Interviewing Introduction: What is an Interview?

Interviewing is a process of obtaining information from an individual or a group of people (Interviewee(s)) by an interviewer or interviewers through mode of conversation. Interview is a method used by almost every type of organizations and professionals. It may be used for hiring a candidate or to find a suitable position for him/her or to get a feedback from the candidate or to gain some information from the candidate, etc. Thus, this method is an important tool used by the organizations and the professionals. Hence, interviews can be of various types according to their purpose like job interviews or media interviews or informal interviews etc. In my term paper, I will be concentrating on Job interviews. Purpose of carrying out a job Interview: For any organization its work force constitutes the main part in terms of its activities and the cost. When a company hires a person it is usually carried out as a long term investment based on which a company incurs huge amount of its revenues on its work force. If we typically look what all costs a company has to incur on a person then it includes his/hers salary, cost incurred on various training and development programs, benefits, resources that an employee uses for his work. All this amount to a huge cost without the surety of the employee continuing with his job in the near future. Hence, it becomes highly imperative for a company to hire the most suitable candidate for the job. For selecting this candidate, a method used is interview method. An interview allows the interviewer to know the candidates technical knowledge, personal characteristics, communication skills (if required), level of motivation and inspiration in him/her, other attributes and skills. This knowledge about the candidate in turn helps the interviewer in determining whether the candidate is right person for the job?, Will he/she be able to fit in the role?, Will he/she be able to carry out the job?, Will he/she be able to fit in the organization and the other team members?, etc. Hence, interview is a selection method which helps an organization in selecting the best candidate suitable for the job. Types of selection interviews: There are many ways in which a interview can be conducted depending on the requirements and the costs of the interview. Different types of selection interviews are: 1. Human Resources Interview:

This is an interview where the interviewer(s) is from Human Resources Department. The objective of this interview is to find whether the candidate will be able to fit in the organization or not. The types of questions asked in this interview relate to the personality, previous work experience, expectations of the candidate from the job/organization. HR interview can be used in the early stages of selection or even as the last stage. 2. One-on-One Interview: One on-one interview is the most common type of interview format and is usually conducted on site by the interviewer. This type of interview focuses on questions to assess your skills, knowledge, and abilities that are required in the job. 3. First Interview: The first interview that organizations conduct can differ widely based on their strategy. Like some organizations conduct an HR based interview, some organizations can conduct a technical interview etc. Some organizations prefer taking only one interview while some conduct multiple rounds of interview. 4. Second Interview (And subsequent interviews): These interviews are conducted to know the other aspects of the candidate which was not covered in the first stage or these stages of interview may be conducted to get in depth knowledge of the candidates competency. 5. Panel Interview: A panel interview is the one which consists of more than one interviewer. It can be carried out for various reasons like: to increase the time efficiency (each interviewer is asked to evaluate a different part of candidates attributes), to know how an interviewee reacts when he finds a group of people taking interview. 6. Group Interview: In this type of interview there are more than one interviewees who are interviewed by a single panel of interviewer(s) at a time. This type of interview can be conducted to save time, to observe certain skills in the interviewees like persuasiveness and the ability to influence others, communication and interpersonal ability, organizational and planning skills, leadership and delegation and the ability to work and contribute as a team-member. Also, other types of behaviors that can be observed by such interviews include the ability to analyze and solve problem, to handle stress and to deal with feedback and give feedback. 7. Stress Interview:

Stress interview is a tactic used by some companies or individual hiring managers to gauge how the candidate handles stress and deal with tough situations. In this type of interview the interviewer deliberately tries to put the interviewee in a defensive position by unsettling him. This is done to see how the interviewee reacts in such situations. This type of interview is usually carried out when the job in question is highly demanding and may have situations where the candidate will have to face lots of stress. 8. Behavioral Interview: In this type of interview the candidate is accessed by asking questions elated to his past. Here the interviewer believes that the past performance is the best indicator of evaluating a person. Typical types of questions asked in this interview are like Tell me a time when or Describe a situation when or Give me an example of 9. Non-Directive Interview: Here the candidate is given full freedom in determining the course of the discussion. The interviewer in this case refrains from influencing the candidates remarks or replies. This type of interview helps in bringing out the hidden attitude and information of the candidate. However reliability and validity of such an interview is minimal. It is also time consuming. 10. Structured Interview: In this type of interview, a set of standardized questions having an established set of answers is used. This interview is carried out to maximize the validity and reliability of the interview. It uses four types of questions: job knowledge, situational, worker requirements and job sample/simulation questions. The interview process is based exclusively on job duties and requirements critical to performance in job. 11. Situational Interview: This is an interview where the candidate is given a hypothetical incident and asked his/her response to the situation. It is a variation of structured interview. 12. Telephonic Interview: This type of interview is carried over telephone. It is mostly used for screening purpose, i.e., when a wide group is available for selection then to narrow down on the candidates a telephonic interview is carried out. This saves time and cost of interviewing a large group of people. 13. Video Interview:

