INTERVIEWING
Principles and Practices
Twelfth Edition
Charles J. Stewart
Purdue University
William B. Cash
Achievement Unlimited
National Louis University
Slide 2
An Introduction to
Interviewing
CHAPTER
1

Chapter Summary
•An Introduction to Interviewing
•The Essential Elements of Interviews
•A Relational Form of Communication
•Electronic Interviews
•Summary
© 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 3
Introduction
• Interviews share characteristics with intimate
interactions, social conversations, small groups,
and presentations, but are significantly different.
© 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 4
Introduction
• Interviews share characteristics with intimate
interactions, social conversations, small groups,
and presentations, but are significantly different.
• Interviews are distinguishable from other forms
of interpersonal communication, and can be
viewed as a relational form of communication.
© 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 5
The Essential Elements of
Interviews

The Five Elements of Interviews
 Interactional
An interview is interactional because there is an
exchanging, or sharing, of roles, responsibilities,
feelings, beliefs, motives, and information.
Continued…
© 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 6
The Essential Elements of
Interviews

Interactional
•Roles may switch from moment to moment.
•It takes two to make an interview a success.
© 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 7
The Essential Elements of
Interviews

Interactional
•Roles may switch from moment to moment.
•It takes two to make an interview a success.
•Disclosure is essential in interviews.
•All interviews involve risk.
© 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 8
The Essential Elements of
Interviews

Process
•An interview is a complex, ever-changing process.
•No interview occurs in a vacuum.
•Once initiated, the interview is an ongoing
process.
© 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 9
The Essential Elements of
Interviews

Parties
• A dyadic process involves two parties.
• If more than two parties are involved, a small
group interaction may be occurring, but not an
interview.
© 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 10
The Essential Elements of
Interviews

Purpose
• All interviews have a degree of structure.
• An interview is a conversation and much more.
© 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 11
The Essential Elements of
Interviews

Questions
• All interviews involve questions and answers.
• Questions play multiple roles in interviews.
© 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 12
A Relational Form of
Communication
• The concept of relationship is inherent in the
definition of “interviewing”
• Each interview contributes to a relational history
• Interviews with no prior history may be difficult
“precisely because we don’t know the rules and so
we don’t know exactly how to coordinate our
conversational moves.”
© 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 13
A Relational Form of
Communication
• Stereotypes often play significant negative roles
in interactions between strangers, since the parties
have exchanged little personal information.
• Relationships change over time and during
interactions.
•The situation may alter a relationship.
© 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 14
A Relational Form of
Communication

Relational Dimensions
The five dimensions that determine the nature of
our relationships in the interview process:
© 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 15
A Relational Form of
Communication

Relational Dimensions
The five dimensions that determine the nature of
our relationships in the interview process:
1. Similarity
© 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 16
A Relational Form of
Communication

Relational Dimensions
The five dimensions that determine the nature of
our relationships in the interview process:
1. Similarity
2. Inclusion/Involvement
© 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 17
A Relational Form of
Communication

Relational Dimensions
The five dimensions that determine the nature of
our relationships in the interview process:
1. Similarity
2. Inclusion/Involvement
3. Affection
© 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 18
A Relational Form of
Communication

Relational Dimensions
The five dimensions that determine the nature of
our relationships in the interview process:
1. Similarity
2. Inclusion/Involvement
3. Affection
4. Control
© 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 19
A Relational Form of
Communication

Relational Dimensions
The five dimensions that determine the nature of
our relationships in the interview process:
1. Similarity
2. Inclusion/Involvement
3. Affection
4. Control
5. Trust
© 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 20
A Relational Form of
Communication

Global Relationships
•
Our social and work worlds have become
global.
•
We must understand cultures to live and work
in the 21st Century.
© 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 21
A Relational Form of
Communication

Men and Women in Relationships
•
Men and women communicate differently.
•
Women use communication as a primary way
of establishing relationships.
•
Men communicate “to exert control, preserve
independence, and enhance status.”
© 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 22
Electronic Interviews

The Telephone
• The telephone interview is convenient and
inexpensive.
• Interviewers and interviewees can talk to several
people at one time, answer or clarify questions
directly, and receive immediate feedback.
• A major drawback with telephone interviews is
the lack of “presence” of parties.
© 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Electronic Interviews
The Cellular Telephone


Cellular Telephones Have Created a Whole
New World of Talking
Their Usage Has Created a New Concern for
Privacy
© 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Electronic Interviews
Videoconferencing




Eight of Ten Companies Use Them for Recruiting
Interviews
Visual Cues Are Limited to Upper-Body Ones
Videoconference Interviews Provide Less
Nonverbal Information
Interviewees Do Not Prefer Videoconference
Interviews
© 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 25
Electronic Interviews

The Internet
• The internet lacks the nonverbal cues critical in
interviews.
• However, if both parties use the internet to
interact in real time, it meets the definition of an
interview.
© 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 26
Summary
•Interviewing is an interactional communication
between two parties, at least one of whom has a
predetermined and serious purpose, that involves
the asking and answering of questions.
•We employ interviews to get and give
information, to recruit, to assess performance, to
persuade, to counsel, and receive help, and to
provide quality healthcare.
© 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.