Interviewing - My experience with recruitment interviewing has shown me that it does not deserve its popularity. Discuss.

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Business Enterprise Year 1

OFB Assignment (Term 1)

“My experience with recruitment interviewing has shown me that it does not deserve its popularity.”

Interviewing is a technique used by almost all firms in the process of recruitment selection. This process of recruitment involves other elements depending on the type of position, number of candidates for the job, and the difficulty of the position. In this report I will be pointing out the advantages and disadvantages of interviewing as a process of recruitment as well as drawing on my own experiences of interviewing.

         For many years employers have seen the interview process as the most vital stage of recruitment selection. The industrial relation service carried out a survey showing that “80 per cent regarded the formal selection interview as the most important source of evidence in making the final decision.” (Price, 1997) In past years experts have began to question the interview with the traditional interview given poor reviews (Cowling/Mailer, 1998). This enhances the view interviews do not deserve their popularity as a form of selection. The traditional method of interviewing has been dismissed by Cowling and Mailer they are quoted “information about candidates is often inconsistent and interviewers frequently rate the same candidate quite differently.” (Cowling/Mailer, 1998). Another method of interviewing used by firms is the structured interview this is thought to be a much better method of interviewing but it does have disadvantages. A structured interview is put into a format were questions on the job are laid out in a certain order and irrelevant questions are not used. Problems with this method occur when material is not consistently covered and information gained on the candidate is not sufficient enough (Cowling/Mailer, 1998). Also leaving out questions, which are friendly but irrelevant, may make the candidate uncomfortable and not able to express themselves in their normal manner.

             In an interview you gain a visual picture of a person, an insight into their character, and a knowledge of what they have done in the past and what they might be capable off in the future. An interviewer will gain this information but there are many possible disadvantages in the way the information is received. First off all first impressions are all important because a prospective employer is unlikely to take you seriously unless you are dressed well because he would gain the impression you are unprofessional. The manner in which you speak or possibly your accent may make a good or bad impression also. These factors have nothing to do with your ability to do a job but they probably will go some way to determining if you get it or not. This is a disadvantage because you may have someone perfect for a job but does not get it because they do not know how to present themselves in an interview situation. Sternberg sums this up brilliantly when quoted as saying “the impression created depends as much on social factors as any demonstration of experience or expertise.”(Price, 1997). From my own experiences I have come across the way an interviewer judges someone by their appearance and not how well a person can do a job. I used to work in a café and there was a job available serving on the counter so interviews were taking place for it. I heard my boss tell a colleague after the interviews we won’t take him on because I didn’t like his manner. Also an interviewer may associate attractive physical appearance with work ability or a person may be appointed because they know the interviewer socially and not because they are the best person to fill the position (Bennet, 1994). A candidate will have an accent and an ethnic background not previously known to the interviewer this may result in the candidate being stereotyped or cause the interviewer to show a dislike to the person, which is another disadvantage. The “similar to me effect” is sometimes a problem with interviews when the interviewer thinks the candidate is similar to them and therefore thinks the candidate will be good at the job but of course this is not always the case (Redman/Wilkinson, 2002).

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                        The next problem with the interviewing process is that if the interview is not set out in the right way or the people conducting the interview are not properly skilled then the interview may not serve its purpose. Price, 1997 says that an inexperienced interviewer will be at a great disadvantage when interviewing a trained applicant. A clever applicant can persuade the interviewer that they are the right person for the job emphasizing strong points and covering up weak areas this may lead them to being successful when ...

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