This type of interview is carried out using video conferencing technology. It is usually done when the interviewer and the interviewee are separated by a long distance and they cannot meet a common place. 14. Lunch/Dinner Interview: In this type of interview, the interviewee is invited over lunch or dinner in a restaurant and there he is interviewed. This type of interview is carried out to evaluate social skills of the candidate and to see if he can carry himself gracefully under pressure. 15. Internal Interview: In this interview the interviewee is a current employer and is interviewed to get him shift to another job/position within the firm.

Planning the Interview: Legal and ethical aspects of interview: The Employment Exchanges (Compulsory Notification of Vacancies) Act, 1959 provides for compulsory notification of vacancies and submission of employment returns (ER-I and ER-II) by the employers to the employment exchanges. According to the Act, the term 'employment exchange' means "any office or place established and maintained by the Government for the collection and furnishing of information, either by keeping of registers or otherwise, respecting:- (i) persons who seek to engage employees; (ii) persons who seek employment;and (iii) vacancies to which persons seeking employment may be appointed". Thus, the main activities of the employment exchanges are registration, placement of job seekers, career counselling, and vocational guidance and collection of employment market information. The Act applies to all establishments in the public sector and such establishments in the private sector as are engaged in non-agricultural activities and employing 25 or more workers. The employer in every establishment in public sector in any State or area shall furnish such information or return as may be prescribed in relation to vacancies that have occurred or are about to occur in that establishment, to such employment exchanges as may be prescribed. But, it shall not apply in relation to the vacancies in any employment:

In agriculture (including horticulture) in any establishment in private sector other than employment as agricultural or farm machinery operatives;

In domestic service; The total duration of which is less than three months; To do unskilled office work;

Connected with the staff of Parliament.

Unless the Central Government otherwise directs by notification in the Official Gazette in this behalf, this Act shall not also apply in relation to:- (i) vacancies which are proposed to be filled through promotion or by absorption of surplus staff of any branch or department of the same establishment or on the result of any examination conducted or interview held by, or on the recommendation of, any independent agency, such as the Union or a State Public Service Commission and the like; and (ii) vacancies in an employment which carries a remuneration of less than sixty rupees in a month. Also under the Act, if any employer fails to notify to the employment exchanges any vacancy in contravention of the Act, he/ she shall be punishable for the offence. Also while interviewing one has to take care of ethical aspects like one has to be careful while asking questions related to sensitive issues or personal issues. For example, is it interviewers right to ask the interviewee whether his/her marriage is successful? The interviewer should know what he can ask and how deep he can go in an issue. Keeping the legal and ethical aspects of the interview in mind, the interviewer should now plan the interview in the following stages: Stage1: Conduct job analysis First task to give job appointment is to conduct job analysis. This entails breaking down the job into its constituent parts: what role must the candidate perform, what tasks must be done, what responsibilities he has to fulfill, what level of interaction will the job require, with whom he will have to interact? Next, the relative importance of each of these job components has to be determined. The next part of the job analysis requires one to establish what experience, qualifications and experience one would need in order to successfully and effectively do the job. The interviewer also should establish at this stage the personal characteristics that will be desirable in the candidate so that he is able to fit in his role and in the organization. Stage2: Describe the Job Describing the job involves results from the job analysis, i.e., based on the job analysis the interviewer should outline the features of the job and the applicant. Job description should be made as full and precise as it can be made. In the long run, this saves time. Stage3: Advertise Though this part comes under recruitment but the interviewer has to be involved in this part of process also because formulating the advertisement is going to

require information derived from the two stages of conducting the interview. Based on job description appropriate information is mentioned in the job advertisement to avoid unsuitable people applying for the job. Also appropriate advertising media has to be selected which will target the required job applicants. Stage4: Formulate the essential selection criteria Based on job analysis one has to determine the essential criteria that the applicant must satisfy in order to make him qualify for a call for the interview. For example if the job demands that the applicant should have good technical knowledge then a criteria can be set where the applicant should have his graduation percentage above 70. Stage5: Set a weightage for the selection criteria A relative analysis of the selection criteria has to be performed at this stage. This can be done by allocating some points to each criteria out of a total of 100.

