School of Management Studies , Cusat , Kochi

1. GARY DESSLER
HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Global Edition 12e
Chapter 7
Interviewing
Candidates
PowerPoint Presentation byCopyright © 2011 Pearson Education
Part 2 Recruitment and

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WHERE WE ARE NOW…

4. • Purple squirrel is often used in reference to describing
those hard-to-find, rockstar employees that we’ve
referred to in this series as ‘difference makers.’
• Purple squirrel is a term used by employment recruiters
to describe a job candidate with precisely the right
education, experience, and qualifications that perfectly
fits a job's multifaceted requirements

5. 2 most common hiring mistakes
• LinkedIn's head of recruiting, Brendan Browne
• They set unrealistic expectations-
• Stop !!!!
• looking for a purple squirrel
• make impersonal cold calls

6. What's an Assessment Center
❖ A Variety of testing techniques
❖ Measuring a verity of constructs
❖ Designed to allow candidates to demonstrate the skills and abilities that
are most essential for success in a given job
❖ Under standard conditions

7. How Assessment Center Work?
• A standardized evaluation of behavior
• Based on multiple inputs
• Multiple trained observers and techniques
• Judgments about behaviors are made from specifically developed
assessment simulations.
• Judgments are pooled in a meeting among the assessors or by a
statistical integration process.
Source: Guidelines and Ethical Considerations for Assessment Center Operations. Task Force on
Assessment Center Guidelines; endorsed by the 17th International Congress on the Assessment
Center Method, May 1989.

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1. List the main types of selection interviews.
2. List and explain main errors that can undermine an
interview’s usefulness.
3. Define a structured situational interview.
4. Explain and illustrate each guideline for being a more
effective interviewer.
5. Give several examples of situational questions,
behavioral questions, and background questions that
provide structure.
6. List the steps in a streamlined interview process.
7. List guidelines for interviewees.
LEARNING OUTCOMES

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Basic Types of Interviews
Selection Interview
Appraisal Interview
Exit Interview
Types of
Interviews

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Selection Interview Structure
Interview
structure
Interview
administration
Selection Interview
Characteristics
Interview
content

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Selection Interview Formats
Unstructured
(nondirective)
interview
Structured
(directive)
interview
Interview Structure
Formats

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FIGURE 7–1 Officer Programs Applicant Interview Form

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Interview Content
Situational
interview
Behavioral
interview
Job-related
interview
Types of Questions Asked
Stress
interview

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Administering the Interview
Unstructured
sequential interview
Panel
interview
Phone
interviews
Video/Web-assisted
interviews
Computerized
interviews
Mass
interview
Structured
sequential interview
Ways in Which
Interview Can
be Conducted

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Three Ways to Make the Interview Useful
Structure the interview to
increase its validity
Carefully choose what sorts of
traits are to be assessed
Beware of committing
interviewing errors
Making the
Interview Useful

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What Can Undermine An Interview’s Usefulness?
Nonverbal behavior
and impression
management
Applicant’s personal
characteristics
Interviewer’s
inadvertent behavior
Factors Affecting
An Interview’s
Usefulness
First impressions (snap
judgments)
Interviewer’s
misunderstanding
of the job
Candidate-order
(contrast) error and
pressure to hire

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EEOC Aspects of Interviews
Use objective/job-related questions
Standardize interview administration
Use multiple interviewers
Avoiding
Discrimination
in Interviews

20. Recent trends in interviews
• Get hired from home on WhatsApp
• Students from Xavier Institute of Communications,
Mumbai, were in for a surprise when their future
employer recently formed a WhatsApp group called the
'The Internship' and added them to take their interviews.
• Bodhisatwa Dasgupta, senior creative director of JWT
who interviewed students, said, "Resumes hardly tell us
how creative a student is. A creative person works best
when he/she is left alone in his or her comfort zone...So I
gave them a few tasks on WhatsApp. It helped me find
out who can think on his/her feet faster. "
Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education 20

21. Now give a ‘selfie interview’ for your dream job
• ePoise -world’s first mobile interview platform.
• the candidates will not apply with a resume, but will
directly be able to give the ‘selfie interview’ from their
smart phone, answering specific questions, set up for
each position. This will provide them a great opportunity
to showcase their knowledge and skills for the job,
significantly improving their chances of getting selected.
Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education 21

