Hiring an Unqualified or an Unsuitable Employee - Essay Example

?Advantages and Disadvantages of the Different Types of Interviews Introduction Hiring an unqualified or an unsuitable employee can cost a company dearly. Therefore, companies spend a fair amount of money into techniques that assist them to choose employees who are both qualified and will excellently fit into the work place (Denham, 2009). Interviews can be used as a technique to ensure that a manager hires qualified employees in the firm. Interviews are defined as meaningful conversations between an interviewer(s) and a respondent(s) where the latter is asked a set of questions by the former in an effort to acquire knowledge on a particular subject (Oatey, 1999). The interview process is crucial, as it assists the manager decide on the best candidates to hire for particular positions in the company. Different job positions demand for different types of interviews, for example, candidates applying for a senior management position cannot be interviewed over the phone (Land, 2005:2). Experts seem to come to the same conclusion that, job performance can closely be linked to the evaluations made during the interview. The reliability of interview assessments depends on the interviewer’s skills and experience. The interviewer needs to be an active listener, nonjudgmental, a quick thinker and possess an excellent memory. By incorporating the right techniques during the interview process, interviewers can easily find out the respondents’ personality, personal information, social skills, and even the accuracy of the information provided (Land, 2005:3). Generally, employing the interview technique over other methods has certain advantages. Interviews tend to be more flexible than other methods such as questionnaires. During the interview process, a skilled interviewer can gather a lot of information comprehensively, and apply it in the right context. Take for example; an interview where the respondent gives an ambiguous answer, the interviewer can ask for further elaboration, therefore, grasping a new perspective that could have otherwise been ignored (Kajornboon, 2005:4). The interview process is also satisfying as it shows a company’s commitment towards seeking the best employee. Nevertheless, interviews have their limitations. Interviews are costly. As aforementioned, companies invest a lot of money into arranging the interviews for they also expect quality employees. (Phellas, C., Bloch, A. & Seale C., 2011:183). The success of an interview depends on the skills of the interviewer, preparation and the technique used. There are various techniques used by managers to conduct interviews and these include behavior interview, traditional interview and situational interview techniques (Land, 2005: 3). There are various types of interviews. In this paper, a comparison between structured and unstructured types of interviews will be made and their advantages as well as their disadvantages will be outlined. The purpose of structured and unstructured interviews is to assist organizations’ managers to hire and promote employees who will be successful in their occupations. The purpose of conducting a selection process is to evaluate the candidates’ competencies, which are measured to show how qualified a candidate is both physically and intellectually. Different occupations call for different competencies. The type of interview utilised by an organisation shows the kinds of competencies that the organisation requires. Many organisations are known to conduct the selection process using unstructured interviews. Although they are said to be unreliable than structured interviews, research conducted by Reed Consulting showed that seventy percent of firms in Britain use the unstructured interviews (Lakshman, 2013). Structured and unstructured interviews can bear either behavioural-style or situational-style questions. The former are formulated to provide the interviewer with details of the respondent’s behaviour in addition to the knowledge that they possess. The interviewer describes some types of work called for in the occupation or describes occupation related situations and the candidates are allowed to describe how they can approach similar situations at work Situational-style questions are concerned with creation of hypothetical conditions that related to occurrences that can be challenging at the workplace. The candidates are given an example of a similar situation at work and are requested by the interviewer to describe how they would suitably deal with it. These questions are helpful especially when selecting candidates without work any experience, therefore, stretching their minds to see their creativity and problem solving skills (Denham, 2009). Some examples of organisations that use the interview process to select and recruit employees include; The British Government where their selection process requires the candidates to go for face to face interviews. Semi-structured interviews are used with some questions being structured while others are not. Universities use the same method to recruit employees. Use of structured interviews is observed in organisations like the British Psychological Society where qualified interviewers adhere to the questions in the interview guide. The candidate is subjected to two interviewers, which are meant to adequately determine if the candidate is qualified (Graduate Recruitment Bureau, 2013). Structured Interviews and unstructured Interviews Structured Interviews are also referred to as standardised or closed interviews. Respondents are asked questions in the same order and the wording is similar. When questions are asked in the same sequence this is referred to as scheduling (Campion, Campion, and Hudson, 1994: 1007). Kajornboon states that in structured interviews, the interviewer asks the same questions to all the respondents in the same ordering. The purpose of this interview is to give all the respondents a similar questioning context by offering choice answers. This is aimed at ensuring that the respondent’s answers can be aggregated (Kajornboon, 2005:4). The interviewer usually asks specific questions and answers are usually prearranged. These are also called close-ended questions. Questions are usually very specific and a fixed range of answers is provided. The interviewer reads the preset, identical set of questions in a neutral voice, in order to refrain from influencing a specific reaction or response from the respondent (Neville, 2007:20). Structured interviews are considered to be better than