Gary Dessler

tenth edition

Chapter 7 Part 2 Recruitment and Placement

Interviewing Candidates

© 2005 Prentice Hall Inc. PowerPoint Presentation by Charlie Cook

All rights reserved. The University of West Alabama
Interviewing Candidates

7
Garry Dessler

6–2
LEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Give examples of the main types of selection interviews.

• Give examples of the main errors that can undermine an
interview’s usefulness.
• Define a structured situational interview and explain how to
conduct effective selection interviews.
• Give examples of how to use employee selection to improve
employee engagement.
• List the main points in developing and extending the actual
job offer.
Basic Types of Interviews
There are several ways to conduct selection interviews.
Classify selection interviews according to
1. How structured they are
2. Their “content”—the types of questions they
contain
3. How the firm administers the interviews (for
instance, one-on- one or via a committee)

• Structured versus Unstructured Interviews

• Interview Content (What Types of Questions to Ask)
Structured versus Unstructured Interviews

• Unstructured (or nondirective) interview

• An unstructured conversational-style interview in which
the interviewer pursues points of interest as they come
up in response to questions.
• Structured (or directive) interview
• An interview following a set sequence of questions.

7–5
Interview Content (What Types of
Questions to Ask)
Situational interview
• A series of job-related questions that focus on how the candidate
would behave in a given situation.
Behavioral interview
• A series of job-related questions that focus on how they reacted to
actual situations in the past.
Job-related interview
• A series of job-related questions that focus on relevant past job-
related behaviors.
Stress interview
• An interview in which the interviewer seeks to make the applicant
uncomfortable with occasionally rude questions that supposedly to
spot sensitive applicants and those with low or high stress tolerance.
Interview Content (What Types of
Questions to Ask)
Stress interview
• An interview in which the interviewer seeks to make the applicant
uncomfortable with occasionally rude questions that supposedly to
spot sensitive applicants and those with low or high stress tolerance.

Puzzle questions
• Recruiters for technical, finance, and other types of jobs use
questions to pose problems requiring unique (“out-of-the-box”)
solutions to see how candidates think under pressure.
How Should We Conduct the Interview?

Employers also administer interviews in various ways:

• sequentially (structured or unstructured)
• panel interview
• Mass interview
• Computerized
• Personally
• online.
Personal or Individual Interviews (½)
• Unstructured sequential interview
• An interview in which each interviewer forms an independent
opinion after asking different questions.
• Structured sequential interview
• An interview in which the applicant is interviewed sequentially by
several persons; each rates the applicant on a standard form.
• Panel interview
• An interview in which a group of interviewers questions the
applicant.
• Panel (broad) interview
• An interview in which a group of interviewers questions the
applicant.
• Mass interview
• A panel interviews several candidates simultaneously.
Personal or Individual Interviews (2/2)
• PHONE INTERVIEWS
-conduct interviews via phone.
-needn’t worry about appearance or handshakes, each
party can focus on answers.
• COMPUTER-BASED JOB INTERVIEWS
Computerized selection interview is one in which a job
candidate’s oral and/or computerized replies are obtained in
response to computerized oral, visual, or written questions
and/or situations.
• ONLINE VIDEO INTERVIEWS
With phone and tablet video functionalities
 Computerized Interviews
Ø Characteristics
– Reduces amount of time managers devote to
interviewing unacceptable candidates.
– Applicants are more honest with computers
– Avoids problems of interpersonal interviews
– Mechanical nature of computer-aided interview
can leave an applicant dissatisfied.

© 2005 Prentice Hall Inc. All rights reserved. 7–11

Avoiding Errors That Can Undermine an
Interview’s Usefulness

•Factors Affecting Interviews (1/4)

ØFirst impressions(Snap Judgments)
– The tendency for interviewers to jump to
conclusions—make snap judgments—about
candidates during the first few minutes of the
interview.
– Negative bias: unfavorable information about an
applicant influences interviewers more than does
positive information.
Factors Affecting Interviews (2/4)
Ø Not Clarifying What the Job Requires
(Misunderstanding the job)
– Not knowing precisely what the job entails and
what sort of candidate is best suited causes
interviewers to make decisions based on incorrect
stereotypes of what a good applicant is.
Ø Candidate-order error(Contrast) Error and
Pressure to Hire
– An error of judgment on the part of the
interviewer due to interviewing one or more very
good or very bad candidates just before the
interview in question.
7–13
 Factors Affecting Interviews (3/4)
Ø Nonverbal behavior and impression
management
– Interviewers’ inferences of the interviewee’s
personality from the way he or she acts in the
interview have a large impact on the interviewer’s
rating of the interviewee.
– Clever interviewees attempt to manage the
impression they present to persuade interviewers
to view them more favorably.

