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Table of content
Content
Page number
QUESTION:........................................................................................................ 1
ANSWER:........................................................................................................... 1
1. INTERVIEWER............................................................................................... 1
2. PURPOSE OF INTERVIEW...............................................................................1
3. OBJECTIVE OF INTERVIEW.............................................................................1
4. TYPES OF INTERVIEW...................................................................................1
4.1. STRUCTURED INTERVIEW.................................................................................................. 1
4.2. SITUATIONAL INTERVIEWS................................................................................................. 2
4.3. BEHAVIORAL INTERVIEW................................................................................................... 2
4.4. NON-DIRECTIVE INTERVIEWS............................................................................................ 3
4.5. STRESS INTERVIEW......................................................................................................... 3
4.6. PANEL INTERVIEW........................................................................................................... 3
5. UNTRAINED INTERVIEWER............................................................................4
6. COMMON MISTAKES OF UNTRAINED INTERVIEWER.........................................4
6.1. LACK OF PREPARATION:................................................................................................... 4
6.2. BIASING:...................................................................................................................... 4
6.3. UNNECESSARY TALKING:.................................................................................................. 4
6.4. JUMPING TO CONCLUSIONS:.............................................................................................. 4
6.5. POOR LISTENING:........................................................................................................... 4
6.6. SETTING INAPPROPRIATE ATMOSPHERE:...............................................................................4
6.7. REPORTING ERROR:........................................................................................................ 5
BACKGROUND.................................................................................................... 5
7. COMMON INTERVIEW PROBLEMS...................................................................5
SOLUTION:......................................................................................................... 7
8. CONCLUSION................................................................................................ 9
REFERENCES:................................................................................................... 10
QUESTION: Untrained interviewers can make mistakes that are very costly to the
organization. Discuss errors in perception and selection that interviewers can make and how to
avoid them.

ANSWER: The interview should be properly planned in order to achieve its purpose and
objective. Un trained interviewers can commit mistakes that can affect the organization badly.
Various are the errors in perception and selection that interviewers often commit

1. Interviewer

A somewhat formal discussion between a hirer and an applicant or candidate, typically in person,
in which information is exchanged, with the intention of establishing the applicants suitability
for a position

2. Purpose of interview

To allow the organization to access the suitability of candidate for the vacancy in question: and
To allow the candidate to access the suitability of the vacancy and for organization and for
himself/ herself.

3. Objective of interview

i. .Interview helps to verify the quality and accuracy of information obtained through
application forms.

ii. Interview helps to obtain additional information from the candidates as required by the
job, otherwise not available.

iii. Interview helps to provide general information to the candidate about company policies,
jobs, products manufactured and so forth.

iv. Interview helps to establish mutual understanding between the company and candidates.

v. Interview helps to enhance the company's image and reputation among the candidates

4 . Typ e s o f i n t e r v i e w
4.1. Structured interview
Also known as a standardized interview or a researcher-administered survey is a quantitative
research method commonly employed in survey research. The aim of this approach is to ensure
that each interview is presented with exactly the same questions in the same order.

for example :

What kinds of work have you done which would prepare you for the duties of this
position?

What kinds of machines/equipment can you operate?

How does your education equip you for the job at hand?

4.2. Situational interviews

Situational interviews are similar to behavioral interviews except while behavioral focus on a
past experience situational interviews focus on a hypothetical situation. For example in a
behavioral interview the interviewer might start a question with Tell me about a time you had to
deal with In a situational interview the interviewer asks How would you handle

for example

Heres one question an interviewer might ask an applicant for a customer-service

manager position:

How would you handle an angry customer who was promised delivery of the product on
a certain date but because of manufacturing delays the company was not able to deliver
on a timely basis? The customer is demanding some kind of compensation for the
unexpected delay.

4.3. Behavioral Interview

A job interviewing technique whereby the applicant is asked to describe past behavior in order
to determine whether she is suitable for a position.
for example:

Tell me about a time when you had to use your presentation skills to influence someones
opinion.
 Describe a time when you were faced with a stressful situation that demonstrated your
coping skills.

Give me a specific example of a time when you used good judgment and logic in solving
a problem.

4.4. Non-Directive Interviews

Non-directive interviews are unstructured and flexible, and include more conversation than a
standard interview. They do not rely on an interviewer having prepared a list of questions in
advance. This format allows the candidate to talk about his or her choice of subjects, and this
makes the interview broad and general. This allows you to take control of the interview while
stressing your strengths and accomplishments and avoiding your weaknesses.

For example:

What are your strengths and weaknesses? Please give examples

instead of asking, "Do you enjoy dealing with the public/customers?" they might ask,
"What did you like best about your last position?" If you are not prepared to answer
open-ended questions with specific information about yourself and your abilities, you
may not get hired

4.5. Stress interview

A stress interview is where the employer lines up a bunch of interviewers (one at a time or en
masse) whose mission is to intimidate you. The ostensible purpose of this interview: to find out
how you handle the stress.

