INTERVIEW

A job interview is a process in which a potential employee is evaluated by an employer for prospective employment in their company, organization, or firm. During this process, the employer hopes to determine whether or not the applicant is suitable for the job.

ROLE
A job interview typically precedes the hiring decision, and is used to evaluate the candidate. The interview is usually preceded by the evaluation of submitted rsums from interested candidates, then selecting a small number of candidates for interviews. Potential job interview opportunities also include networking events and career fairs. The job interview is considered one of the most useful tools for evaluating potential employees.]It also demands significant resources from the employer, yet has been demonstrated to be notoriously unreliable in identifying the optimal person for the job. An interview also allows the candidate to assess the corporate culture and demands of the job.Multiple rounds of job interviews may be used where there are many candidates or the job is particularly challenging or desirable. Earlier rounds may involve fewer staff from the employers and will typically be much shorter and less in-depth. A common initial interview form is the phone interview, a job interview conducted over the telephone. This is especially common when the candidates do not live near the employer and has the advantage of keeping costs low for both sides. Once all candidates have been interviewed, the employer typically selects the most desirable candidate and begins the negotiation of a job offer.

Interview Constructs
In light of its popularity, a stream of research has attempted to identify the constructs (ideas or concepts) that are measured during the interview to understand why interviews might help us pick the right people for the job. Several reviews of the research on interview constructs revealed that the interview captures a wide variety of applicant attributes. These constructs can be classified into three categories: job-relevant interview content (constructs interview questions are designed to assess), interviewee performance (applicant behaviors unrelated to the applicant characteristics the interview questions are designed to assess but nevertheless influence interviewer evaluations of interviewee responses), and potentially job-irrelevant

interviewer biases (personal and demographic characteristics of applicants that may influence interviewer evaluations of interviewee responses in an illegal, discriminatory way). Job-relevant interview content Interview questions are generally designed to tap applicant attributes that are specifically relevant to the job for which the person is applying. The job-relevant applicant attributes the questions purportedly assess are thought to be necessary for one to successfully perform on the job. The job-relevant constructs that have been assessed in the interview can be classified into three categories: general traits, experiential factors, and core job elements. The first category refers to relatively stable applicant traits. The second category refers to job knowledge that the applicant has acquired over time. The third category refers to the knowledge, skills, and abilities associated with the job. General Traits:

Mental ability: Applicants capacity to learn and process information. Personality: Conscientiousness, agreeableness, emotional stability, extroversion, Interest, goals, and values: Applicant motives, goals, and person-organization fit.

openness to new experiences.

Experiential Factors:

Experience: Job-relevant knowledge derived from prior experience. Education: Job-relevant knowledge derived from prior education Training: Job-relevant knowledge derived from prior training

Core Job Elements:

Declarative knowledge: Applicants learned knowledge. Procedural skills and abilities: Applicants ability to complete the tasks required to do Motivation: Applicants willingness to exert the effort required to do the job.

the job.

Interviewee Performance Interviewer evaluations of applicant responses also tend to be colored by how an applicant behaves in the interview. These behaviors may not be directly related to the constructs the

interview questions were designed to assess, but can be related to aspects of the job for which they are applying. Applicants without realizing it may engage in a number of behaviors that influence ratings of their performance. The applicant may have acquired these behaviors during training or from previous interview experience. These interviewee performance constructs can also be classified into three categories: social effectiveness skills, interpersonal presentation, and personal/contextual factors.

Social Effectiveness Skills:

Impression management: Applicants attempt to make sure the interviewer forms a Social skills: Applicants ability to adapt his/her behavior according to the demands of Self-monitoring: Applicants regulation of behaviors to control the image presented to Relational control: Applicants attempt to control the flow of the conversation.

positive impression of them.

the situation to positively influence the interviewer.

the interviewer.

Interpersonal Presentation:

Verbal expression: Pitch, rate, pauses. Nonverbal behavior: Gaze, smile, hand movement, body orientation.

Personal/Contextual Factors:

Interview training: Coaching, mock interviews with feedback. Interview experience: Number of prior interviews. Interview self-efficacy: Applicants perceived ability to do well in the interview. Interview motivation: Applicants motivation to succeed in an interview.

