MODULE 4

SELECTION AND INTERVIEW STRATERGY

 An interview is essentially a structured conversation where one participant
asks questions, and the other provides answers. In common parlance, the word
"interview" refers to a one-on-one conversation between an interviewer and
an interviewee.
 The interviewer asks questions to which the interviewee responds, usually providing
information. That information may be used or provided to other audiences immediately or
later. This feature is common to many types of interviews – a job interview or interview
with a witness to an event may have no other audience present at the time, but the
answers will be later provided to others in the employment or investigative process.
 An interview may also transfer information in both directions.
 Interviews usually take place face-to-face and in person but the parties may instead be
separated geographically, as in videoconferencing or telephone interviews. Interviews
almost always involve spoken conversation between two or more parties.

STRUCTURED INTERVIEW:
 A structured interview involves asking a fixed set of questions in the same format and
order to all candidates attending the interview.
 These interviews may begin just like how a traditional interview does but may focus more
on a fixed set of questions rather than specific experience-based questions.
 The responses of candidates are recorded and graded against a suitable scoring system.
Asking the same set of questions in the same order helps the recruiter collect similar
information from candidates in a uniform context and thus grade them in an unbiased
manner.
 Structured formats, as discussed above, is based purely on a predetermined set of
questions in a specific order and format. On the other hand, an unstructured interview is
spontaneous and conversational in nature. While this is a time-tested and traditional
interviewing method, it is not very useful for comparing the performance of candidates.

SEMI-STRUCTURED INTERVIEW
 A semi-structured interview combines the best of both interviewing formats.
 It uses the organised format of a structured question list to evaluate candidates equally but
also adds a human touch via a set of questions that are not predetermined.
 Most interviews conducted by companies are examples of semi-structured interviews.

INTERVIEW PHASES INTEGRATED WITHIN SELECTION PROCESS MODEL

1. HR/recruiter and hiring manager/selection committee identify candidates from all
resume and application submissions to participate in pre screening phone interview.

Prof. Ningambika G Meti Dept of MBA, SVIT

 2. HR/recruiter schedules and conducts a first round of candidate pre screening
interviews by phone.

3. HR/recruiter and hiring manager/selection committee decide which candidates will be

invited to proceed with the next round of interviews based on the extent to which they
satisfactorily answered the phone interview questions.

4. Candidates are scheduled for individual in-person interviews with the hiring
manager/selection committee, preceded by a visit to the HR department to complete a
formal job application.

5. HR/recruiter and hiring manager/selection committee decide which candidates will be

invited to proceed with the next step in the process, which may include additional
interviews and/or the administration of requisite tests and assessments.

6. Candidates are scheduled for follow-up interviews and/or testing and other selection
requirements. Subsequent to this step in the process would be a narrowing down of
candidates for the determination of a hiring decision.

KEY METHODS OFTEN INCLUDED IN STRUCTURED INTERVIEW PROCESS

A. Individual and Group In-person Interviews

B. Phone interviews
C. Video interviews

1. Individual and Group In-person Interviews

In individual interviews, an interviewer talks with one user for 30 minutes to an hour.
Individual interviews allow you to probe their attitudes, beliefs, desires, and experiences
to get a deeper understanding of the users who come to your site. You can also ask them
to rate or rank choices for site content. These interviews can take place face-to-face, by
phone or video conference, or via instant messaging system.
When to Conduct Individual Interviews
Ideally, interviews take place at the start of the development cycle while you are
developing or reviewing the objectives and goals of the site.
You may also use interviews to supplement online surveys. Performing an interview
before a survey helps you to refine questions for the survey. Interviewing participants
after a survey allows you to probe for details and reasons behind answers that users give
on a survey
Best Practices for Conducting Individual Interviews
 When you conduct an Individual Interview, consider:
 What you want to learn and then selecting representative participants to talk to
 Writing an interview protocol for the interviewer to follow. The protocol includes
questions and probes to use for follow-up

Prof. Ningambika G Meti Dept of MBA, SVIT

 Hiring a skilled interviewer who knows how to make interviewees feel more comfortable,
asks questions in a neutral manner, listens well, and knows when and how to probe for
more details
 Getting permission to tape the sessions and have one or more note takers

A group interview is when an employee or team of employees interviews multiple

candidates at the same time, or when a team of employees forms a panel to interview one
candidate. Generally, employers perform both types of group interviews in conference rooms
to simulate a meeting or team project.
 A group interview is a meeting format with several candidates and one interviewer and is
often used when employers are looking to hire for more than one position on a short
timeline.
 This interview style can often be found in industries like food service, retail and
hospitality. If you are applying for a seasonal retail job over the holidays, for example,
you will likely be asked to join a group interview so they can staff up quickly.
 To help you prepare for a group interview and ensure you stand out from other
candidates, consider the following tips and sample questions.

Panel interview refers to a type of interview which includes one applicant and several
interviewers, often representatives of different departments within a company like the hiring
manager and a member of the human resource recruitment team.