For example

What is your philosophy of management?

What do you look for in a job?

4.6. Panel interview

A panel interview is another special interviewing situation where 2 to 5 interviewers are present
to interview a candidate. Usually, various types of people in an organization participate,
including Human Resources personnel, managers, as well as supervisors and colleagues of the
particular position.
For example:

Why are you interested in this role?

Why are you on the job market?

5. Untrained interviewer

Un trained interviewer is a person that is not trained properly are which is not in a part of any
interviewing panel in past and he did not know how to select the candidate? .So Untrained
interviewer judge on the basis of physical appearance instead of skills and knowledge.

6. Common mistakes of untrained interviewer

6.1. Lack of preparation:

Proper plan and relevant questions according to the profile should be prepared by the
interviewers in order to make the right choice for the vacant position in the company. Proper
sequencing of the questions should be done and personal questions should be avoided.

6.2. Biasing:

Guiding the answers due to interviewee signs or facial expressions should be avoided.

6.3. Unnecessary talking:

Interviewer should never continue talking for long in any interview. Proper time should be
provided to the candidate in order to prove himself.

6.4. Jumping to conclusions:

Drawing sudden conclusions or anticipating answers based on perceived ideas should be

avoided.

6.5. Poor listening:

Ability to listen and understand properly is an art that every interviewer should have.

6.6. Setting inappropriate atmosphere:

Good atmosphere should be maintained during the process of interview. Interviewer should
avoid phone calls, texting and should provide adequate facilities.

6.7. Reporting error:

Proper records of every candidate should be maintained and reported correctly to the deciding
authorities.

Hence, interviewers should be thoroughly prepared in order to conduct the selection process as
their mistakes can cost very big to the organization.

Background

An interview typically precedes the hiring decision, and is used to evaluate the candidate. The
interview is usually preceded by the evaluation of submitted rsums from interested candidates,
then selecting a small number of candidates for interviews. An interview is considered one of the
most useful tools for evaluating potential employees. It also demands significant resources from
the employer, yet has been demonstrated to be notoriously unreliable in identifying the optimal
person for the job. An interview also allows the candidate to assess the corporate culture and a
demand of the job. Once all candidates have been interviewed, the employer typically selects the
most desirable candidate and begins the negotiation of a job offer.

Interviews are the second most used and flawed tool in HR (right after performance). They are
used and relied on around the world for hiring, transfers, promotions, and for selecting leaders.

Despite their many flaws, the purpose of this report is not to suggest to stop using interviews.
Instead, the goal is to identify the factors that can negatively impact the results of an interview.
The objective of this report is to discuss that if an organization encounter these problems, then
several steps can be taken to avoid or minimize them.

7 . C o m m o n i n t e r v i e w p rob l e m s

I. Untrained interviewers: almost everyone assumes that conducting interviews is easy

and dont require training. Managers only receive cursory training and dont know the
pitfalls that can lead to bad interviewing and hiring results. Because mystery shoppers
(secret quality measures) are not used, HR has no direct way of knowing what might be
happening during an individual managers interviews.
 II. Some skills cannot be measured: Few start an interview with a list of the things they
want to assess. Many things just cant be measured accurately during an interview
including: many technical skills, team skills, intelligence, attitude and physical skills.
Giving them a work sample or test is often superior.

III. Arbitrary knockout factors: many interviewers seem to arbitrarily make up subjective
knockout factors, (rejection criteria) which prematurely and often unfairly screen out
qualified candidates. Many of these knockout factors are based on personal prejudices.

IV. Interviewer fatigue: after many interviews in a row, the interviewer is tired and their
judgment weakens. This may eventually result in poor selection of candidates.

V. The interviewer himself: the sex, age, and experience of the interviewer dramatically
affect their assessment of any candidate. If the person they are interviewing is different
than them, the result will also be different. All too often, interviewers act like they are
junior psychologists and may make snap but inaccurate judgments about candidates.

VI. Length of interviews: interviews are often very short, making realistic assessment
difficult. And due to time and business pressures, managers often eagerly make snap,
first-impression decisions, which can be inaccurate. Comparing candidates who had
interviews of significantly different lengths is also difficult.

VII. Interviews are held in person: This makes them expensive, because of the use of an
interviewers time. Also requiring an in-person interview means that many working
people simply wont show up. Advances in technology now make it possible to hold
inexpensive live video interviews over the Internet. Live video interviews and telephone
preliminary interviews can save both travel costs and candidate time without impacting
quality.

VIII. Demonstrated skills are often not required: interview scores tend to vary based on the
candidates interpersonal and communication skills, but this particular job might not
require even average interpersonal skills. Thus some jobs (i.e. receptionist, salesperson,
and recruiter) lend themselves to being assessed through interviews, while for some other
jobs (like programmers, artists, and meter readers), interviews may be horrible predictors
of the candidates on-the-job success because they work alone.