Job-irrelevant interviewer biases The following are personal and demographic characteristics that can potentially influence interviewer evaluations of interviewee responses. These factors are typically not relevant to whether the individual can do the job (that is, not related to job performance), thus, their influence on interview ratings should be minimized or excluded. In fact, there are laws in many

countries that prohibit consideration of many of these protected classes of people when making selection decisions. Using structured interviews with multiple interviewers coupled with training may help reduce the effect of the following characteristics on interview ratings. The list of job-irrelevant interviewer biases is presented below.

Attractiveness: Applicant physical attractiveness can influence interviewers evaluation Race: Whites tend to score higher than Blacks and Hispanics; racial similarity between

of ones interview performance.

interviewer and applicant, on the other hand, has not been found to influence interview ratings.

Gender: Females tend to receive slightly higher interview scores than their male Similarities in background and attitudes: Interviewers perceived interpersonal attraction Culture: Applicants with an ethnic name and a foreign accent were viewed less

counterparts; gender similarity does not seem to influence interview ratings.

was found to influence interview ratings.

favorably than applicants with just an ethnic name and no accent or an applicant with a traditional name with or without an accent. The extent to which ratings of interviewee performance reflect certain constructs varies widely depending on the level of structure of the interview, the kind of questions asked, interviewer or applicant biases, applicant professional dress or nonverbal behavior, and a host of other factors. For example, some research suggests that applicants cognitive ability, education, training, and work experiences may be better captured in unstructured interviews, whereas applicants job knowledge, organizational fit, interpersonal skills, and applied knowledge may be better captured in a structured interview. Further, interviews are typically designed to assess a number of constructs. Given the social nature of the interview, applicant responses to interview questions and interviewer evaluations of those responses are sometimes influenced by constructs beyond those the questions were intended to assess, making it extremely difficult to tease out the specific constructs measured during the interview. Reducing the number of constructs the interview is intended to assess may help mitigate this issue. Moreover, of practical importance is whether the interview is a better measure of some constructs in comparison to paper and pencil tests of the same constructs. Indeed, certain constructs (mental ability and skills, experience) may be better measured with paper and pencil tests than during the interview, whereas personality-related

constructs seem to be better measured during the interview in comparison to paper and pencil tests of the same personality constructs. In sum, the following is recommended: Interviews should be developed to assess the job relevant constructs identified in the job analysis.

Process
A typical job interview has a single candidate meeting with between one and three persons representing the employer; the potential supervisor of the employee is usually involved in the interview process. A larger interview panel will often have a specialized human resources worker. While the meeting can be over in as little as 15 minutes, job interviews usually last less than two hours. The bulk of the job interview will entail the interviewers asking the candidate questions about his or her job history, personality, work style and other factors relevant to the job. For instance, a common interview question is "What are your strengths and weaknesses?" The candidate will usually be given a chance to ask any questions at the end of the interview. These questions are strongly encouraged since they allow the interviewee to acquire more information about the job and the company, but they can also demonstrate the candidate's strong interest in them. Candidates for lower paid and lower skilled positions tend to have much simpler job interviews than do candidates for more senior positions. For instance, a lawyer's job interview will be much more demanding than that of a retail cashier. Most job interviews are formal; the larger the firm, the more formal and structured the interview will tend to be. Candidates generally dress slightly better than they would for work, with a suit (called an interview suit) being appropriate for a white-collar job interview. Additionally, some professions have specific types of job interviews; for performing artists, this is an audition in which the emphasis is placed on the performance ability of the candidate. In many companies, assessment days are increasingly being used, particularly for graduate positions, which may include analysis tasks, group activities, presentation exercises, and psychometric testing. In recent years it has become increasingly common for employers to request job applicants who are successfully shortlisted to deliver one or more presentations at their interview. The purpose of the presentation in this setting may be to either demonstrate candidates' skills and abilities in presenting, or to highlight their knowledge of a given subject likely to relate closely to the job role for which they have applied. It is common for the applicant to be notified of the request for them to deliver a presentation along with their invitation to attend the interview. Usually

applicants are only provided with a title for the presentation and a time limit which the presentation should not exceed. A bad hiring decision nowadays can be immensely expensive for an organizationcost of the hire, training costs, severance pay, loss of productivity, impact on morale, cost of re-hiring, etc. (Gallup international places the cost of a bad hire as being 3.2 times the individual's salary). Studies indicate that 40% of new executives fail in their first 18 months in a new job.This has led to organizations investing in on boarding for their new employees to reduce these failure rates.