22. • Hiree.com-Hiree.com, a portal that offers employers an
active base of 5,00,000 jobseekers across industry
verticals, launched a selfie resume feature which allows
its base of jobseekers to post one-minute selfie resumes
– where they are required to introduce and talk about
themselves for one minute.
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23. Some interview questions
• Where do you see yourself in five years?
• Tell me about a time when you showed leadership?
• What is your biggest weakness?
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24. Interview questions from top CEOs
• Would you rather be respected or feared?
• Why are you here today?
• What’s your biggest dream in life?
• Tell me about when you failed
• What’s the biggest mistake you made and what have
you learned from it?
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25. Interview questions from top CEOs
• Airplane test- Could I sit on a plane from New York to LA
with you and not be bored out of my mind?”-Barbara
Byrne, Barclays
• “Talk to me about when you were seven or eight.
Who did you want to be?”
• I talk to the driver who brought them in from the airport,
my assistant, and the receptionist who welcomed them. I
ask how they were treated. There you learn how this
person acts,” Goings says.- Rick Goings, CEO of direct-
sales pioneer Tupperware.
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26. The wine list test
• Instead of a traditional interview for senior roles at his company,
the CEO takes a candidate out to dinner with a handful of other
senior execs. “I like to watch how they handle themselves in an
unstructured environment.
• “I give them the wine list.” The person has to convince the group
that they know a lot about wine, or pretend that they do, or just
pick the most expensive bottle, or ask for help. How they choose
and how successful they are in explaining themselves is one
part of the test. Also: “You watch how they treat the waiter,”
• We always surprise them by asking, ‘Tell me a joke.'” This
reveals whether someone has a sense of humor, of course, but
also whether they can think on their feet in a strange and
unfamiliar situation.
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27. • For most of Brendan Browne’s interviews, he first places a marker in the
interviewee’s hand and directs them to the white-board, and asks them to
draw out workings of something that they are most passionate about.
• For example, for someone whose passion is rooted on a specific role like
product-management, then he or she is expected to write or draw out the
processes regarding how they visualise it to work out.
• To Browne, this spotlight moment is what determines a prospective
employee’s true potential.
• If they crack under the pressure and cannot execute the request, then they
will not be able to deal efficiently when placed in a crisis situation.
• However, if they can take this ambiguous request and turn it to their
advantage in a few seconds, then it proves that the candidate will not crack
under pressure in the long run.
• The trouble with standardised interviews, according to Browne, lies in both
the recruiter’s set-patterns and the interviewee’s standardised responses.

28. • 1. What do the candidates care about most deeply?
• 2. How well can they explain themselves?
• 3. How do they think about process?
• 4. How do they deal with ambiguity?

29. LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner uses a Venn diagram to illustrate
the ideal employe

30. Walk the talk-Atul Kunwar, Tech Mahindra
• Write the truth in resume
• A candidate’s hobbies and interests are not fodder for
small talk. When one job seeker mentioned that he was a
keen singer, “I told him to sing for us, a very senior panel
of executives,” Kunwar recalls. His assessment:
• He had the gumption to do it, and he sang very well. To
me, it meant he was passionate and able to build skills on
his own. And when the crunch time came, he had no
hang-ups. We need people with that sort of belief and
passion.
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How to Design and Conduct
An Effective Interview
• The Structured Situational Interview
➢ Use either situational questions or behavioral questions that
yield high criteria-related validities.
Step 1: Analyze the job.
Step 2: Rate the job’s main duties.
Step 3: Create interview questions.
Step 4: Create benchmark answers.
Step 5: Appoint the interview panel and conduct
interviews.

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How to Conduct a More Effective Interview
1
2
3
4
5
Being Systematic and Effective
Structure the interview.
Know the job.
Get organized.
Establish rapport.
Ask questions.
6 Take brief, unobtrusive notes.
7 Close the interview.
8 Review the interview.

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Creating Effective Interview Structures
• Base questions on actual job duties.
• Use job knowledge, situational or behavioral
questions, and objective criteria to evaluate
interviewee’s responses.
• Use the same questions with all candidates.
• Use descriptive rating scales (excellent, fair,
poor) to rate answers.
• If possible, use a standardized interview form.

