Interview Programme

An interview is the most common method used to assess the suitability of a candidate for a job. You are assigned the responsibility of providing extensive interview training for members of interview panels in your organization. Discuss the nature of the information and skills that should be included in such a training programme.

1. INTRODUCTION

During recruitment, a job interview is the most used tool in the employment decision making or selection process; it is used to assess the suitability of a candidate for a particular job. Interviews can be done by phone, email or in person (face-to-face); however, the latter is the most frequent (USC, 2010). The most traditional interview is a one-on-one conversation but the panel/committee interviews are also common - The scope of this report is focused on panel interviews.

People are a key resource for any organisation and it is therefore crucial that they are capable of doing what is required of them for the benefit of not only themselves but the organisation as a whole. Interviewing is a craft; in a very short period of time, the interviewers must be able to get a feel of who the candidate is and whether the candidate is a good fit for the job and/or the organisation. Hence training interviewers to have such craft is of value to the organisation’s human capital. This report discusses the nature of information and skills that should be included in training programme for members of the interview panels.

2. TRAINING THE INTERVIEWER

Gatewood, Field & Barrick (2008) reiterate the point that there is value in training the interviewer. The aim of training the interviewers is to equip the organisation with the greatest potential for improving staff selection. Referring to the Four Frame Model in managing change (Mabey, 2008), recruitment is defined as one of the key organisation processes in the human resource frame. It is stated that “performance gaps arise because of lack of fit between the organisation and...