PART TWO
RECRUITMENT AND PLACEMENT
C H A P T E R
T
Interviewing
Candidates
S e v e n
7
Lecture Outline
Strategic Overview
Basic Features of Interviews
Types of Interviews
Administering the Interview
Are Interviews Useful?
What Can Undermine an Interview’s Usefulness?
First Impressions
Misunderstanding the Job
Candidate-Order (Contrast) Error and Pressure to
Hire
Nonverbal Behavior and Impression Management
Effect of Personal Characteristics: Attractiveness,
Gender, Race
Employment Discrimination Testers
Interviewer Behavior
Designing and Conducting the Effective Interview
The Structured Situational Interview
How to Conduct a More Effective Interview
In Brief: This chapter gives an
overview of types of interviews and
their features. It discusses common
mistakes in interviewing, and
outlines
effective
interviewing
techniques.
Interesting Issues: While structured
interviews have been shown to be
more valid than non-structured ones,
some managers tend to resist
structured interviews in favor of
trusting their own skills as an
interviewer.
ANNOTATED OUTLINE
I.
Basic Features of Interviews
A. Types of Interviews include: appraisal interviews, exit interviews, and
selection interviews.
1. Structured vs Unstructured Interviews – Unstructured or nondirective
interviews generally have no set format. Structured or directive
interviews generally identify questions and acceptable responses
that are specified in advance and the responses are rated for
appropriateness of content. Examples of structured interview guides
are provided in figure 7-1.
2.
Interview Content: Types of Questions – Interviews can be classified
according to the nature or content of their questions, such as
situational interviews, job-related interviews, behavioral interviews,
and stress interviews. Puzzle questions are also popular today, and
are used to see how candidates think under pressure.
The HR Scorecard Strategy and Results:
The New
Interviewing Program – The continuing case study of Hotel
Paris is discussed here, and the challenge presented is for the
HR Director to create an interviewing program that helps
produce the capabilities and behavior identified in their HR
Scorecard. In this example, they develop structured interviews
for each position and formulate behavioral questions, situational
questions and job knowledge questions to identify the desired
capabilities and behavior
B. Administering the Interview
1. Personal or Individual Interviews – tend to be one-on-one where two
people meet alone and one interviews the other by seeking oral
responses to oral inquiries. A panel interview is where a group
(panel) of interviewers questions the candidate together. A mass
interview is where a panel interviews several candidates
simultaneously.
2. Computerized Interviews – involve computers administering the
interview. Typically the questions are presented in a multiple-choice
format, one at a time, and the applicant is expected to respond to the
questions on the screen by pressing a key.
Improving Productivity through HRIS – Automated videobased interview systems – This discussion box details
examples of how several companies (Cisco, Treeba) integrate
web technology to streamline the interview process
C. Are Interviews Useful? – Studies confirm that the validity of interviews are
greater than previously thought, especially if they are structured and
depending on the traits they are assessing.

II.
NOTES
Educational Materials to Use
What Can Undermine An Interview’s Usefulness?
A.
First Impressions – One of the most consistent findings is that
interviewers tend to jump to conclusions about candidates during the first
few minutes of the interview.
B. Misunderstanding the Job – Interviewers who don’t know precisely what
the job entails and what sort of candidate is best suited for it usually
make their decisions based on incorrect or incomplete stereotypes of
what a good applicant is.
C. Candidate-Order (Contrast) Error and Pressure to Hire – means that the
order in which you see applicants affects how you rate them. Pressure to
Hire can undermine an interview’s usefulness.
D.
Nonverbal Behavior and Impression Management – can have a
surprisingly large impact on an applicant’s rating. Mainly because,
accurately or not, interviewers infer the interviewee’s personality from the
way he or she acts in the interview.
E.
Effect of Personal Characteristics: Attractiveness, Gender, Race –
Interviewers have to guard against letting an applicant’s attractiveness,
gender, and race play a role in their rating.
F. Interviewer Behavior - Telegraphing refers
inadvertently evoking the expected answers.
to
the
interviewer
The New Workplace: Applicant Disability and the Employment
Interview – Studies suggest that what the applicant voluntarily
reveals about his disability influences the hire/no-hire decision.
Under the ADA, the interviewer must limit his or her questions to
whether the applicant has any physical or mental impairment that
may interfere with his or her ability to perform the job’s essential
tasks. Testers are individuals who apply for employment which they
do not intend to accept, for the sole purpose of uncovering unlawful
discriminatory hiring practices. They have legal standing with the
courts and the EEOC.