unstructured interviews when selecting employees in an organisation. Their roles include finding out if the candidates possess relevant information and evaluating competencies. Structured interviews provide an effective way of matching an occupation to a specific candidate. When looking at competences, it is important for the interviewer to provide a level ground when assessing them. In general terms, structured interviews ascertain that respondents are evaluated accurately by providing equal opportunities for all of them. Unstructured interviews are informal interviews that have no standardised list of questions and are not bound by a structure. The interviewer’s main aim is to dig into the respondent’s in-depth information about a particular subject in an unplanned way. However, the interviewer has a preset range of subjects that are supposed to be addressed in the informal discussion. An interviewer possesses a list with the areas, themes and may have some standardised questions to be covered in the interview process. Depending on the flow of the conversation, the interviewer may include some additional information or omit some irrelevant topics. (Neville, 2007:20). Unstructured interviews are ranked below structured interviews in relation to effectiveness in the recruitment of employees. However, unstructured interviews are widely used in the selection of employees due to their effortless nature and effectiveness when used to ask some matters that do not have clearly defined topics. They are also easy to formulate, therefore demand less time and resources compared to structured interviews (Wheeler, 2011). Unlike the structured interviews, these may include nonstandardised questions that can be useful when an interviewer wants to acquire further information from the respondent. Similar to the structured interviews, the interviewer has a list of key themes and questions to be answered by the respondent. However, the interviewer is not only restricted to the questions on the interview guide since other questions can be asked. The interviewer also has the ability to change the questions’ sequence since the interview’s nature influences the coming question. The question’s wording and the topics covered are also determined by the interviewer. The interviewer can ask for elaboration if a question is not answered to the satisfaction (Kajornboon, 2005:5). Unstructured interviews usually take a very flexible form unlike the structured interviews, as they are non-directed. Respondents are urged to talk freely. In the structured interviewers, the respondents are limited to the choices provided in the interview. The interview can take a different turn due to the nature of unstructured interviews while the structured interviews follow an outlined procedure, therefore no room for unprecedented turns (Oatey, 1999). For unstructured interviews, the interviewers sometimes may not have prepared in advance as they expect the respondent to give them clues as to what they should ask. For structured interviews, the interviewer needs to prepare in advance because the questions are standardised hence a need to comprehend them before they are asked. Most of the questions asked in the unstructured interviews are about sharing experiences and are concerned with the respondent’s knowledge and opinions. Excellent listening skills and data collection methods are crucial in this kind of interview. This type of interview may be crucial when identifying the candidates’ personalities and their social skills. It is usually hard for the interviewer to predict what direction to steer the interview and this may lead to unnecessary talk where irrelevant things might be said (Kajornboon, 2005:7). Comparing the advantages and disadvantages of structured and unstructured interviews Structured interviews Structured interviews have several advantages over unstructured interviews. Firstly, they are easy to evaluate, analyze and compare the data provided. The manager can easily input the data in the computer and analyse it to get the desired results. They are straight to the point with the respondent only giving feedback to the required questions. The results can take a short period to obtain. This is contrary to unstructured interviews, which may be difficult to evaluate the candidates’ skills since many parameters have to be investigated. This means that unstructured interviews consume a lot of time before the interviewer is able to make decisions about the respondents. They may also result into issues that are inconsequential and irrelevant. The fact that the respondent can stray into any topic makes it easy for irrelevant issues to be raised (Oatey, 1999). Secondly, when an interviewer uses structured interviews, the duration taken is shorter compared to that taken by unstructured interviews, which consume more time. Structured interviews usually run for about thirty minutes and can even be shorter depending on the questions. Unstructured interviews may take longer since other topics may arise thus taking up more tie than was designated for. The time is not limited to a specific time frame due to the different nature of questions. Structured interviews utilise a process that is precise compared to the long tedious unstructured interview process (Kajornboon, 2005:6). Thirdly, when using structured interviews, choosing the most qualified candidate would not take a long period as the process of evaluation is easy. Structured interviews have a detailed guide, which provides inexperienced or unskilled interviewers with a clear format of what is expected of them. They are appropriate for short topics, which are non-sensitive. This means that inexperienced interviewers can successfully conduct a structured interview (Oatey, 1999). On the other hand, unstructured interviews require an interviewer who is skilled and experienced. This is because the method requires a person who will be in a capacity to question every answer and quickly come up with other relevant questions. For inexperienced interviewers, this could prove to be a difficult task, therefore, resulting to collection of incomplete data (Carruthers, 1990: 37) Fourthly, structured interviews confine an interviewer to a series of questions that are well planned and thought out, therefore, reducing the chances of asking the respondents offensive and inappropriate questions. This is the opposite in unstructured interviews since the interviewer may raise an inappropriate question, which may be offensive to the respondent. The situation may occur as the interviewers venture into