Interview: Meaning, Definition, Importance, Types, Conducting Interviews

An interview is the most prevalent kind of planned communication. Interview is a special technique of communication that is used to examine the behaviour of an individual or individuals, to match their statements and to study the clear conclusions of social interaction.

According to Jucius Michael, “An interview is a face to face, oral, observational and personal appraisal method”.

Usually, it is used as a means of getting information from the candidate. It also involves giving information that will help the applicant make up his mind about the company.

Interviewing the candidates is an important aspect of selection procedure. The final selection is partly based on the performance of the candidate in different tests and partly on his performance in the final interview. In the interview, the candidate has to appear before the interviewer or a group of interviewers.

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Learn about:- 1. Meaning of Interview 2. Definition of Interview 3. Importance 4. Guidelines 5. Types 6. Process 7. Conducting Interviews 8. Exit Interview 9. Limitations.

Interview: Meaning, Definition, Importance, Guidelines, Strategies, Types, Process, Exit Interview and Limitations

Interview – Meaning

Although interview may be of several types, but we shall study, interview for job or employment only. An employment interview is a structured and purposive conversation between the interviewee and the interviewer or interviewers. Interview is not a test of knowledge alone but an acid test of your personality in the strict sense of the word. Knowledge in itself is a part of your personality and that knowledge inspires confidence – the quintessence of personality.

In a typical interview, the action is controlled by the interviewer. He establishes the style and structure of the interview. In employment interviews, the employer wants to learn about the applicant’s ability and experience. The job candidate wants to learn about the place and organisation. Both hope to make a good impression and establish a rapport. Job interviews are usually fairly formal and organised. Correct and critical listening skills are especially important.

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Interview is an important skill and requires special type of preparation. At a recent advisory committee meeting of business executives and college teachers of business department, the business people were asked, “How can we help our graduates compete on the job market?” Replying for the group, one man advised –

“Teach them how to present themselves properly at a job interview.”

So much has to be decided in the brief time of employment interviews that it may not seem fair. But the individual’s appearance in interview and his personal performance after the interview and appointment is more important than educational ability.

A business organisation will prefer a person with two years’ experience to a person with four years’ experience, if the former presents himself in a better way, looks in the eyes while speaking and makes a positive over-all impression. The person who dresses carelessly, mumbles answers, slouches in a chair and evades looking you in the eye will be ignored regardless of otherwise good qualifications.

Interview – Definition

According to Jucius Michael, “An interview is a face to face, oral, observational and personal appraisal method”. Usually, it is used as a means of getting information from the candidate. It also involves giving information that will help the applicant make up his mind about the company.

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In the words of Stewart and Cash, “Interview is a process of didactic communication with pre-determined and serious purpose designed to interchange behaviour and involving the asking and answering the questions.”

The candidate’s overall personality is judged in the interview. The interview may last for 10 to 20 minutes or even more. Various questions are asked from the candidate in order to judge his ability, knowledge, capacity and so on. Interviewing technique is used in all companies and in the case of all categories of staff to be recruited.

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Interviewing candidates is an important skill of the interviewer. Now, we are going away from the age-old practice when interviews were essentially meant for rejecting candidates and not to select them. In olden days, a number of people who wanted to get selected used to be very large and the vacancies were quite a few.

Consequently every interviewer wanted some reason to reject a candidate than selecting him. Nowadays, the situation has changed and getting suitable candidates for several jobs, has become a difficult task. Unless there is good understanding skill used, the organisation may end up in selecting anybody. This is not a proper selection to the recruitment problem.

Interview – Importance of Employment Interview

For the selection of right types of people, employment interview is very important.

The importance of employment interview are as follows:

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(i) There is a face-to-face contact between the employer and the candidate. The employer can assess the personality traits of the candidate.

(ii) The candidate can seek more information about the employer and the job. This creates better understanding in the mind of the candidate.

(iii) The communication skill of the candidate can be judged in the interview. His way of thinking can also be known.

(iv) Interview is very important where the candidate has not to go through employment tests. The information contained in the application form can be checked during the interview.

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(v) Many companies do not follow elaborate selection procedure as it is costly and time- consuming. They can rely on interview if it is properly planned and administered.

Interview – Top 6 Guidelines for Effective Interview

i) Interviewers must be persons of outstanding capabilities in judging various skills possessed by the candidates.

ii) The interviewer should have adequate training and experience in conducting interviews.

iii) The interviewer need to begin the interview with the information already given by the candidate in his application than asking professional questions. This will create a confidence in the candidate to answer other questions. This is likely to create good ‘rapport’ between the candidate and the interviewer.