III.
NOTES
Educational Materials to Use
Designing and Conducting the Effective Interview
A. The Structured Situational Interview procedure is as follows: Step 1: Job
Analysis; Step 2: Rate the Job’s Duty; Step 3: Create Interview Questions;
Step 4: Create Benchmark Answers; and Step 5: Appoint the Interview Panel
and Conduct Interviews.
B. How to Conduct a More Effective Interview
1. Structure Your Interview – a) base questions on job duties; b) use
specific job-knowledge, situational, or behaviorally-oriented
questions and objective criteria to evaluate the interviewee’s
responses; c) train interviewers; d) use the same questions with all
candidates; e) use rating scales to rate answers; f) use multiple
interviewers or panel interviews; g) design questions that reduce
subjectivity, inaccurate conclusions, and bias; h) use a structured
interview form; and i) control the interview.
2. Prepare for the Interview – The interview should take place in a
private room where interruptions can be minimized. Prior to the
interview, the interviewer should review the candidate’s application
and resume, as well as the job duties and required skills and traits.
3. Establish Rapport – The interviewer should put the interviewee at
ease so he/she can find out the necessary information about the
interviewee.
4. Ask Questions – The interviewer should follow the interview guide.
5. Close the Interview – Leave time to answer any questions the
candidate may have and, if appropriate, advocate your firm to the
candidate. Try to end the interview on a positive note.
6. Review the Interview – Once the candidate leaves, and while the
interview is fresh on the interviewer’s mind, he/she should review
his/her notes and fill in the structured interview guide.
Know Your Employment Law: Interviewing Candidates –
Various equal employment laws require that employment
interviewers exercise caution in which questions they ask
lest they expose their companies to accusations of
discriminatory treatment.
When You’re On Your Own: HR for Line Managers and
Entrepreneurs.
HR and the Small Business – A
streamlined procedure for crafting job-relevant questions and
interviews are offered in this section for entrepreneurs. It
might be a good discussion point to talk about what the
barriers to carrying out this plan would be for small business
people. Would they view it as too much work and too
complicated? What are the potential costs if they do not
utilize the system?

NOTES
Educational Materials to Use
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. Explain and illustrate the basic ways in which you can classify selection interviews.
Interviews can be classified according to: (1) degree of structure. This is the extent to which
interviews are, or are not, structure with previously designed questions so that each
candidate must answer the same things. (2) purpose. Interviews may be designed to
accomplish several purposes, including selection, performance appraisal feedback, etc. (3)
content. The content of the questions may be situational, job-related, or psychological. (4)
the way the interview is administered. Interviews might be conducted by a panel of
interviewers, sequentially or all at once, computerized, or personally. Students should also
provide some illustrations of each.
2. Briefly describe each of the following possible types of interviews: unstructured panel
interviews; structured sequential interviews; job-related structured interviews. In the
unstructured panel interview, the panel of interviewers asks questions as they come to mind.
They do not have a list of questions or points that need to be covered, but may follow many
different directions. The structured sequential interview consists of the candidate being
interviewed one by one with several different interviewers. Each interviewer conducts a
structured interview that consists of pre-determined questions and a structured evaluation
form to complete. The job-related structured interview consists of pre-determined questions,
all of which are designed to assess the applicant's past behaviors for job-related information.
3. For what sorts of jobs do you think computerized interviews are most appropriate?
Why? The computerized interview can be used as a screening device for virtually any type
of position that may generate a large number of applicants. It is less likely to be used for
managerial positions. However, if there are large numbers of applicants, it could certainly be
just as useful there as in skilled, professional, and unskilled positions.
4. Why do you think " situational interviews yield a higher mean validity than do job
related or behavioral interviews, which in turn yield a higher mean validity than do
psychological interviews?" The situational interview allows the candidate to answer
situational questions based on past experiences in which he or she might have made
mistakes, but learned from them. The job-related (or behavioral) interview focuses primarily
on past situations, but does not allow for changes in the candidate due to the lessons that he
or she might have learned from those experiences. The psychological interview tends to be
more speculative regarding traits that are difficult to really measure.
