interview and ability test. As described in the lectures and the article, The Perfect Hire, using the structured interview method ‘allows different evaluators to reach similar judgments on a candidate’ than unstructured (2013). It also improves reliability and validity because candidates can be compared horizontally. I was impressed that there was an ability test, which was in the form of an unpaid ‘shadow day’. This was a requirement for all potential hires to test their visual design abilities through task-based work samples. I was able to perform a variety of tasks supervised by the team. Not only did this have high content validly for the employer to see if I had spatial awareness and communication skills, but also for me to see if I liked working at the organization. It helped me to get a realistic expectation of the job before accepting the position. The one downside to ability testing is that the method is expensive, but in my opinion, it was worth the higher validity and utility (Swift, 2021).
Citations-
Swift, Michele, Week 5 Lecture- Selection, 2021.
Chamorro-Premuzic, T., & Steinmetz, C. (2013). The Perfect Hire. Scientific American Mind, 24(3), 42–47. https://doi-org.ezproxy.proxy.library.oregonstate.edu/10.1038/scientificamericanmind0713-42