Example: Work Experience 20 points Graduation Marks 20 points Class 12th Marks 10 points Class 10th Marks 10 points Communication Skills 20 points Personality Attributes 20 points Stage6: Information required from the candidate At this stage a set of questions are developed pertaining to essential duties and responsibilities of the job which will help in getting the required information about the candidate to predict his success in the job. Stage7: Determine the Interview Structure At this stage the interviewer starts making plan on how he is going to conduct the interview. Based on the company policies, certain situations, job requirements the interviewer decides what type of interview he is going to conduct. For example an interview has to be conducted for a very high position job in the company. Then the interview might involve the interviewer and interviewee to be professionals working at high position in different countries. In such a situation the interviewer may decide on conducting a video interview. All the pros and cons of various types of interviews should be kept in mind while formulating the above strategy. Stage8: Record and summarize the information gathered about each candidate The interviewer should prepare a spreadsheet about each candidate so that he is ready with the preliminary information given by the candidate till this stage. Stage 9: Schedule Interview

The interview has to be scheduled properly so that it is conducted in appropriate time and cost. For this purpose the interviewer should take care of the below mentioned guidelines:
For each candidate devote enough time to allow for an unhurried and relaxed

interview. It is the responsibility of the interviewer that the interview process is carried out in time whether or not a personnel office is there to assist him.
Too many interviews should not be conducted in a single day. Determine an

appropriate number of interviews that can or should be conducted in the day.

The interview process should not follow long schedule, i.e., it should not run for

some weeks, should get over within few days.

Determine an appropriate location of the interview site depending upon its

accessibility to candidates with disabilities and the distance a candidate will have to travel and cost that the company will have to incur. Appropriate arrangements should be made like booking a meeting room for conducting the interviews, if required.
Days of religious observance, national holidays that might affect a candidate's

availability should be checked beforehand.

If according to companys policy, arrangement for accommodation of the

candidate has to be done by the company (if he / she requests) then take the requests and book the rooms beforehand.
A schedule should be developed that does not adversely affect other office

responsibilities.
Co-workers must be notified to not interrupt for matters that can wait until after

the interview. Stage10: Notify the Candidate The Human Resources office notifies the candidate of the schedule of the interview through appropriate means by telephone or e-mail. Stage11: Review the Candidate's Application, Resume or Other Related Material This job is done by the Human Resources Department. It reviews all the candidates before the interview and provides interview forms to the candidates before the interview (if necessary).

Stage12: Schedule the Interview Questions: In case of panel interviews it is a good idea to define the roles and the questions that each panel member will be asking. Conducting the Interview: The interviewer should keep in mind that by conducting the interview, he is not only selecting the appropriate person for the job but is also creating an image of his company in the minds of interviewees. So, the interviewer should be in positive mind of frame and conduct interview appropriately without being discourteous to anyone. For conducting the interview a seven step plan is mentioned below 1. Introduction Interviewer should introduce himself and greet the candidate with a friendly smile and (or) a handshake. It is very important that the interviewer puts the candidate at ease so that he is able to answer the interview questions effectively. This can be done by offering the candidate a glass of water before beginning the interview or by using "small talk" to break the ice and reduce his nervousness. 2. Review the Application To begin with the interview the interviewer can ask questions like introduce yourself or questions related to the information supplied on the application and/or resume, and ask the candidate to elaborate on his/her previous job responsibilities or special projects. The nature, direction and enthusiasm of the candidate's responses provide the interviewer with valuable insight into the candidate's communication skills, what the candidate finds interesting or challenging, and how he or she is likely to fit into the particular job. 3. Unsettle the candidate After the second stage, when the interviewee has been put at complete ease, now is the time to unsettle the candidate and if required (according to the interview strategy) ask stressful question for conducting a stressful interview. 4. Describe the Job Interviewer can provide a written job description (or class standard) to the candidate (if essential), and summarize or review the major job responsibilities. The interviewer should describe the position in terms of the organization's structure, a brief description of their positions and also mentioning the individuals he/she will be working with. This is done so that all

candidates are left with basically the same impression of what the job is and requires and are clear about the same. For example, a certain job might require lot of travelling. For some candidates this may be a hardship while for others it may be a benefit. This requirement should be described as precisely as possible in terms of how often the prospective employee is likely to travel and what all places he will have to visit. The description of the requirement should be avoided in subjective terms such as "extensive" or "occasional" or "long distance", etc.. 5. Candidate Self-Assessment The interviewer should encourage the candidate to assess him or herself against the job. The interviewer can ask open-ended questions such as, "How do you see yourself in relation to this job?" or "What contributions do you think you can make to the work of this agency?" as they help in obtaining information regarding the candidate in relation to his/her previous job. The interviewer should avoid asking a candidate, "Do you think you can do the job?" Open-ended assessment of this type provide interviewer with feedback on how well he / she has described the job and its requirements. 6. Candidate Clarification The interviewer should ask the candidate if he or she has any questions about the job requirements, working conditions, prospective co-workers, supervisors, subordinates or other issues. It clarifies their doubt about the job and the organization. Also the interviewer can let the candidate know that someone will be available to answer any questions of the interviewee that might arise after the interview process is finished. 7. Closing A good way to close the interview can be by explaining what happens next in the hiring process and by thanking the candidate for his or her time. If appropriate, the interviewer should explain that if hired, job offers may be conditioned on favorable results of any necessary professional and/or physical examinations or results. 8. Rating the candidate: After the interview, when the interviewee has left the room, rate the candidate or give some points to the candidate on predetermined selection criteria.

