Questions On Selection Interviews

Submitted By luzzyfer
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Chapter 10 Interviews
Interviews==-Most frequently used selection device
-Tends to get greater weight relative to other assessments
-Higher cost selection device
- High Validity if well designed
Use of Selection Interview==- Recruiting purposes
- Educating applicants about the job/org
- Efficient and practical method for measuring some KSAs
Early screening decision about an applicant's acceptability (screening) and later selection decision (selection)
Interview: Recruiting the Applicant
Providing Info: Dual focus on Recruitment & Selection==-Too much focus on recruitment REDUCES amount and quality of selection decision info obtained
- Doing both causes applicant to retain less job info
Consider the Alternatives==- Give job description/background info on orgs to applicants in advance of interview
- Have separate recruitment/selection interviews with applicant
Screening Interview==-Short duration (30 min or less)
-Check credentials
-Evaluation of min. work req'ts and experiences
-Focus: weeding out/cutting down applicant pool
-Rough cut on who is minimally qualified
-Interviewer ratings correlated with interviewee social skills, general mental ability, personality
- Focus: general traits
Selection Interview==-Q's concerning job-related knowledge, interpersonal skills, problem-solving skills, other work-related experiences/behaviors
-Smaller pool of applicants in this level=finer distinctions to be made
-Interviewer ratings correlated with interviewee work-related experience, social skills, job knowledge
- assess more specific job-related skills/behaviors
Measuring Applicant KSAs: More is not better==- ERs do poorly when attempting to assess multiple applicant characteristics during an interview
- Be realistic with time limitations
- Be realistic on what KSAs are appropriate to assess
- Stick to 2-3 KSAs
Measuring Applicant KSAs: Appropriate KSAs==- Job knowledge (not all types)
- Applied social & interpersonal skills
- Personality & habitual behaviors
Job Knowledge==- Questions should be important to overall performance
- should not cover difficult info that is not an important part of the job, ask about info learned on the job, ask about a series of facts
Social/Interpersonal Skills==- Good: Phrase KSAs as abilities/skills
- Bad: Generic phrases (pleasantness, friendliness, poise)
Personality/Habitual Behaviors==- Most difficult to assess
- Motivation, working with others, multitasking, helping others
-Easy to fake good
- Probe in detail on previous job-related experience
Using Multiple Questions for each KSA==- More items= higher reliability/validity
- # of possible items limited by time available for interview
- Base # of items per KSA on relative importance
Unstructured Interviews==- "Get-acquainted" interview results in subjective, global evaluations (not very useful)
- No predetermined questions or scoring
- Extraneous factors creep in (first impression bias)
Structured Interviews==- Asks only job-related questions based on job analysis
- Interviewer training on interviewing skills, not taking, scoring
Four-Factor Model of Interview Structure==
Evaluation Standardization==- scoring each item
- relying on anchored rating scales
- calculating dimension and overall scores
Question Sophistication==- focus on job-related behaviors, including follow-up probes
Question Consistency==- All applicants get same questions
- Derived from job analysis
- Use of same interviewer(s)
Rapport Building==- Casual conversation at beginning
- Puts applicant at ease, greater disclosure
- First four minutes= Critical
Interviews: Reliability & Validity==Structured more reliable and valid that unstructured
Structured Interview: Average Validity==Rxy= .54
Unstructured Interview: Average Validity==Rxy= .28
Degree of Structure==- Level 1 (unstructured)= .20
- Level 2 = .35
- Level 3 = .56
- Level 4 (structured)= .57
Adopt a Structured Format==- Have predetermined set of questions for