The job interview is the most common form of selection and one that most people are familiar with. Until recently, the interview has had bad press. Compared to other selection techniques it has been viewed as unscientific and highly prone to the effects of biases and prejudices held by interviewers.
Some of the reasons why interviews were/are viewed in negative light are as follows:
They are prone to judgements. For example – interviewers’ rating can be influenced by physical attractiveness and non-verbal cues such as smiling, body posture and hand movements. There is evidence that women who wear masculine suits receive more favourable ratings
Some research indicates that negative information (even if irrelevant) is given for more importance that positive information during an interview, which can lead to a wrong decision
Many times interviews are conducted in an un-structured format, without proper/standard measurement and rating procedures
However, even during the time when many viewed interviews negatively, there were areas where they were considered valuable. For example, there was evidence that two aspects of the characteristics of the applicant – personal relations and good citizenship behaviours – could be evaluated particularly well with the interview. Personal relations is the ability to form and maintain effective relations with others in the organisation. Good citizenship behaviour refers to the individual’s willingness to make a positive contribution to the organisation, often by doing things which are not part of their formal job description, in order to help those around them and the organisation in general.
Partly as a result of such criticism, improvements have been made to the design of interviews and there is evidence that this has had a positive effect. Properly designed and carried out, the selection interview can play a valuable role in the selection process. For organisations, an effort must be made to design an interview process which is structured and measurable. A structured interview is highly organised and involves the interviewer asking a pre-determined set of questions in a set order. These questions should be designed to evaluate the extent to which the interviewee has the characteristics that are known to be critical for performance on the job. Answers should then be scored according to a set of clearly defined rules.
Amit Puri is the Managing Consultant at Sandbox Advisors. He has over 10 years of business, career services and HR related experience, with companies such as Bain & Co, Morgan Stanley and Citigroup. Sandbox Advisors is based in Singapore and provides career management/advice, job search, interview, resume and HR consulting services in Asia.
