Hr Interviews

1. A structured interview is when predetermined questions are asked to the applicant in a formal manner and the responses taken down and compared to benchmark answers. The questions are related to the applicant’s knowledge, skills, and abilities, and are job related. Therefore, bias can be cut down. Questions can put applicants in hypothetical situations that they have to think through and come up with a good way of handling (situational). Other questions can dig into past experiences, such as conflicts in groups and how the applicant dealt with that (behavioral description). The main reason that these interviews are more predictive of future performance is that the questions are more content valid and there is less bias.

Content valid means that the questions from the interview are closely related to the job’s tasks and required KSAO’s. This means that the performance in one of these interviews will more closely judge future performance. The behavioral and situational questions can put applicants in situations that they will have to deal with in the office and is sort of like a mini simulation in a way. An unstructured interview can be biased and therefore will not be easy to hold up in a lawsuit. Implicit personality theory is when an interviewer fills in gaps from the incomplete questioning by looking at resumes or other documents. Interviewers can be swayed if the applicant is similar to them, attractive, or smiling/gesturing. Also, too much emphasis can be placed on negative information rather than positive. If the person before you has an outstanding interview, you may be looked at negatively even though you are qualified (contrast). Other biases include stereotypes, gender, and race bias.