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iv) The interviewer should know what all the traits assessed during the interview like intelligence, aptitude for inter-personnel relationship, self-motivation to work and also qualities like honesty, ability to communicate, emotional balance and coordinating ability.

v) The interviewer should ensure that interview should not be prejudicial.

vi) The interview should elicit the required information about the candidate to enable the interviewer to have a comprehensive idea about the candidates, personal appearance, attitude, mannerism, motivation, merits, temperament and other personal attributes.

Interview – 6 Common Types of Interview Depending upon the Nature and Importance of the Position to be Filled within an Organisation

Several types of interviews are commonly used depending on the nature and importance of the position to be filled within an organisation:

Type # 1. The Non-Directive Interview:

In a non-directive interview the recruiter ask questions as they come to mind. There is no specific format to be followed. The questions can take any directions. Difficulties with a non- directive interview include keeping it job related and obtaining comparable data on various applicants.

Type # 2. The Directive or Structured Interview:

In this interview, the recruiter uses a predetermined set of questions that are clearly job related. Since every applicant is asked the same basic questions, comparison among applicants can be made more easily. Structured questions improved the reliability of the interview process, eliminate basic and errors and may even enhance the ability of a company to withstand legal challenges. Also, designing a structured interview may take a good amount of time and energy.

Type # 3. The Situational Interview:

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One variation of the structured interview is known as the situational interview. In this approach, the applicant is confronted with a hypothetical incident and asked how he or she would respond to it. The applicant response is then evaluated relative to pre- established benchmark standards.

Type # 4. The Behavioural Interview:

This interview focuses on actual work incidents (as against hypothetical situations in the situational interview) in the applicant’s part. The applicant is supposed to reveal what he or she did in a given situation, for example; how he disciplined an employee who was smoking inside the factory premises.

Type # 5. Stress Interview:

In stress interview, the interviewer attempts to find how applicants would respond to aggressive, embarrassing, rude and consulting questions. The whole exercise is meant to see whether the applicant can cope with highly stress-producing, anxious & demanding situations while at work, in a calm and composed manner.

Type # 6. Panel Interview:

In this interview, the applicant meets with 3 to 5 interviewers who take turn asking questions. After the interview the interviewers analyse their observations to arrive at a consensus about the suitability of the applicant. The panel members can ask new and incisive questions based on their expertise & experience and elicit deeper and more meaningful responses from candidates. Such an interview could also limit the impact of the personal biases of any individual interviewer.

Interview – 6 Step Process (With Common Questions Asked in a Face to Face Interview and Probable Answers)

1. Preparation – Clearly establish objectives of the interview and determine the specific questions to be asked. Select interview method and panel members who will interview the candidates. Select a room free from interruptions. Keep ready interview assessment forms.

2. Reception – Greet the candidate and put the applicant ease. Start the interview on time.

3. Information Exchange – State purpose of the interview. Begin the interviews with open- ended questions so that he can express himself freely. Ask appropriate questions to find out how the candidate meets the job requirements. Focus on candidate’s education, training and experience. Avoid questions that are not job related. To increase reliability, it is better to ask same questions to all the candidates. Keep notes of the interview for evaluation purpose. Further the interviewer should make a note of facial expressions and gestures that indicate the attitude and feeling of the candidate.

Some of the common questions asked in a face to face interview and probable answers are given below:

Tell us briefly about yourself:

(a) Introduce yourself (Name, age, qualification, brief family background), explain the current nature of job and responsibilities, key achievements in the job and focus on strengths that are relevant to the job.

(b) Tell us about your current job (Explain duties and responsibilities)

Highlight your strengths such as technical knowledge, ability to meet deadlines, does not wilt under pressure, ability to work extended hours, interpersonal relationship, analytical ability. Be prepared to substantiate the strengths with relevant incidents in professional life.

(d) Why do you want to leave the current job (Highlight higher responsibilities, growth opportunities, working in a larger organisation, learning new skills etc. Regarding the current employer, highlight the size of the company, nature of business, products etc. Do not focus on weaknesses of the company. Do not talk about the negative aspects of the company)

(e) What is your weakness?

State weaknesses that are not very seriousness-

Examples – Cannot accept shoddy job, loses patience if the people take very long time to complete the job etc.

(f) Why should we select you?

State your strengths in relation to the job. Highlight domain knowledge and soft skills.

(g) What are your expectations regarding remuneration?