5. Similarly, how do you explain the fact that structured interviews, regardless of content,
are more valid than unstructured interviews for predicting job performance? The
structured interview helps to keep the interviewer focused on the types of behaviors, traits, or
answers that are desired and have been determined to be good predictors of job
performance. Unstructured interviews allow interviewers to become sidetracked with things
like common interests and other items that are not good predictors of job success.
6. Briefly discuss and give examples of at least five common interviewing mistakes.
What recommendations would you give for avoiding these interviewing mistakes?
 Snap Judgments: This is where the interviewer jumps to a conclusion about the candidate
during the first few minutes of the interview. Using a structured interview is one way to help
avoid this, as well as training of the interviewers.
 Negative Emphasis: When an interviewer has received negative information about the
candidate, through references or other sources, he or she will almost always view the
candidate negatively. The best way to avoid this is to keep references or other information
from the interviewer. If possible, have different people do the reference checks and the
interviews and not share the information until afterwards.

Misunderstanding the Job: When interviewers do not have a good understanding of the job
requirements, they do not make good selections of candidates. All interviewers should
clearly understand the jobs and know what is needed for success in those jobs.
Pressure to Hire: Anytime an interviewer is told that they must hire a certain number of
people within a short time frame, poor selection decisions may be made. This type of
pressure should be avoided whenever possible.
Candidate-Order (Contrast) Error: When an adequate candidate is preceded by either an
outstanding, or a poor candidate, by contrast he or she looks either less satisfactory or much
better. This can be countered through interviewer training, allowing time between interviews,
and structured interviews with structured rating forms.
Influence of Nonverbal Behavior: Candidates who exhibit stronger non-verbal behavior, such
as eye contact and energy level are perceived as stronger by the interviewers. This can be
minimized through interviewer training and structured interviews.
Telegraphing: An interviewer might "give" the right answers to candidates they hope to hire.
This can be combated through structured interview questions, multiple interviewers, and
interviewer training.
Too Much / Too Little Talking: On either end of these extremes, the interviewer may not
gather all the information that is really needed to make an appropriate selection decision.
Structured interviews help keep this from happening.
Playing District Attorney or Psychologist: Some interviewers misuse their power by turning
the interview into a game of "gotcha" or by probing for hidden meanings in everything the
applicants say. Structured interviews help keep this from happening.
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7. Briefly discuss how an interviewer can improve his or her performance. The students
should refer to the section in the chapter on designing and conducting the effective interview
to form his/her suggestions for how an interviewer can improve his/her perfomance.
DESSLER COMPANION WEB SITE
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Prentice Hall Web site for the best online business support available. This site
provides professors with a customized course Web site, including new
communication tools, one-click navigation of chapter content, and great resources,
such as Internet Resources, an HRCI Exam Prep Guide, assessment exercises, and
more.
INDIVIDUAL AND GROUP ACTIVITIES
1.
Prepare and give a short presentation titled, “How to Be Effective As an Interviewer.”
There are several things you can do to prepare to be an effective interviewer. Some of the
responses the students should give include: structure the interview; prepare for the interview;
establish rapport; ask questions; close the interview; and review the interview.
2. Use the Internet to find employers who now do preliminary selection interviews via the
Web. Print out and bring examples to class. Do you think these interviews are useful?
Why or why not? How would you improve them? The students should use the Internet to
search the websites of various companies to find examples of companies that use the Web
for preliminary selection interviews. They should provide the pros and cons of using the Web
for preliminary selection interviews. Challenge students to identify ways to improve the
examples they have presented based on what has been discussed in this chapter.
3. In groups, discuss and compile examples of “the worst interview I ever had.” What was
it about these interviews that made them so bad? If time permits, discuss as a class.
Based on their experiences the students should come up with various examples. They
should also discuss what they would suggest to have improved the interview.
4. In groups, prepare an interview (including a sequence of at least 20 questions) you’ll
use to interview candidates for the job teaching a course in Human Resources
Management. Each group should present theirs in class. The students should use this
opportunity to design their own interview questions using the suggestions given in the
chapter.
5. Some firms swear by unorthodox interview methods. For example, Tech Planet, of
Menlo Park, CA, uses weekly lunches and “wacky follow-up sessions” as substitutes
for first-round job interviews. During the informal meals, potential staffers are
expected to mingle, and they’re then reviewed by the Tech Planet employees they
meet at the luncheons. One Tech Planet employee asks candidates to ride a unicycle
in her office to see if “they’ll bond with the corporate culture or not.” Toward the end
of the screening process, the surviving group of interviewees has to solve
brainteasers, and then openly evaluate their fellow candidates’ strengths and
weaknesses. What do you think of a screening process like this? Specifically, what
do you think are its pros, and cons? Would you recommend a procedure like this? If
so, what changes, if any, would you recommend? The students should use the
information they’ve learned in this chapter make judgments about this screening process.