topics that may be sensitive to the respondent. This is may happen occasionally with inexperienced or unprepared interviewers (Kajornboon, 2005:8). Structured interviews reduce unreliability, by asking questions that cannot be manipulated to tip the interview to the side of the candidate. By asking specific questions to all the candidates, the interviewer is sure that none will be able to manipulate the questions to favour them thus becoming a reliable selection tool. For unstructured interviews, the broad subjects provide a way for the candidates to provide information even when they lack in other crucial areas. They become unreliable since candidates can manipulate the interview to evade some important questions by going into other topics that they are conversant with (Wheeler, 2011). There is a limitation with the structured interviews. An organisation may choose to create a well-structured interview but the process would take a lot of time, resources, and funds. Structure interviews should comprise of questions that are relevant to the competencies, measurable skills and the past experiences, therefore, careful preparation must be considered when formulating them. A lot of time has to be dedicated to the preparation of the interview guide. The structured interview would be said to encompass all candidates if the questions would be relevant to all of them, thus eliminating inequality during the interview process. This would also eliminate the unstructured questions that are common in many interviews that require structured questions. In cases where competencies and measurable skills are being assessed, broad topics should be avoided since the candidates may manipulate the questions to highlight their strengths. This would lead to unreliability of the interview due to the manipulation (Wheeler, 2011). Unstructured interviews Unstructured interviews give the interviewer freedom to probe for different opinions and insights different from the primary theme. When one probes, it is easy to find out if a candidate has relevant information concerning a certain topic, since the gestures and body movements will tell. In case the respondent fails to understand a question, the interviewer can rephrase or explain thus making it clear. The method ensures flexibility (Oatey, 1999). New information and different perspectives are realised hence the exploration of fresh paths that were not considered in the beginning (Carruthers, 1990: 37). The interviewer can investigate thoroughly into a specific situation. The above is not the case in structured interviews lack flexibility. They bring in some kind of rigidity. The questions are fixed so the interviewer has no freedom to venture into other topics. The interviewer cannot dig deeper into the question; therefore, some aspects of the interview may not be probed. Secondly, the respondents may fail to comprehend the question, and thus fail to answer it or give the wrong answer (Kajornboon, 2005:4). This is because the questions may offer insufficient information, therefore, confusing the respondent into giving the wrong answer. Thirdly, when using the structured interviews, some crucial information is not disclosed hence denying the interviewers the ability to make new discoveries about the respondent. Fourthly, some respondents may also feel that their answers do not fall in any of the provided categories. This means that the answers they provide do not indicate their honest view (Oatey, 1999). Take an example where a candidate has given satisfactory answers to all the close ended questions, but when it comes to explaining some vital processes, the respondent performs poorly. This scenario would have been overlooked in the case of structured interviews, but with the semi-structured, it can easily be picked out. Another advantage of using the unstructured interview method is that they lack confinement or restrictions to a certain subject or topic. It can be useful when the interviewer has very little or no knowledge about a certain subject. It can be used to effectively predict behavior since the candidates feel unrestricted, therefore, utilising their personality traits and social skills (Azarpazhooh, Ryding, and Leake, 2008: 36). The interviewers are able to observe the respondents’ behaviours, which enable them to make proper conclusions on how the respondents will behave once they are hired. While conducting structured interviews, the interviewers are not able to observe behaviour as they only ask specific questions. This means that the structured interviews cannot be used when recruiting in particular fields that require behavioural responses. A limitation found with the unstructured interviews was that they concentrated more on the negative information provided by the interviewer than the positive. The respondents may answer many of the questions asked correctly but once they make a mistake, the positive aura seems to vanish and a negative image created. First impressions matter in the unstructured interviews because when a candidate fails to make a good impression, the interviewer may come into conclusion that the candidate is not suitable. This means that a candidate has to provide many positive attributes for the conclusion to be reversed (Lakshman, 2013). Conclusion This essay is about various types of interviews and their advantages as well as their disadvantages. In the definition, interviews are considered as discussions and can take a few of techniques. These are the traditional interview technique, behavior interviews technique and the situational interview technique. It is important for the proper technique to be used depending on the position that the manager wants to fill. The types of interviews that were compared and contrasted include; structured and unstructured interviews and telephone and face to face interviews. Structured interviews are those that follow a set guideline and are short, easy to calculate and precise. Unstructured interviews do not follow set guidelines, may take unexpected turns and are long. However, an interviewer can gather more information using this method and even record behaviour. References Azarpazhooh, A., Ryding, W.H. & Leake, J.L. (2008) ‘Structured or unstructured personnel interviews?’ Healthcare Management Forum, vol. 21, no. 4, pp. 33-43. Campion, A., Campion, J.E. & Hudson, J.P. (1994) ‘Structured interviewing: a note on incremental validity and alternative question types,’ Journal of Applied Psychology, vol. 79, no. 6, pp. 998-1102. Carruthers, J. 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