Employees Selection: Interviews

Types of selection methods.

The HR manager can choose the most comprehensive type of employees selection from the following:

Interviews, references and biographical data, physical ability tests, cognitive ability tests, personality inventories, work samples, honesty tests and drug tests.

It is worth to pay special attention to such type of personnel selection as interviews.

Interviews. A selection interview has been defined as “a dialogue initiated by one or persons to gather information and evaluate the qualifications of an applicant for employment”. The selection interview is the most widespread selection method employed in organizations.

First, HR staff should keep the interview structured, standardized, and focused on accomplishing a small number of goals. That is, they should plan to come out of each interview with quantitative ratings on a small number of dimensions that are observable (e.g., interpersonal style or ability to express oneself) and avoid ratings of abilities that may be better measured by tests (e.g., intelligence).

Second, ask questions dealing with specific situations that are likely to arise on the job, and use these to determine what the person is likely to do in that situation. These types of situational interview items come into varieties. Some items are “experience based” and require the applicant to reveal an actual experience he or she had in the past when confronting the situation. Other items are “future oriented” and ask what the person is likely to do when confronting a certain hypothetical situation in the future. Before going to the employment interview be ready to hear the following questions:

Experience Based. Motivating employees:

“Think about an instance when you had to motivate an employee to perform a task that he or she disliked but that you needed to have

done. How did you handle that situation?”

Resolving conflict: “What was the biggest difference of opinion you ever had with a co-worker? How did you resolve that situation?”

Overcoming resistance to change: “What was the hardest change you ever had to bring about in a past job and what did you do to get the people around you to change their thoughts or behaviors?”

Future Oriented. Motivating employees: “Suppose you were working with an employee whom you knew greatly disliked performing a particular task. You needed to get this task

completed, however, and this person was the only one available to do it. What would you do to motivate that person?”

Resolving conflict: “Imagine that you and a co-worker disagree about the best way to handle an absenteeism problem with another member of your team. How would you resolve that situation?”

Overcoming resistance to change: “Suppose you had an idea for change in work procedures that would enhance quality, but some members of your work group were hesitant to make the change. What would you do in that situation?”