Tell the interviewer/s that you will accept a salary that is in line with the responsibilities of the job. If this question is repeated, give a direct answer i.e. you are expecting x per month. If you are fresh from the college, you may say that a salary as per the policy of the company will be acceptable to you.

(h) Have you applied for a job in another company? Do you have offers?

This is a difficult question to answer. Do not lie, provide an honest answer. Probably the interviewer wants to check your honesty.

(i) What is more important to you? Salary or growth opportunities?

Growth opportunities with fair salary and benefits

4. Termination of the Interview – End the interview as pleasantly as it began. One way of closing the interview is to ask the candidate “would you like to ask any questions to us”. Do not give any indication of his prospects at this stage. Inform the candidate about the next step in the selection process.

5. Evaluation – Record your observations. Discuss with other panel members regarding their observations about the candidate. It is better to use a common evaluation form for this purpose.

6. The candidate will be very anxious to know the result of the interview.

Guidelines for the post-interview follow up are given below:

(a) Find out the name and designation of the interviewer/s for follow up

(b) Ascertain when the result of the interview will be known

(d) Write ‘thank you’ e-mail to the interviewer

(e) Wait for 20-30 days before making follow up calls

(f) Make phone calls only during office working hours

(g) Keep your resume ready for answering any questions during telephonic follow up

(h) Do not show that you are desperately in need of the job

(i) Dot not make frequent phone calls to the interviewers

(j) In case you are not selected, do not show your disappointment. Probably your profile is not matching with the requirements of the position

Criticisms against Selection Interview:

1. A few questions asked during the interview may not give proper evaluation of the candidate.

2. Interviewers may not be trained for conducting interviews.

3. The interviewers may expect a particular answer to a question and only those candidates who answer in the same way are considered.

4. Personal bias may lead to subjective opinion.

Interview – Conducting Interviews

Hiring is a challenging task. Successful hiring helps the company in getting good talent, which can be instrumental in shaping the future of the company. A team of talented individuals working together is a great asset for growing a company.

Interviewing is an important tool to check the personal and professional qualities of manpower coming to join the company. It should be done very carefully and with proper planning. If there are too many candidates, it is advisable to screen the candidates through one or more tests. Another method to check the candidates’ behaviour in a group setting is to hold a group discussion among them before tests or interviews.

1. Preparation Before and While Conducting Interviews:

Prepare a list of candidates to be interviewed. Give the candidates time slots as per the approximate time required per candidate. Unless we have a group discussion or mass tests as a part of the evaluation process, don’t call all the candidates together. They should be called as per their scheduled time slot.

Inform the candidates well in advance about the date, time and place of the interview.

Tell them which documents they should bring, the entire process of the interviews and tests and how much approximate time the process may take.

Also, give them travel directions to reach the venue, if required.

Get a confirmation from the candidates whether they are coming for the interview or not.

Decide a peaceful place where the interviews will be taken. Reserve that place, if needed. (Meeting rooms in companies are a shared resource, and are booked by various departments as per need.)

Try to start and end the interviews as per the time slot.

Make sure that the candidates are taken care of and are properly guided throughout the interview and tests process and during the waiting periods in between.

If the interview and tests process takes a long time, also arrange for the food for the candidates as per the time of day.

These days, human resources are treated as a very important component in the success of any company and hence, this first interaction with the candidates (who may become future employees) must be handled with utmost care, because this builds the image of the company or its employer brand.

2. The Interview Panel:

Form the selection panel which will conduct the interviews.

At least two people must be present in the interview panel while interviewing any candidate. For senior positions, three or more interviewers are advisable.

One person from HR and one or more persons from the respective department in which the new employee will be added should be there on the interview panel.

Sometimes, some external expert, consultant or advisor is also called for interviewing purpose.

Inform the interviewing panel about the interviews schedule and provide them with copies of the job descriptions and resumes of candidates, well in advance.

Everybody on the interview panel must be aware of the job requirements of the position for which the interviews are held.

Give an Interview Evaluation Form to be filled by each interviewer for each candidate. They can fill the same as a team also, in a single form.

In the end, the interview panel must give their verdict about each candidate interviewed, whether she is Shortlisted, Rejected or Put on Hold etc.

3. The Interview Process:

Make the candidate comfortable.

Try to find out the skills, knowledge, experience and competencies of the candidate with respect to the job in question.

The questions should try to find out the suitability of the candidate for the Job Description.

Along with that, we should try to find out her attitude, motivation, drives and likings.

Also we must try to find out her suitability to work in a team, her emotional maturity and stability.

If the job involves supervising or managing others, we must check her leadership competencies as well.

