Employment Interview

• Social exchange (interpersonal) process

• Search for information

• Frequently used to make selection decisions; popular across cultures (especially European) --- Why?

Candidates like them Low cost Used by other companies Practical Considered to be legal

Source: Hausknecht, Day, & Thomas (2004). Personnel Psychology, 57, 639-683.

(Furnham, 2008)

Dimension Frequency of Use Definition

General Intelligence 16% Ability to learn and evaluate information quickly; ability to effectively planand organize work; application of mental ability for solving problems.

Job Knowledge and Skills 10% Declarative information (i.e., terms, values, names, and dates) and procedural knowledge (i.e., actions, skills, and operations) specific to the

job; technical knowledge.

Personality 35% Long-term disposition to act in certain ways; reflection of habitual behaviorwith regard to five dimensions: conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, openness to experience, emotional stability.

Applied Social Skills 28% Ability to function effectively in social situations; includes interpersonalskills, oral communication skills, leadership, and persuasiveness.

Interests and Preferences 4% Tendency toward certain activities; preference for certain work environments or a particular type of work or profession; interest in certain

topics or subjects.

Organizational Fit 3% Match between candidate and the organization’s values, goals, norms, andattitudes; fit with unique organizational culture or climate.

Physical Attributes 4% Evaluation of stamina and agility; and general characteristics, like anevaluation of physical appearance.

Common Dimensions Measured in the Interview

Pre-interview Phase

• Review paper credentials of applicants• Social media usage

Interview Phase

Interviewer Goals:• Recruitment• Assessing Person-Organization Fit• Judgment vs. Decision-making• Impression Management (e.g., others)

Interviewer Behavior• Use of rating scales• Note taking

Decision-Making PhaseDemographic factors (race and gender = small & mixed; age, disability, obesity, pregnancy = lower: Macan & Merritt, 2011)Role of negative informationPerceptual, attentional, attributional biases

Phases

Typical Interview Script

• Pre-contact activities (e.g., reviewing paper credentials)

• Establishing rapport

• Asking questions

• Answering questions

• Disengagement (ending, next steps in the process, escort out of setting)

~ Common Problems With the “Traditional” Interview ~ • Variety of Interviewer Biases * 1st Impressions * Expectancy Effect * Stereotype Matching (e.g. “ideal applicant)

• Lack of structureUse of structure?

29% (Terpstra & Rozelle, 1993, 201 companies)72% (Drogan & Yancey; 2011, 122 credit unions)

94% (Wang & Yancey, 2012, N = 94, top HR professionals in credit unions)

Structure? 1) questions, 2) response evaluations, and 3) combining scores (Conway, Jako, & Goodman, 1995)

1) job-relatedness of the interview, 2) standardization of the process, and 3) candidate evaluation (Diboye, Wooten & Halverson, 2004)

1) question consistency, 2) question sophistication, 3) establishing rapport, and 4) evaluation (Chapman & Zweig, 2005)

• Disagreement on the Desirability of Interview Responses

• Little Formal Interviewer Training (44% receive such training: Wang & Yancey, 2012)

• Subjective (or no) Scoring System (50%: Wang & Yancey, 2012)

• Interview Conducted and Scored by One Person

Overview of Situational Interview Process

1) Identify critical incidents (e.g., via a job analysis)

2) Place Critical Incidents into Relevant Job Dimensions (e.g., Safety, Responsibility, Interpersonal Skills)

3) Reword Critical Incidents Into Question Format

4) Decide on the desirability of responses [Think of how good, average, and mediocre workers would have answered such a question]

5) Conduct interviews in groups of two or more. Each interviewer scores applicant independently. A single score is given after group discussion or statistical combination.

Situational Interview Process (cont.)Teamwork

A customer comes into the store to pick up a watch he had left for repair. The repair was supposed to have been completed a week ago, but the watch is not back yet from the repair shop. The customer is very angry. How would you handle the situation?

1 (low) Tell the customer the watch is not back yet and ask him or her to check back with you later.

3 (average) Apologize, tell the customer that you will check into the problem, and call him or her back later.

5 (high) Put the customer at ease and call the repair shop while the customer waits

For the past week you have been consistently getting the jobs that are the most time consuming (e.g., poor handwriting, complex statistical work). You know it’s nobody’s fault because you have been taking the jobs in priority order. You have just picked your fourth job of the day and it ’s another “loser.” What would you do?

1 (low) Thumb through the pile and take another job.

3 (average) Complain to the coordinator, but do the job.

5 (high) Take the job without complaining and do it

Situational Interview (cont.)

1. It is often necessary to work together in a group to accomplish a task. Can you tell me about the most recent experience you had working as part of a group?

(The following are probe questions.)a. What was the task?b. How many people were in the group?c. What difficulties arose as a result of working as a group?d. What role did you play in resolving these difficulties?e. How successful was the group in completing its task?f. How often do you work as part of a group?

2. Tell me about a time when you aided an employee in understanding a difficult policy.

(The following are probe questions.)a. What was the policy?b. How did you know that the employee was having trouble understanding?c. What did you do or say that helped?d. How did you know that you had been successful?e. What steps did you take to change the policy?

Behavior Description Interviewing and Scoring

Behavior Description Interview

KSA 1: Ability to give verbal work instructions to laborers regarding construction and repairWhat instructions would you give a work crew that was about to string a 220-volt electric cable in a laboratory building under construction?