The interviewer should avoid stating any type of appointment commitment, even when he/she is in a position to guarantee it. If the candidate indicates that

he or she has already received another job offer and will be forced to accept that offer unless you make a decision immediately, then the interviewer should explain to the candidate that he/she will be unable to make a commitment until all the interviews are completed. In this case, the candidate can be informed about when the final decision can be expected. The interviewer should also note down any information about the candidate that will be required later for final selection and which was not known earlier. Techniques of Interviewing: The following techniques can help the interviewer conduct a successful interview:
Pay Attention/Listen - Listening effectively is important, though it cannot be

stressed enough. However, the interviewer should be aware that he/she may be revealing his/her immediate impression of the candidate through his/her gestures, expressions and body language. The interviewer should not let any negative reactions become obvious to the candidate.
Echoing - Echoing is a technique that can be used by the interviewer to

encourage a candidate to elaborate on a topic. It is very useful as it allows one to get additional information without asking any direct or probing questions to the interviewee. For example, suppose the candidate has just said, "I didn't like the work." Then the interviewer can echo with the words "didn't like the work?" and the candidate will know that more information on this matter is desired by the interviewer. The echo technique prods the candidate into disclosing more specific information without creating any stress on him/her. It also avoids the appearance of a cross-examination.
Level of Language The language used during the interviewing should be

appropriate and not above or below the candidates comprehension level. The language should be appropriate for the position for which the interview is being carried out.
Handling "Problem" Candidates - Sometimes a candidate can present problems

during the interview, in such a case the interviewer has to keep the candidate on track. For example, a talkative applicant should not be allowed to waste time. In case of a candidate evading an important question, the interviewer should again ask the question elicit an appropriate response. If some candidates appear

overly prepared or confident and have rehearsed responses to most of the interview questions then the interview can try direct, probing questions to obtain more information from such candidates. Standard Trap for Interviewers: 1. Failing to notice candidates difficulties: this can include

difficulties like problems with understanding interviewers accent, problems because of cultural differences, slight hearing deficits, etc. 2. Failing to concentrate upon the other person: interviewer trying

to make a good impression on the candidate and constantly worrying about what the candidate thinks of him/her hinders in the task of getting information from the candidate. 3. Introducing irrelevances: this can include giving personal

examples, reminiscences, pursuing something the candidate says because it is personally relevant to the interviewer. The interviewer should restrain from selfdisclosure. 4. Failing to be consistent: in the pattern of questions asked across

candidates so that information collected is not comparable. 5. Making instant global evaluations: Some interviewers make snap

decisions about candidates which they will never change, this is sheer self aggrandizement. 6. Indicating Boredom or impatience: by interrupting too quickly or

riling through papers or not answering questions adequately or sitting in a laid back position with facial expressions that indicate boredom, etc. 7. Talking too much: when the interviewer does not allow the

candidate to complete his answer, whenever there is a pause, he/she jumps in. (Sometimes this is also used to create stress on candidate, in that case this can be done otherwise if it is habitual on part of interviewer then he should try avoiding it). 8. Using Leading Questions: Interviewer should not ask questions

in such a way that an expected answer is implied by the question. Example: I

suppose you never handle the situation that way?. For such a question the candidate will straight away reply No. This style of questioning should be avoided. 9. Losing control of the interview: This happens when a candidate

rambles from one topic to another without there being an obvious connection. The candidate might do this because of fear or anxiety or the candidate does not know what answers are expected of him. It can also result because of deliberate attempt of candidate to divulge from the topic. The interviewer should be at vigil and intervene directly when such diversions from interview occur. 10. Failing to arrange the best physical environment for the

interview: The environment and conditions of the interview room must be proper, like, chairs set near a table at a 45 degree angle encourage relaxed interaction as long as they are not close to each other. 11. Ignoring the selection criteria and following intuition, instinct or

feelings. This results in rating the candidate on one or two non-central criteria as justification thereby directing away from the whole objective of the interview.