© 2005 Prentice Hall Inc. All rights reserved. 7–14

Factors Affecting Interviews: (4/4)
Ø Effect of personal characteristics: attractiveness,
gender, race
– Interviewers tend have a less favorable view of candidates
who are:
• Physically unattractive
• Female
• Of a different racial background
• Disabled
Ø Interviewer behaviors affecting interview outcomes
– Inadvertently telegraphing expected answers.
– Talking so much that applicants have no time to answer
questions.
– Letting the applicant dominate the interview.
– Acting more positively toward a favored (or similar to the
interviewer) applicant.

7–15
 How to Conduct an Effective Interview
Ø Structure your interview:
1. Base questions on actual job duties.
2. Use job knowledge, situational, or behaviorally oriented
questions and objective criteria to evaluate the
interviewee’s responses.
3. Train interviewers.
4. Use the same questions with all candidates.
5. Use descriptive rating scales (excellent, fair, poor) to rate
answers.
6. Use multiple interviewers or panel interviews.
7. If possible, use a standardized interview form.
8. Control the interview.
9. Take brief, unobtrusive notes during the interview.

© 2005 Prentice Hall Inc. All rights reserved. 7–16

 Designing and Conducting the Interview
Ø The structured situational interview
– Use either situational questions (preferred) or
behavioral questions that yield high criteria-related
validities.
– Step 1: Job Analysis
– Step 2: Rate the Job’s Main Duties
– Step 3: Create Interview Questions
– Step 4: Create Benchmark Answers
– Step 5: Appoint the Interview Panel and Conduct
Interviews

© 2005 Prentice Hall Inc. All rights reserved. 7–17

 Examples of Questions That Provide Structure
Situational Questions:
1. Suppose a co-worker was not following standard work procedures. The co-worker was
more experienced than you and claimed the new procedure was better. Would you use the
new procedure?
2. Suppose you were giving a sales presentation and a difficult technical question arose that
you could not answer. What would you do?
Past Behavior Questions:
3. Based on your past work experience, what is the most significant action you have ever taken
to help out a co-worker?
4. Can you provide an example of a specific instance where you developed a sales
presentation that was highly effective?
Background Questions:
5. What work experiences, training, or other qualifications do you have for working in a
teamwork environment?
6. What experience have you had with direct point-of-purchase sales?
Job Knowledge Questions:
7. What steps would you follow to conduct a brainstorming session with a group of employees
on safety?
8. What factors should you consider when developing a television advertising campaign?
Note: So that direct comparisons can be made, an example is presented to assess
both teamwork (1,3,5,7) and sales attributes (2,4,6,8) for each type of question.

Source: Michael Campion, David Palmer, and James Campion, “A Review of

Figure 7–3
Structure in the Selection Interview,” Personnel Psychology (1997), p. 668.
© 2005 Prentice Hall Inc. All rights reserved. 7–18
7–20
7–22
 How to Conduct an Effective Interview
(cont’d)
Ø Prepare for the interview
– Secure a private room to minimize interruptions.
– Review the candidate’s application and résumé.
– Review the job specifications
Ø Establish rapport
– Put the person at ease.
Ø Ask questions
– Follow your list of questions.
– Don’t ask questions that can be answered yes or
no.
© 2005 Prentice Hall Inc. All rights reserved. 7–23
 Structured
Interview
Guide

Source: Copyright 1992. The

Dartnell Corporation, Chicago, IL.
Adapted with permission.

Figure 7–1a
© 2005 Prentice Hall Inc. All rights reserved. 7–24
 Structured
Interview
Guide
(cont’d)

Source: Copyright 1992. The

Dartnell Corporation, Chicago, IL.
Adapted with permission.

Figure 7–1b
© 2005 Prentice Hall Inc. All rights reserved. 7–25
 Structured
Interview
Guide
(cont’d)

Source: Copyright 1992. The

Dartnell Corporation, Chicago, IL.
Adapted with permission.

Figure 7–1c
© 2005 Prentice Hall Inc. All rights reserved. 7–26