KSA 2: Ability to schedule work crews for specific tasksYou are in charge of a work crew of twelve. Included in this are four experienced carpenters and two electricians. These six are also permitted to do other jobs. You are to finish a 100 200 area that will have five separate offices and a general meeting room. Tell me the first five tasks that you would assign your crew and how many people you would put on each task. How long should each task take?

KSA 3: Ability to direct multiple work crews and work projects simultaneouslyGo back to the situation in the previous question. Tell me which tasks you would try to complete in the first two days. Which sequence of tasks would you schedule? How would your work crews know when to start a new task?

Sample Interview Questions Based on KSAs

Interview Rating Scales for KSAs

• Demographic composition of the interviewers (e.g., all White, all male)• Unstructured format• No objective criteria for making decisions (e.g., pass/fail) • Content of interview questions (e.g., different questions asked to males vs. females, biased questions)• No guidelines for conducting and scoring the interview• No operational definitions of KSAs• Lack of similarity between interview questions and work environment• Vague instructions for rating applicant performance• No scoring standards or cutoff scores

Discrimination Cases Regarding the Interview Key Factors

Cases in Which DiscriminationWas Found Court Comments

Stamps v. Detroit Edison (1973) All interviewers were white Interviewers made subjective judgments about applicant’s personalityNo structured or written interview formatNo objective criteria for employment decisions

Weiner v. Country of Oakland All interviewers were male(1976) Interview questions suggested bias against females

Selection decision rule not clearly specified

King v. TWA (1984) Female applicant did not receive same questions as malesHistory of interviewer’s gender bias

Robbins v. White-Wilson No guidelines for conducting or scoring interviewMedical Clinic (1981) Interviewer’s evaluation seemed racially biased based on own comments

Gilbert v. City of Little Rock, Ark. Content validity inappropriate defense for measurement of mental (1986) processes

Failure to operationally define KSAsDissimilarity between exam questions and actual work situations

Bailey et al. v. Southeastern Area Content of questions discriminatory toward womenJoint Apprenticeship (1983) Defense did not conform with EEOC Uniform Guidelines

Unclear instructions for rating applicant performance

Jones v. Mississippi Department Little evidence of specific questions usedof Corrections (1985) No scoring standards

No cutoff score for selection

• Base questions on a job analysis (e.g., KSAs)

• Ask the same questions of each candidate

• Limit prompting, follow-up questions, and elaboration on questions

• Ask better types of questions (e.g., hypothetical situations, ones indicative of past behavior, indicating relevant background of candidates, requiring specific demonstration of knowledge)

• Sufficient interview length and number of questions

• Withhold/control ancillary information

• Do not allow questions from candidate until after the interview

Ways To Structure Interview Content

Ways To Structure The Evaluation Process• Rate Each Answer or Use Multiple Scales

• Use Detailed, Anchored Rating Scales

• Take Detailed Notes

• Use Multiple Interviewers

• Use Same Interviewer(s) for All Candidates

• Don’t Discuss Candidates or Answers Between Interviews

• Provide Detailed Interviewer Training

• Use Statistical Versus Clinical Prediction

Interviewer Training

• Critical Interviewer SkillsCritical Interviewer Skills Accurately Accurately receiving receiving informationinformation

Hearing what the respondent saidHearing what the respondent said Observing the applicantObserving the applicant’’s behaviors behavior Remembering the information received (Remembering the information received (note note

takingtaking)) Avoiding errors Avoiding errors in evaluating information in evaluating information

receivedreceived The halo effectThe halo effect Distributional rating errors of central tendency and Distributional rating errors of central tendency and

leniencyleniency The similar-to-me effectThe similar-to-me effect The contrast effectThe contrast effect The first-impressions errorThe first-impressions error

Interviewer Training (cont.)

• Critical Interviewer Skills (contCritical Interviewer Skills (cont’’d)d) Regulating behavior in delivering questionsRegulating behavior in delivering questions

Not talking excessivelyNot talking excessively Not interacting differently Not interacting differently due to due to

interviewer similarity to applicantinterviewer similarity to applicant Maintaining control of the interviewMaintaining control of the interview

• Results of Interviewer TrainingResults of Interviewer Training Reduces common rater errorsReduces common rater errors Enhances Enhances reliability reliability of interviewer of interviewer

judgmentsjudgments Fosters more Fosters more sophisticated questioning sophisticated questioning

strategiesstrategies

Whites interviewed black applicants

Race Discrimination and Self-Fulfilling Prophecy in

Interviewing

Race Discrimination and Self-Fulfilling Prophecy in Interviewing (cont.)

Study 2: Interviewers trained to act in ways to those in the first study:

A)Immediate (way Whites were interviewed) B) Non-immediate (way Blacks were treated)

• Components of an Interviewer Training Components of an Interviewer Training ProgramProgram Identify specific behavioral objectivesIdentify specific behavioral objectives Have interviewer trainees Have interviewer trainees demonstrate and demonstrate and

review their skills review their skills (use of video)(use of video) Evaluate trainees and offer suggestions for Evaluate trainees and offer suggestions for

changechange Have interviewers attend Have interviewers attend training sessions training sessions

on a regular basis on a regular basis to acquire, refresh, and to acquire, refresh, and maintain interviewer skillsmaintain interviewer skills

Interviewer Training (cont.)