Effective Job Interview Strategies and Techniques - Literature review Example

Effective Job Interview Strategies and Techniques Effective job interview strategies and techniques Introduction In every company, the executives are charged with tasks such as recruiting employees among other normal operations. Over the years, recruiting employees has been faced with challenges of lack of efforts geared towards systematic efforts attempted at building improvement in recruiting exercise. Recruiting activity has been done since ancient times and yet, nobody knows all about the exercise. In most cases, people create habits out of continuous repetition of the exercise. Ion a larger capacity, interviewing involves two individuals or an individual versus a panel in a forum of information exchange. It is evident that these days’ interviews have become a core activity of many companies. They follow standardized procedures in order to employ the best in the advertised job positions. Even so, there are instances where interview are flawed with malpractices due to individualism and nepotism. In such instances, the resulting outcome is poor elevation of unsuitable candidates to those positions. The screening process becomes weak, and decision making power within the panel is weakened. Due to these instances it is important to have effective job interview strategies and techniques that will help create sanity in the screening processes. Most companies engage formation of standardized protocols that will enable them attains quality results during the interview process. In the current adopted methods, the improved process is not reliable to the individual formulated questions or personal driven motives. In most cases, the situation developed is a win-win situation. It is very fair that the questions formulated in a particular interview be used on all the candidates for the position. It is also advantageous in that any mix of interviewers can participate and come up with the same reliable results. All institutions using the modernized protocols for interviewing candidates have continued to face enormous support and appraisal even from the candidates themselves. These protocols create a neutral environment for selection of the best candidates suitable for the job. This report focuses on discussing the critical success factors that facilitate effective job strategies. It discusses the strategies and techniques used in developing a quality interview process. It touches on the important issues, techniques to use, and elements that must be avoided. The main focus is elevation of the best candidate in any given vacancy or position. Strategies for successful hiring The interviewing process is cumbered with joy and traumas. Every interviewee aims at putting up his or her best foot forward. The interviewee aims at making sure that the interviewer acknowledges the interviewee’s qualification for the job and determine the patentability of a possible good working environment. An interviewee anticipates meeting new colleagues who will co-exist peacefully within a same working environment and thrive towards meeting the company objectives (Krannich, 1990). The interviewer also faces his or her own concerns during the interview process. The first challenge is to uncover the best candidate that will have the best qualifications for the job. The interviewer is faced with the challenge of discovering a potential candidate with appropriate skills, talents, intelligence, professionalism, compatibilities, and diversity (Krannich, 1990). Hiring a person for a job involves making a commitment to that person. The interview process is the basic tool that facilitates knowing the best person an employer will be able to ferret. The important question is how to accomplish all the requirements in a job market using a simple interview without flawed experience? During an interview, both sides are at their best behaviors. Therefore, it is difficult to deduce what it will be like to work with an individual from a thirty minutes interview (Emans, 1986). Therefore, developing a protocol that exhausts all elements required to gauge a person in an interview is important. A standardized protocol will bear relevant questions used for each personnel. The protocol gives a comparison effect that facilitates gauging the individuals. A more reasoned judgment is comprehended on the best suitable candidate for the job. In such a case, the process no longer bears the aspect of flawed steps or no longer carried in a personality-driven manner. It allows for any members with relevant knowledge to fit in the interview committee and conduct the interview (Emans, 1986). The process guarantees relevant and reliable results. Standardized question approach The standardized question approach is made up of open ended questions. The questions are made to make the candidates under interview process talk (Emans, 1986). Within that forum, the interviewers will carry out sound judgment to determine whether the candidate is suitable for the position. The questions reveal the inner abilities of the candidate suiting his or herself for the job. It is a more thorough method that reveals the compatibilities and inconsistencies of the candidate. The questions also reveal the skills and skill level a candidate is eligible. In order to determine all these, the interviewer must be very alert, astute and look for every clue available. In some instances, even if the candidate gives all the right answers, that person may not be suitable for the job. A candidate may have all the right answers rather than know them (Yate, 2002). Process Before developing the questions to be used as guidelines in the interview, the developers must first identify the requirements for the job (Yate, 2002). There must be a clear cut point on the areas of concern. Developing a clear cut point of what skills are needed, what qualifications are to be considered for the job, and what are the priorities are to be considered are among the main issues to be scrutinized first. After identifying all the above, then the panel can come up with guiding questions (Arthur, 1998). The questions should be developed in a manner that they will evoke all the relevant information that the panel shall be looking for. It is good to know that in following such a process, the method shall extract all relevant information on qualifications in all areas. For instance, the areas mentioned bellow make up areas that may be considered relevant to appear in the interview process. These elements include communication, education, evaluation skills, interpersonal skills, flexibility, responsibility, staff interaction, strengths, and weaknesses among many others (Bloch, 1997). The examples that