Ask her about her strengths and weaknesses.

We should find out her family information (i.e. who is there in the family, their occupation etc.) to find out her background, family responsibilities and support structure.

In addition to the job specific questions, following are some general questions which may be used as per the situation:

a) Tell something about your career so far.

b) Describe your achievements in your various job assignments.

c) What challenges you in a job?

d) What puts you off in a job?

e) What is the reason to leave the current job?

f) What was the reason for joining it when you joined it?

g) How do you explain so many job changes in quick succession? (This applies if the person has changed too many jobs in the past.)

h) Which new skills or competencies have you added beyond your academic qualification and how?

i) How do you handle difficult situations or people?

j) How soon can you join?

4. Conducting Tests:

For screening the candidates, only interviews are not sufficient sometimes.

Taking personal interviews takes a lot of time. If the number of candidates is big, the preliminary screening can be done by some tests.

For many functions where the actual skills or attitude of the candidate have to match our minimum requirement, tests are required for checking the candidates’ suitability.

Generally, two types of tests are used- 1) Personality assessment tests 2) Job skills tests

Personality assessment (like psychometric) tests are undertaken to assess the skills, knowledge, abilities, attitudes, personality traits and behavioural preferences of the candidates.

Such tests can be conducted at our premises, at some professional test centres or online also. There are some web sites which offer such tests. We can use this facility and guide the candidate to take the online test before coming for an interview. Based on the result of such tests, we can screen the candidates and prepare a shortlist for the interviews.

Ideally, job skills tests should be conducted at our premises.

The tests can happen before or after the interview, based on our evaluation process. If the tests result is the basis of the interview, it should be held first.

For a job skills test, a test paper or assignment must be prepared and kept ready with the help of the department for which we are trying to select people.

Some examples of job skill tests:

a) Whether an accounts person possesses sufficient level of expertise in accounting or its software.

b) If the job is for something technical, like software, appropriate tests are a must to ensure the necessary skill level.

c) If the job involves using some machine or equipment, a test is designed to check their skill level in operating that.

d) Handwriting analysis is also used by many companies for understanding their personality types and attitude.

5. Telephonic or Video Interviews:

If the candidate is from another city or country and we wish to screen him before calling for a personal interview, a phone or video interview should be tried.

Exact date and time of such an interview must be fixed and communicated to both, the candidate and the interview panel.

Test the communication equipment before the interview.

If the interview is being conducted on phone, the phone must be kept on speaker mode, unless only one person is conducting such an interview.

Introduce the panel members to the candidate before starting the phone or video interview.

6. Determining Interview Levels/Rounds:

For junior positions, generally one level of interview and test is sufficient.

For middle and senior positions, two or sometimes three level interviews are organized.

For senior positions, it is advisable to have two or more interviews, preferably on different days at different locations. This will enable us to know the same person in different situations which will help us to understand him better.

For technical positions, generally the interviews are taken in two rounds. First, the technical round where their technical skills are checked. Here, the result of the technical test given to the candidate is examined and cross checked. Next is the HR round where the candidates’ personal attributes, attitude, temperament, communication skills etc. are checked. The HR round is generally conducted for those candidates who have cleared the technical screening round. However, the order may vary as per the company’s requirement, evaluation criteria and preferences.

The final shortlisting or selection should be done based on the results of each level of interview and tests.

7. Decision Strategy:

Though the selection process is almost common, the decision strategy differs from category to category. The strategy in selecting personnel for managerial and executive positions does differ from that of clerical and technical cadre. Many factors are to be considered in making the final decisions when many candidates are being selected for various positions.

The following points are to be taken into consideration for effective selection and placement:

(i) Are the applicants hired according to their potential or according to the needs of the organization?

(ii) What should be the initial grade and compensation?

(iii) Which is to be given more importance, employee-job requirement or employee-potential for advancement?

(iv) Should the candidates who are not qualified presently but qualifiable later be considered?

(v) Should overqualified candidates be considered?

(vi) Should the organization go in for almost uniform type of employees or encourage diversity among the employees?

Interview – Exit Interview: Meaning, Purpose, Samples and Reality Bites

Exit interviews might help organizations to understand why employees leave their organisations for identify factors influencing the dissatisfaction of the employees.

An exit interview is typically a meeting between at least one representative from a company’s human resources (HR) department and a departing employee. (The departing employee usually has voluntarily resigned vs. getting laid off or fired.) The HR rep might ask the employee questions while taking notes, asks the employee to complete a questionnaire, or both.