IX. Panel interviews: panel or group interviews are often intimidating because of the
number of people in the room hurling question after question at the single interviewee.
Often an assumption is made that panel interviews reduce the chance of bias or prejudice,
but that is not automatically true if the team leader is powerful and successfully
 encourages others to share their bias. Candidates can also become frustrated when the
wrong person asks a question (for example, when an HR person asks a technical
question and a technical manager asked a question that should have been asked by HR).

X. Illegal questions: its not unusual for illegal questions to pop out. Its also possible for
candidates to inadvertently volunteer illegal information.

XI. Impression management: It means influencing performance evaluations by portraying

an image desired by the interviewer. Interviewees frequently provide the answers that
they believe that the interviewer wants to hear, rather than the most accurate answer.
Interviewees frequently lie or omit key facts, unfortunately, interviewers do the same.

XII. Halo effect: While avoiding negative emphasis, it is equally important that interviewers
do not allow prominent characteristics (accomplishments, athleticism, or some other
unrelated job qualification) to overshadow other evidence which may clearly support a
lack of suitability for the job.

S O L UT I O N : The solution for the mentioned problems is to follow these steps for effective
interviewing

i. Review the job description and job specification: reviewing related information about the
job provides valuable information on how to assess the candidate. Furthermore,
knowledge of relevant job requirements helps eliminate interview bias.

ii. Prepare a structured set of questions: A set of prepared questions ensures that the
information the interviewer wishes to elicit is attainable. Furthermore, if you ask them all
similar questions, you can better compare candidates answers against a common base.
Develop questions that target core competencies of the applicant. Use open ended
questions. Dont ask How many years of experience you have as a team leader? but
Tell me about how you would go about building your team hear if offered the job?
a. Asking the following kinds of questions and assessing how applicants answer
these can sometimes reveal insights about the applicants preparation, confidence,
maturity and communication skills:
b. Why should we hire you? What is your greatest strength?
c. What is your greatest weakness?
d. What did you not like about your former organization?
e. In the question above, we want to see how professionally and tactfully the
candidate handles this question.
f. What do you know about our organization?
g. Are there any questions you want to ask us?
iii. Review the applicants form and resume: If this is done before meeting a candidate then it
will help create a complete picture of the candidate in terms of what the resume or
application says and what the job requires. You will also begin to identify areas to explore
in the interview. That is, areas not clearly defined on the resume or application but
essential for the job will become a focal point of discussion with the candidate. It also
shows respect for candidate if the interviewer is prepared. If the interviewer expects the
candidate to be prepared then he himself should be prepared too.

iv. Open the interview: by putting the applicant at ease and providing a brief review of the
topics to be discussed. Keep in mind that interview are stressful for job candidates. By
opening with small talk (for example, the weather) you give the candidate time to adjust
to the interview setting. Providing a preview of topics gives the candidates an agenda
with which to begin framing his or her responses to your questions. First interviews for
entry-level positions usually last between thirty to forty minutes. For higher-level
positions, they should be longer, around sixty to ninety minutes.

v. Listen more than you talk: An effective interview is 70% listening, 30% talking or
asking questions. Listening also means observing. Sometimes the interviewer is
uncomfortable asking a question that makes the candidate in return, uncomfortable.
Silence is ok dont rescue the candidate. A rule of thumb is waiting 10 seconds before
breaking a silence. A few seconds of silence is the perfect time to uncover how a
candidate behaves when working under pressure. Does he fidget? Break into a sweat?
Does his voice quiver? Or does he talk before he thinksand rambles on.

vi. Ask your questions and listen carefully to the applicants answers: select follow up
questions that naturally flow from the answer given. Focus on the responses as they relate
to information you need to ensure that the candidate meets your job requirements. Any
uncertainty you may still have requires a follow up question to probe further for the
information.

vii. Take a few notes: you may be interviewing several candidates, and youll be surprised
how quickly the details of your conversations get confused.

viii. Close the interview: by telling the applicant what is going to happen next.
Applicants are anxious about the status of hiring decision. Be honest with the candidates
regarding others who will be interviewed and the remaining steps in the hiring process. If
you plan to make a decision in two weeks or so, let the candidate know what you intent to
do. In addition, tell the applicant how you will let him or her know about your decision.

ix. Write your evaluation: of the applicant while the interview is still fresh in your mind
dont wait until the end of your day, after interviewing several candidates, to write your
 analysis of a candidate. Memory can fail you. The sooner you complete your write-up
after an interview, the better chance you have for accurately recording what occurred in
the interview. The interview creates an image of the applicant, much of the early part of
the interview, then, becomes an exercise wherein the interviewer compare the actual
applicant with the image formed earlier.

8. Conclusion
In the end we will conclude in this report that despite interviewing being the most common way
of hiring employees, has several problems associated with it. However this does not mean that an
organization should instantly go for alternatives, instead they should work on training of
interviewers and use various effective steps for interviewing which were mentioned in this
report. If organization conduct interview from untrained people the candidate leave the
organization before completing its tenure.
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