6. In June 2003 Lockheed Martin Corp. sued the Boeing Corp. in Orlando Florida,
accusing it of suing Lockheed’s trade secrets to help win a multibillion-dollar
government contract. Among other things, Lockheed Martin claimed that Boeing had
obtained those trade secrets from a former Lockheed Martin employee who switched
to Boeing. But in describing methods companies use to commit corporate espionage,
one writer says that hiring away the competitor’s employees (or hiring people o go
through its dumpster), are just the most obvious ways companies use to commit
corporate espionage. As he says, “one of the more unusual scams – sometimes
referred to as “help wanted” – uses a person posing as a corporate headhunter who
approaches an employee of the target company with a potentially lucrative job offer.
During the interview, the employee is quizzed about his responsibilities,
accomplishments and current projects. The goal is to extract important details without
the employee realizing there is no job.”
Assume that you are the owner of a small high-tech company that is worried about the
possibility that one or more of your employees may be approached by one of these
sinister “headhunters”. What would you do (in terms of employee training, or a letter
from you, for instance) to try to minimize the chance that one of your employees will
fall into that kind of trap? Also, compile a list of five or ten questions that you think
such a corporate spy might ask one of your employees.
Students may suggest that the employer educate employees that tactics such as the ones
described here are used by competitors, suggest an appropriate response and encourage
them to report any such contact to management. Building trust and loyalty is clearly
important in order for this strategy to be effective to ensure that employees will indeed.
Brainstorm with the class a list of questions that may be asked, and perhaps conduct a role
play to demonstrate how the conversation may play out, and facilitate a discussion on how
the employee, and employer, could respond.
7. The HRCI “Test Specifications” appendix at the end of this book lists the knowledge
someone studying for the HRCI certification exam needs to know in each area of human
resource management (such as Strategic management, Workforce Planning, and Human
Resource Development). In groups of 4-5 students, do four things; (1) review that
appendix now: (2) identify the material in this chapter that relates to the required
knowledge the appendix lists; (3) write four multiple choice exam questions on this
material that you believe would be suitable for inclusion in the HRCI exam; and (4) if time
permits, have someone from your team post your team’s questions in front of the class, so
the students in other teams can take each other’s exam questions.
Material from this chapter that may be included in the HRCI certification exam include
interviewing procedures, federal, state, local employment related laws, and interviewing
techniques.
Some multiple choice question examples:
1. The type of interview where candidates are asked to describe how they would react
to a hypothetical situation is called a:
a. Situational interview
b. Behavioral interview
c. Stress interview
d. Job-related interview
Answer: b
2.
The type of interview where the interviewer asks candidates about what their
behavior would be in a given situation is called a:
a. Situational interview
b. Behavioral interview
c. Stress Interview
d. Job-related interview
Answer: a
3. The type of interview where the interviewer tries to deduce what the applicant’s on
the job performance will be based on his answers to questions about past
experiences is called a:
a. Situational Interview
b. Behavioral Interview
c. Stress Interview
d. Job-related Interview
Answer: d.
4.
Factors that can undermine an interview’s usefulness include:
a. stress interviews
b. effect of personal characteristics
c. candidate disabilities
d. none of the above
Answer: b
EXPERIENTIAL EXERCISES & CASES
Experiential Exercise: In-Class Mock Interview
This exercise is explained in step-by-step instructions in the text. It gives students the opportunity
to practice developing a structured interview form and in conducting a structured situational
interview.
Application Case: The Out-of-Control Interview
1. How would you explain the nature of the panel interview Maria had to endure?
Specifically, do you think it reflected a well-thought-out interviewing strategy on the
part of the firm, or carelessness on the part of the firm's management? If it was
carelessness, what would you do to improve the interview process at Apex
Environmental? It is fairly clear that the panel interview was a stress interview designed to
see how well she could handle difficult situations. In this respect, it seems to have been a
well-thought-out interviewing strategy, but there was a very clear element of carelessness on
the part of the firm's management. The panel was obviously not well-trained and was
careless in the choice of questions that they used. Many of the questions were clearly
discriminatory and could be used against them in a gender-based discrimination suit.
