An interview is a great forum to exchange information. Over 95 percent of jobs are filled following an interview. However, despite its popularity, a typical one-to-one interview is known to be a poor predictor of subsequent performance in the job. If an interview is designed and constructed well, it can be transformed from a gentle ramble around the candidate’s appearance, prior employment, educational background or a falsely pressurized grilling session into a more meaningful interchange.
Below is an example of better-interviewing set-up and technique for a face-to-face panel interview interaction -
Panel Preparation – It is important that a panel of interviewers introduce themselves in advance and are clear about each member's role during the interview. During the day of an interview, interviewers should come at least 10-15 minutes before the interview starts. It provides an opportunity to settle down in their role and sort out clarifications amongst the panel & discuss any last-minute details and objective for the interview.
Putting the candidates at ease - Furniture setup is very important during a face-to-face interview session and it is important to keep the furniture at the right place and ensure that the seating arrangement is being done properly.
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For example, the above layout is a formal setting but increases the threat to the candidate and is more interrogative. In such a setting it is hard the engage the candidate in a flowing discussion.
Now, the second layout is also a formal setting but it reduces the threat and allows both interviewers and candidates as equal partners.
Many organizations understand the importance of furniture set up and also ensure that the interview room's table is covered from all sides as open tables might cause unnecessary discomfort to both interviewer and candidates. Organizations ensure that tables also have enough space for note-taking.
Good habits for better interviewing - In order to have a more productive interaction with a candidate, it is very important for interviewers to exercise good interviewing habits i.e. to read the job description and candidate resume in advance, to be aware of the objective for taking the interview, to develop skills for identifying technical/functional/behavioral competencies required from the candidates through constructive and structured methods of interviewing. Also, it is important that interviewers especially during a panel interview to avoid bringing too many laptops(except for a specific reason) and exchanging notes in the middle of the interview, attending phone calls, sending SMS as it may disrupt the flow of the interview.
Interview bias and influences –
1. First Impressions - Many managers believe that they can tell the best candidate from the early stages of the interview. The strength of the handshake, whether the candidate waits to be asked or sits down straight away, making eye contact, good looks and grooming are all common indicators to decide which candidate will perform the job the best. However, in reality, such factors provide more scope for error in selection than accuracy in decision making. First impressions like appearance, initial behavior, language, and accent are not an adequate predictor of performance in the job.
2. Saliency – This is a very tricky factor to control as it may affect the memory of an interviewer without being aware of what is happening. For example, during an interview, a candidate was selected on the basis of rapport built with the interviewers. The panel decided to hire even though the candidate didn’t have the technical & behavioral skills to perform the work but rather had well developed interpersonal skills and they felt that any pitfall inability can be rectified by intensive training. Now such decisions taken outside the framework need to be explored as it may have serious repercussions.
3. Seeking similar characteristics – Usually, interviewers check for similar characteristics so that the new hire can mingle easily with the group. For example, the service department of an organization had suffered for years under the weak leadership of its manager. When the manager left the company; the management decided that a panel of senior leadership will interview candidates. The panel of interviewers decided to hire a candidate who was liked by the interviewers and was pleased with his technical knowledge. Moreover, he spoke their language. However, after a few months, the organization realized that even though the hired manager had a good rapport with the senior leadership and had good technical knowledge but the service provided to the customers was just bad and complaints were rising. On analyzing, the management realized that the interviewers had focused more on the technical skills & similar characteristics rather than on his ability to lead a team but these were the very qualities needed; the team was short of management, not technical skills.
4. Rules of thumb – We develop our own perception to view what’s going on around us. Experience, lessons learned from others, things we are told influence our decision making. And we seldom question the assumptions. As an interviewer, it can be a dangerous influence and one needs to be aware of his/her beliefs and rules of thumb to be sure they are based on truth, not a truism.
5. Cause and effect- This is a very common tendency and can lead to disastrous appointments. If we assume that a person who has worked for a highly successful company was the alone cause of that success, we could place unreasonable demands and have unreal expectations of them, in effect, set them up for failure. For example, a company had a bad year when its accounts were rejected by auditors and the finance manager was accused of improper conduct. As a result, most staff from the finance department was sacked. A young accountant felt she was unfairly treated and found it difficult that her employment history was making it very hard to convince potential employers that she was honest and competent at her job.
Although there are many dangers to trip up the unwary interviewer, training interviewers will make them more aware of what they are doing wrong and this increased awareness can be a major step forward to hire and retain the best talent.
