Interviewing

The next step is to interview the applicants. There are many specific characteristics of this phase.

Types of interviews

Individual interviews. This involves face to face discussion and provides the best opportunity for the establishment of close contact between the interviewer and the candidate.

Interviewing panels.

This is a situation where two or more people gather together to interview one person. The panel will include a human resource specialist and line manager. Panel interviews help to develop a common consensus about the candidate through discussions amongst panel members and hence reduce superficial biases.

Selection boards.

These are more formal, and usually larger interviewing panels convened by an official body because there are a number of parties interested in the selection decision

Preparation for interview

During the preparation for an interview, one must know what he/she wants to achieve from the interview. One needs to set objectives that can be reasonably achieved by the interview and that are directly related to the job description and specification.

· Preparation.

· Inform the candidate, organise the interview, decide on who will conduct it, the venue to be used for the interview – this should be comfortable, the process of interviewing, decision making and feedback.

The essential skill of conducting interviews is the skill of asking good questions. The following sections provide guidance on how to conduct interviews.

Conducting the interview

The actual interview involves asking questions, seeking feedback and recording in the manner that can be used to make decisions. The management of the interview process is as important as the interview itself. This will involve structuring the interview questions and the pattern and style of asking questions based on specific criteria and job requirements, managing the climate, exchanging views and controlling the interview to avoid going into issues which have limited relation with the job or the person. The chair of the interview panel should have the necessary skills of conducting meetings, which include time management, keeping focus and the ability to summarise conclusions. The questions to be used and the way to be asked make a difference in the effectiveness of the interview. The following questions may be useful:

Open questions begin with words such as ‘why’, ‘how’, ‘what’ etc., or phrases such as ‘tell me about …’

Questions which start in this way invite the interviewee to answer them in his or her own words.

Open questions are useful for finding out information about the interviewee’s experience, views, and opinions.

Closed questions invite short answers such as ‘yes’ or ‘no’. They begin with phrases such as ‘are you …?’ Or ‘is it ….’ And words such as ‘which’ or ‘when’. Closed questions are useful for checking facts, but may discourage the interviewee from giving fuller explanations of those facts.

Probing questions can be used to explore a particular topic in more detail. Probing questions may start with phrases like ‘tell me more about …’. Or ‘what did you mean when you said’. Or ‘give me an example of …’.

These questions are very useful for going beyond a superficial understanding of the information that an interviewee provides.

Leading questions indicate the answer, which the interviewer expects to hear. Leading questions often begin with phrases such as ‘I assume that …’ or ‘would you agree that …’. By asking leading questions you risk biasing the information you receive from the interviewee. Loaded questions imply that the interviewer is judging or criticising the interviewee. It may be the tone of voice in which the question is asked that indicates this or it may be the actual words used, for example ‘why on earth did you decide to do that …’. Asking loaded questions also risks biasing the information you receive. Double headed questions are where several questions are strung together e.g. ‘What are your main duties in your present job, and which duties do you like best …’. These types of questions might confuse the interviewee and it may mean that he or she answers only one part of the question. To avoid this it is better to ask several separate questions and to give the interviewee a chance to answer each one in turn.

Multiple choice questions offer the interviewee a choice of answers. For instance, ‘Did you decide to apply for this job because you want a career in local government …?’ The choice of answers given by the interviewee may not include the answer that he/she wants to give, but he or she may feel pressurised to choose one of the answers suggested. Self-assessment questions are questions in which the interviewee is asked to ‘sell’ him or herself to the interviewer. Examples of this sort of question would be ‘Tell me why you’re the best person for this job …’, or ‘What makes you think that you can do this job …’ An interviewee may answer this kind of question poorly but he/she may in fact have all the skills and abilities necessary to do the job. It is up to the interviewer to assess the interviewee’s suitability for the job. One cannot rely on the interviewee to do this for him/her. Hypothetical questions are the ones that pose imaginary situations for the interviewee, and then the interviewer asks the interviewee questions about the imaginary situation; for example, ‘Imagine that you have a very angry caller on the telephone, what you would do ...?’ Hypothetical questions rely on the interviewee’s ability to imagine the situation, and then to imagine how he or she would react in that situation.

More reliable information can be gained from questions about actions that the interviewee actually took in situations that the interviewee has actually experienced.

Using the Star Model to conduct interview

One of the interview techniques is by using the STAR model. S - Situation, T - Task, A - Action and R - Result. Under this model, only specific questions are asked so as to enable or lead the assessor to understand the past behaviour of the candidate and which can assist in predicting the candidate’s future behaviour. Theoretical questions such as ‘What would you do or what will you do …?’ are avoided under the STAR model, so as to enable the assessors to get the right candidate. This is because candidates with good speaking skills, those who use polished language and are convincing may not necessarily be the right candidates.

Therefore:

S - SITUATION: What was the situation one faced in the past? One has to precisely analyse the situation.

T - TASK: What was his/her task/job? What were you supposed or expected to do?

A - ACTION: What did you do?

R - RESULT: What was expected of you? What was the result?

Making decision

We have seen that it is desirable to use a scoring scheme at both the short listing and the final selection stages. This leads to the question, ‘What should the status of the scores be?’ ‘Are they an aid to selection, or are they the selection in themselves?’ Some literature overwhelmingly indicates that the latter alternative is the most preferable. For most selectors, it goes against the grain to make an appointment in this mechanical way, but to allow selectors the discretion to override scores simply gives them scope to make arbitrary appointments based on bias. The human resource practitioner should use his or her influence to encourage other selectors to take their scores seriously.