2. Would you take the job offer if you were Maria? If you're not sure, is there any
additional information that would help you make your decision, and if so, what is it?
Maria needs additional information. What she does know is the nature of the job and the
clear fit with her training and skills. The additional information that she should seek involves
the number of women who work at Apex, the levels of management which they have
attained, and the satisfaction of those women with their treatment by the Apex management.
The fact that the entire interview panel was composed of men and their choice of questions
leaves us with reservations about how she would be treated once hired.
3. The job of applications engineer for which Maria was applying requires: (1) excellent
technical skills with respect to mechanical engineering; (2) a commitment to working
in the area of pollution control; (3) the ability to deal well and confidently with
customers who have engineering problems; (4) a willingness to travel worldwide; and
(5) a very intelligent and well-balanced personality. What questions would you ask
when interviewing applicants for the job? There are a wide variety of specific questions
that could be posed to address these issues. Questions need to be job-related, specifically to
the requirements listed above. They also need to clearly avoid any discriminatory areas.
Running Case: Carter Cleaning Company; The Better Interview
1. In general, what can Jennifer do to improve her employee interviewing practices?
Should she develop interview forms that list questions for management and nonmanagement jobs, and if so what form should these take and what questions should
be included? Should she initiate a computer-based interview approach, and if so why
and specifically, how? Carter Cleaning Company has an inadequate, unstructured way of
interviewing and hiring.. One solution students could suggest is to utilize a structured
interview guide such as the one provided in Figure 7-1 as an example of a tool that managers
could use to improve their interviewing practices. Have students brainstorm a list of
questions to be included in the structured interview guide. A computer-based approach is
also a possibility, students should explore the pros and cons of this given the nature of the
organization and weigh the cost/benefit of utilization of this technology.
2. Should she implement a training program for her managers, and if so, specifically what
should be the content of such an interview training program? In other words, if she
did decide to start training her management people to be better interviewers, what
should she tell them and how should she tell it to them? The obvious answer to this
question is yes, a training program should be designed and delivered. Students should
include suggestions from the section on designing and conducting interview effective
interviews, including training in preparation, utilization of a structured interview process, and
interviewing techniques discussed in this chapter. She should educate managers in the
potential pitfalls that come up in the interviewing process as outlined in the text, and provide
opportunity for practice with mock interviews in the training session so that managers get an
opportunity to use the skills they learn and become comfortable with the process.
PART-ENDING VIDEO CASE
Recruitment and Placement
Bertelsman, one of the world’s top music distributors, counts Santana,
The Dave Matthews Band, and TLC among its long list of recording
artists. With 200 branches and over 11,000 employees worldwide, BMG
also holds a 20% stake in Jive Records, home to The Backstreet Boys,
Britney Spears, and ‘N Sync. Currently it owns the rights to some 700,000
songs.
A confrontation between HR and an angry Senior Director in
Bertelsman’s Music Placement Department is captured by the undercover
camera crew. It turns out that the wrong person has been hired to fill a
critical position in the department, and the Director is blaming HR. The
discussion segment revolves around the methods used to recruit and
place this person, as well as the delineation of responsibility for the
decision making steps in the hiring process.
For full video case and discussion questions, please visit the Faculty
Resource section of the Dessler Companion Web Site at:
http://www.prenhall.com/dessler
KEY TERMS
unstructured or
nondirective interview
Structured or
directive interview
An unstructured conversational-style interview. The interviewer
pursues points of interest as they come up in response to
questions.
An interview following a set sequence of questions.
situational interview
A series of job-related questions which focus on how the
candidate would behave in a given situation.
behavioral interviews
A series of job-related questions that focus on how they reacted
to actual situations in the past.
job-related interview
A series of job-related questions which focuses on relevant past
job-related behaviors.
unstructured sequential
interview
An interview in which each interviewer forms an independent
opinion after asking different questions.
structured sequential
interview
An interview in which the applicant is interviewed sequentially
by several supervisors and each rates the applicant on a
standard form.
panel interview
An interview in which a group of interviewers questions the
applicant.
mass interview
A panel interviews several candidates simultaneously.
candidate-order error
An error of judgment on the part of the interviewer due to
interviewing one or more very good or very bad candidates just
before the interview in question.