follow are of questions that can be developed from the elements above. The candidate is asked to tell the interview committee about an incident in which he or she dealt with a difficult client. The question is geared towards determining the ability of an individual to deal with clients effectively (Campion, 1994). It will reveal the ability of a person to cope with difficult yet crucial situations in the company. The answers obtained from the question will tell the panel about the candidate with a broader knowledge on customer satisfaction principles and patience. It will also show a personal ability to clear reasoning and decision making (Campion, 1994). Another example of a question is as below; the candidate has been assigned to work collaboratively in an assignment with a colleague who consistently turns in incomplete assignments and does not do the work completely. The colleague fails to complete the work in time. What are your actions towards such a scenario? The question is meant to reveal the team spirit in different individuals. The main purpose of organization employees is to work together and leave their individualism nature for the sake of the company production. The answers to this question will evaluate an individual’s ability to team work with colleagues. Since employees should work closely as a team, the panel shall have an idea of how the individuals will work in such environments. It shows ability of the individuals to handle pressure. Can the individuals withstand working under pressure (Campion, 1994)? In another example, the individuals may be asked to give the panel an idea of when written communication is important to verbal communication and vice versa to fellow colleagues. In this question, the panel shall be able to know or deduce individual’s communication and reasoning skills which form basic requirements of teamwork (Campion, 1994). All the questions that will be formulated shall set an opportunity for the interviewee to elaborate and expound on each subject under discussion. The ultimate result will facilitate the panel to know something about the individual (Falcone, 1990). Each interviewer is given a set of questions so that they can record all the answers. In such a manner, even after the interview the committee can still sit down and deliberate on the best candidate with reference to the answers. It is important to make headings on each of the sections during compilation of the list of questions, but the candidates should not be able to see the headings. By allowing the candidates to see the headings, they will know what topics the questions are centered (Emans, 1986). This will give them easy time since they will already have ideas of what to say to what questions so the process will be flawed (Krannich, 1990). The experimental component For an interview to have complete realization of its objectives there should be opportunities for all the candidates to face an experimental model of the tasks of the job offered. In this case, the available position and its requirement (Arthur, 1998) will guide on the way forward for the experimental component part of the interview. The nature of the experimental component will also be decided upon a review of the requirements of the job. The aim of such activities is to get a better sense of the person’s capabilities (Arthur, 1998). An example of experimental component: the candidate has been offered limited funds remaining in the serials budget that must be spend and accounted for by the end of the fiscal year. The candidate needs to make a decision between buying a 10 year microfilm for a heavily used journal, and beginning a new subscription that a professor says she needs for a class. What choice would the candidate choose? The above scenario is in respect to a school librarian job position (Bloch, 1997). In another example in respect to the same position, the candidate may be asked to describe his or her priorities given a number of requests. For instance, the candidate is working in at the reference desk when a faculty member asks for a book. The candidate had given the work to a student five minutes earlier, and the student intends to use the book for an hour or so (Bloch, 1997). The candidate is given a task to explain to the faculty member that another person is using the book. The faculty should be made to understand that an alternate resource can be used other than the one the student took. What happens when the professor becomes adamant and asks the candidate to get it or point out the student using it? The experimental scenario here is that the student is reading the material, the professor is very agitated, and the candidate is alone on the reference desk (Bloch, 1997). The question to the candidate is what shall he or she do in such a situation? Interview techniques All the departments of an organization should work together and closely in order to complete an interview process in a result oriented method. Most of the members of the different departments of a given organization or company should be allowed to participate in the interview process. The best interview technique is to give each and every member of the committee to ask questions in a round robin manner (DeLuca, 1997). Each of the members should handle the departments they are best at in the list provided. These enable the candidate to have an experience with all the members and that no particular member dominates the time. It is very tricky to use the phone interviews. It is important that the interviewer reads a candidate’s body language which is difficult when using phone interviews (DeLuca, 1997). Even so, it is important to generate a comfortable environment for the interviewee such that the candidate feels relaxed and comfortable to answer the questions. In a phone interview technique, the interviewers use the same technique as face to face but they become more vigilant in identifying themselves every step of the way. Introductions are done every step of the way so that the candidates can be more comfortable with each step if the way and give the interview all their best input (DeLuca, 1997). Red flags in an interview Even though a candidate is gauged according to the interview performed in combination with other screening tools, there are other factors that can be used to gauge a candidate’s suitability to the job. It is important to know that interviews such as phone interviews begin the moment a person picks a call from the interviewers, and in case of a physical representation, the interview begins when a candidate enters the interview room. The manner in which the interviewee greets the committee matters a lot. It creates a social relaxed atmosphere when a person greets all the staff he