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FIGURE 7–2 Examples of Questions That Provide Structure
Situational Questions
1. Suppose a more experienced coworker was not following standard work procedures and
claimed the new procedure was better. Would you use the new procedure?
2. Suppose you were giving a sales presentation and a difficult technical question arose that you
could not answer. What would you do?
Past Behavior Questions
3. Based on your past work experience, what is the most significant action you have ever taken
to help out a coworker?
4. Can you provide an example of a specific instance where you developed a sales presentation
that was highly effective?
Background Questions
5. What work experiences, training, or other qualifications do you have for working in a
teamwork environment?
6. What experience have you had with direct point-of-purchase sales?
Job Knowledge Questions
7. What steps would you follow to conduct a brainstorming session with a group of employees
on safety?
8. What factors should you consider when developing a television advertising campaign?

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FIGURE 7–3 Suggested Supplementary Questions for Interviewing Applicants
1. How did you choose this line of work?
2. What did you enjoy most about your last job?
3. What did you like least about your last job?
4. What has been your greatest frustration or disappointment on your present job? Why?
5. What are some of the pluses and minuses of your last job?
6. What were the circumstances surrounding your leaving your last job?
7. Did you give notice?
8. Why should we be hiring you?
9. What do you expect from this employer?
10. What are three things you will not do in your next job?
11. What would your last supervisor say your three weaknesses are?
12. What are your major strengths?
13. How can your supervisor best help you obtain your goals?
14. How did your supervisor rate your job performance?
15. In what ways would you change your last supervisor?
16. What are your career goals during the next 1–3 years? 5–10 years?
17. How will working for this company help you reach those goals?
18. What did you do the last time you received instructions with which you disagreed?
19. What are some things about which you and your supervisor disagreed? What did you do?
20. Which do you prefer, working alone or working with groups?
21. What motivated you to do better at your last job?
22. Do you consider your progress in that job representative of your ability? Why?
23. Do you have any questions about the duties of the job for which you have applied?
24. Can you perform the essential functions of the job for which you have applied?

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Using a Streamlined Interview Process
1. Prepare for the interview
• Knowledge and experience
• Motivation
• Intellectual capacity
• Personality factor
2. Formulate questions to ask
in the interview
• Intellectual factor
• Motivation factor
• Personality factor
• Knowledge and experience
factor
3. Conduct the interview
• Have a plan
• Follow your plan
4. Match the candidate to the job

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FIGURE 7–4
Interview Evaluation
Form

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Guidelines for Interviewees
• Preparation is essential.
• Uncover the interviewer’s real needs.
• Relate yourself to the interviewer’s needs.
• Think before answering.
• Remember that appearance and enthusiasm are
important.
• Make a good first impression.
• Ask questions.

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FIGURE 7–5 Interview Questions to Ask
1. What is the first problem that needs the attention of the person you hire?
2. What other problems need attention now?
3. What has been done about any of these to date?
4. How has this job been performed in the past?
5. Why is it now vacant?
6. Do you have a written job description for this position?
7. What are its major responsibilities?
8. What authority would I have? How would you define its scope?
9. What are the company’s five-year sales and profit projections?
10. What needs to be done to reach these projections?
11. What are the company’s major strengths and weaknesses?
12. What are its strengths and weaknesses in production?
13. What are its strengths and weaknesses in its products or its competitive position?
14. Whom do you identify as your major competitors?
15. What are their strengths and weaknesses?
16. How do you view the future for your industry?
17. Do you have any plans for new products or acquisitions?
18. Might this company be sold or acquired?
19. What is the company’s current financial strength?
20. What can you tell me about the individual to whom I would report?
21. What can you tell me about other persons in key positions?
22. What can you tell me about the subordinates I would have?
23. How would you define your management philosophy?
24. Are employees afforded an opportunity for continuing education?
25. What are you looking for in the person who will fill this job?

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K E Y T E R M S
unstructured (or nondirective) interview
structured (or directive) interview
situational interview
behavioral interview
job-related interview
stress interview
unstructured sequential interview
structured sequential interview
panel interview
mass interview
candidate-order error (or contrast) error
structured situational interview

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FIGURE 7–A1
Structured Interview
Guide

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FIGURE 7–A1
Structured Interview
Guide (cont’d)

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FIGURE 7–A1
Structured Interview
Guide (cont’d)

44. Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education 44
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