Employees who voluntarily leave the organization are sources of valuable information. They can give you an honest feedback about the organization, voice complaints, offer a constructive criticism or let the organization know why he/she are leaving. This is most beneficial for the employer as it is an eye-opener and a significant review to see how the company is doing.

Purpose of an Exit Interview

Human resources departments conduct exit interviews (also called exit surveys) to gather data for improving working conditions and retaining employees. However, a hidden purpose is to help employers avoid costly litigation down the road, caused by “disgruntled” employees. In other words, your comments and the notes an HR rep takes during your exit interview might be used against you in court, should you decide to sue your former employer.

Samples of Exit Interview Questions:

Listed below are samples of the types of exit interview questions that employers commonly ask departing employees:

1. What is your primary reason for leaving?

2. Did anything trigger your decision to leave?

3. What was most satisfying about your job?

4. What was least satisfying about your job?

5. What would you change about your job?

6. Did your job duties turn out to be as you expected?

7. Did you receive enough training to do your job effectively?

8. Did you receive adequate support to do your job?

9. Did you receive sufficient feedback about your performance between merit reviews?

10. Were you satisfied with this company’s merit review process?

11. Did this company help you to fulfil your career goals?

12. Do you have any tips to help us find your replacement?

13. What would you improve to make our workplace better?

14. Were you happy with your pay, benefits and other incentives?

15. What was the quality of the supervision you received?

16. What could your immediate supervisor do to improve his or her management style?

17. Based on your experience with us, what do you think it takes to succeed at this company?

Exit Interviews – Reality Bites:

Understanding why employees leave is almost as important as understanding why they stay. Some would say it is even more important. An employee’s real reasons for leaving can be revealed in exit interviews. Interviews that are conducted by the human resources department or other company employees at time of resignation may or may not produce accurate and legitimate answers.

Most departing employees are reluctant to reveal important de-motivators because they do not want to burn their bridges. They may not want to offend the management at that sensitive time of saying good-bye.

An experienced third party, a consultant or firm that specializes in conducting these sensitive interviews and collecting a wealth of invaluable inputs, can often accomplish effective and productive exit interviews. The information gathered in this process can guide corporate management in making changes that will reduce future turnover, as well as potentially solve other problems in the organization.

Interview – 5 Major Limitations

It is fortunate that in at least some organizations the interview is not the sole selection technique because it is notoriously inaccurate by itself.

There are a number of additional problems with its use for selection that must be overcome:

i. Failure of Interviewers to Agree:

A major problem with the interview is the difficulty of getting several interviewers to agree in their assessments of the same applicant, particularly with the unstructured interview technique. The more highly formalized or structured is the interview procedure, the greater will be the agreement among interviewers. This is feasible in principle, it is not widely practiced.

ii. Failure to Predict Job Success:

Even if the problem of interviewer consistency were solved, there remain the difficulties with the predictive accuracy or validity of the Interview technique. The major cause for the lack of predictive utility is that the interview is a subjective interpersonal process.

The interviewer’s assessment of a candidate can be distorted by personal prejudices as well as by the nature of the interview situation. Interviewers tend to be affected much more by negative information about an applicant than they are by positive information. One or two negative items about a potential employee can cause an interviewer to overlook or ignore more positive information, no matter how important it is.

iii. Stress of the Interview Situation:

In an interview, it is natural to expect a certain amount of nervousness on the part of the applicants. A trained and experienced interviewer can do much to prevent or reduce applicants nervousness by trying to establish a rapport early in the interview.

How sympathetic, understanding and friendly the interviewer appears can influence the applicants’ behaviour, which, in turn, influences the interviewer’s assessment. Stress in the interview situation can also operate on interviewers, particularly if they are behind in their quotas and are being pressured by the home office.

iv. Interviewers’ Standards of Comparison:

The Contrast Effect. Many interviewers see many job applicants, often one after another, and how they evaluate a particular applicant depends on the characteristics of those persons whom they had interviewed previously. Interviewers often do not have any standard for the kind of person who is considered a suitable employee.

How favourable an applicant appears depends on how good or poor the others are; in other words, the standard for the suitable employee is constantly changing.

v. Interviewers’ Prejudices:

Another characteristic of interviewers that can influence their judgment is their own likes and dislikes. Men interviewers may believe that women are incapable of performing certain kinds of jobs. Majority group members may believe that minority – group members are unwilling to work hard.

Biases can operate both ways. Just as interviewers may dislike people with certain characteristics and disqualify them for a job regardless of their qualifications, they may also hire others simply because they exhibit some characteristic the interviewer likes.