comes to contact with within the interview period (DeLuca, 1997). Interviewers are advised to be very vigilant in looking for red flag signs in a candidate. These signs will help them very much in determining the most suitable candidate. Red flags are all the negative elements that a candidate reveals within the interview period (Falcone, 1990). Examples of red flags that the interviewers should be keen in looking for are candidates arriving late for the interview, does the candidate treat other employees with respect or dismissively? Does the candidate wear appropriate attires for the interview and the position being offered? Did the candidate meet and greet the interviewers (Krannich, 1990)? It is important for the candidate to extend a hand, look the interviewers one by one in their eyes, smile at the interviewers, and offer polite greetings. Does the candidate talk too much? Sometimes some candidates exceed the 80/20 rule. They go overboard or exceed limits. At such moments, most candidates may be lacking judgment on when to shut up or what not to say. Does the candidate speak negatively about former employers and experiences? Does the candidate ask about money too soon? Is the candidate being vague in her responses? Does the candidate use inappropriate language (Krannich, 1990)? After the interviewers are critical in studying such components of the red flag, they will be in a position to trust their instincts about each and every candidate they interview. The committee should compare their notes and listen to each other’s comment in order to come up with a sound decision. The committee is responsible for producing a very suitable candidate for the job being offered (Falcone, 1990). Conducting the interview In most cases, all candidates sent strong cover letters and resume for the advertised job positions. In most instances, these may help the panel identify the most suitable candidates for such jobs. If the interview is not conducted effectively, the organization may end up not having a suitable candidate for the job (Arthur, 1998). A right candidate must always have soft skills relevant for the position and match the organization’s culture. In this case it is important to pick the right interviewers. The parties responsible for picking the panel of interviewers should critically evaluate these individuals such that they will have the relevant skills for carrying out the interviews. It is important to train such employees (Arthur, 1998) so that they may do the selection in conformity to the company’s strategies and objectives. It is important that the interviewers maintain full conduct with the candidates. In that manner, it will be possible to screen the candidates with respect to their performance in the interview (Arthur, 1998). If possible, it is important to include both technical and character interviewers. Technical interviewers have the skills and knowledge of assessing the candidate’s experience and ability to bring forth positive results. Character interviewers major in the softer requirements of the position advertised (Falcone, 1990). It is important to facilitate the interviewers with proper legal and technical framework for conducting interviews. They should have the knowledge of what the law stipulates about the question they will ask. This will prevent engagement in asking questions regulated by law. The committee should meet early in advance in order to review the resumes and plan on how to approach the interviews well (Falcone, 1990). Handouts The candidates should be offered printed handouts specifying what the job entails. Such a move will facilitate a broader knowledge of the responsibility that the job entails (DeLuca, 1997). The candidates will be more relaxed when it comes to the actual interview. It is of great essence to carry out the interview when the candidates are relaxed and socially not strained. The handouts carry information about hours, suitable candidate responsibilities, and benefits that come with the position before the candidate accepts the position (Falcone, 1990). Advertising Many companies run advertisements of the available job positions. When running such an advert, it is important to indicate all the specific requirements for the position. This saves on both the interviewee and interviewers’ time since both will have ideas of what the job entails (DeLuca, 1997). Candidate recommendations Indicating recommendations for further consultation and verification of the candidate’s information is a basic requirement in every job application. It is very important for the committee to set aside some time to go through the reference list and ask more about the candidate from his or her recommended references (Bloch, 1997). If the candidate is genuine about his or her information, then the information will coincide with the recommended referees’ information. This gives the organization and the interviewers an upper hand in obtaining the best candidate for the job (Bloch, 1997). Conclusion The interviewing process is best streamlined when the panel has prepared a set of questions to use as guidelines for the interview. It ensures that the search committee has exhausted on all areas that they need to cross check with the candidates. The consistencies of the questions enable the candidates to portray different abilities in answering and handling situations. It gives the panel an opportunity to compare the candidates in a proper and open manner. Setting up interview protocol ensures that the committee members are relieved of having to sit in all the interviews within the organization. Due to the compatibility and consistency of the questions for every candidate, the committee members face a less challenging selection process. Set protocols also ensure that a free and fair process takes place. Unitary criteria are carried out to judge each candidate ensuring all the candidates have equal opportunities to succeed in the interview. Reference Arthur, D. (1998). Recruiting, interviewing, selecting and orienting new employees. New York: AMACON Bloch, D. (1997). Have a winning job interview. Lincolnwood, III, NTC Learning Works. Campion, M. (1994). Structured Interviewing: A Note on Incremental Validity and Alternative Question Types. Journal of Applied Psychology. DeLuca, M. J. (1997). Best answers to the 201 most frequently asked interview questions. New York: McGraw-Hill. Emans, B. (1986). An Introduction to Qualitative Research Interviewing: Wolters-Noordhoff. Falcone, P. (1990). 96 great interview questions to ask before you hire. New York: McGraw-Hill. Krannich, C, R. (1990). Interview for success. Woodbridge, Va,: Impact Publishers. Yate, M, J. (2002). Knock ‘Em dead 2003. Holbrook, Mss,: B, Adams. Read More