What made the interviews you have experienced effective/ineffective, especially when you think about reliability, validity and utility?
In my life thus far, I have only done four interviews. Looking back on the few interviews I have done, most of them were effective. Now, take this with a grain of salt as my brain is not as it used to be, even though I am only 25 but that’s beside the point. Now when it comes to reliability, validity and utility, I am not quite sure how they set up their interviews internally, but for the main ones that had happened with more well-known businesses, those went rather well. I found the questions asked of me were pretty typical questions about my challenges, weaknesses, strengths, how I would handle a hypothetical situation, etc. I did have one of those interviews not be an actual interview, rather I got the job without interviewing, in a child care facility, which in itself is crazy to think about after the fact, and I immediately was given trainings to complete to be considered “qualified.” That specific situation was poorly thought through, very ineffective, and really dangerous for the children. The company in question actually closed down shortly after I had left due to poor child management.
If you could go back and advise those employers on how to improve the effectiveness of their interviews, what would you tell them?
If I could go back and advise the employers on how to improve the effectiveness of their interviews, I would likely tell them to try to create a rapport with interviewees to make them feel more comfortable. Only 1/4 interviews made me feel at ease. All the others were unwelcoming, stressful and made my brain go completely blank, which then made me feel lost on how to answer questions. If an interviewer can connect with an interviewee, as explained in the Week 5: lecture 4 – Improving Interview Effectiveness, for this week, about the interview-related errors and biases, it could make the entire interview process much more pleasant for both parties.