Why do employers use group interviews?

There are a few reasons an employer may use a group interview instead of a one-on-one
meeting. Depending on their goals, employers might decide to conduct a group interview
with several candidates or a panel interview with one candidate and several interviewers.

Importance of group interviews :

Group interviews offer several unique advantages to other interview formats. Therefore, if
your organization utilize group interviews with these advantages in mind, you’re most likely
to find them effective.

 Group interviews are efficient, allowing organizations to interview multiple

candidates at the same time thereby saving numerous hours of labor.
 Group interviews enable you to see which candidates work bets with others. Sure,
every candidate will say they work well with others. Group interviewers allow you to
see those skills in action.
 Group interview environments provide unique insights into who fits in with company
culture. Your organization’s culture is likely at or near its most apparent in how
employees interact with others. The group interview creates an environment to help
identify candidates compatible with your culture.
 Group interviews show you who performs well under stress. Is the position at hand a
high-stressed, fast-paced one? If so, consider a group interview, which will help
simulate the stress and pace of the job at hand.

Prof. Ningambika G Meti Dept of MBA, SVIT

 2. Phone Interview:
 Many companies start the interview process with a phone call to discuss the job
opportunity with a prospective employee, determine whether the candidate is a good
fit, and to gauge his or her interest in the position.
 Employers use telephone interviews as a way of identifying and recruiting candidates
for employment. Phone interviews are often used to screen candidates to narrow the
pool of applicants who will be invited for in-person interviews. A phone call is a
relatively quick, low-effort way to determine whether a candidate is suitable.
 They are also used to minimize the expense involved in interviewing out-of-town
candidates. For remote positions, a phone interview may be the only option.
 Before you get on the telephone to interview for a job, review these phone interview
tips and techniques so you can ace the interview and make it to the next round.

Prepare for a Phone Interview

1. Research the Company

If you have advance notice of the interview, make sure to review the job
description and do a bit of research on the company.

2. Prepare in Advance

Prepare for a phone interview just as you would for a regular in-person interview.
Compile a list of your strengths and weaknesses, as well as a list of answers to
typical phone interview questions. In addition, have a list of questions ready to ask the
interviewer.

3. Show the Employer You're a Match

Take the time to match your qualifications to the job description so that you can speak
to why you're a strong candidate for the position. Review your resume as well. Know
the dates when you held each of your previous jobs, and what your responsibilities
were.

4. Have Your Job Materials Nearby

You should feel comfortable and ready to discuss your background and skills
confidently during a phone conversation. Have a copy of your resume nearby, so that
you can refer to it during the interview. Also have a copy of the job posting and a
copy of your cover letter if you sent one.

3. Video Interview

 A video interview is a job interview that takes place remotely and uses video
technology as the communication medium.
 For example, in the early stages, the hiring manager might pose a set of questions and
ask job seekers to record their responses in a video.

Prof. Ningambika G Meti Dept of MBA, SVIT

  Each unique approach for conducting video interviews will work suitably within
different time, resource, and logistical parameters, provided several key factors are
considered in its design and implementation, which we will examine next.

Video Interview Success Factors

1. Connectivity
Perhaps the most important element for a successful video interview is the reliability of
your Technology and connectivity. Without a seamless connection, no other factors will
matter because you will not be able to conduct the video interview. Before deciding on
the location, it is advisable to test out different areas of the work environment, especially
in a Wi-Fi-enabled workplace in which some areas may have a weaker signal and be
more likely to cut out unpredictably. A workplace that uses a hardwired network
connection is less likely to have such an issue with reliable connectivity. Regardless of
the type of network setup, conducting a test run of a video call from the determined
location would be a practical exercise to ensure reliable connectivity for the actual
interview.

2. Screen Size
Currently, there are several viable device options for video communication: laptops,
tablets, and smart phones. The smaller the device, the smaller the screen, and this is an
important element to think about in terms of your interaction as both a sender and a
receiver. If you are using a small device such as a smartphone, less of your immediate
area will be in view, and you will be the main focus. For the interviewee, this may not be
an issue. For example, I have participated in many video calls using my smartphone
positioned at shoulder height on my desk to communicate and my laptop available to have
information readily accessible, such as my resume or a website for reference. On the
employer side, the use of a Smartphone may be problematic if the plan is to have multiple
interviewers on the call. The phone will have to be set back a fair distance for everyone to
be on-screen, and the interviewers may not only appear small and far away but voices
may not carry as well in order to reach the microphone on the
Device, and the interviewee may find it difficult to hear everyone. A better option for
multiple interviewers is a laptop that has a sufficiently large screen to capture every
participant both visually and audibly.

3. Screen Placement
Related to the consideration of device screen size is screen placement. Ideally, each
person should be visible from the upper body/shoulder level. In most cases, there is no
need for either the interviewee or the interviewer(s) to have to be visible on-screen from
head to toe. In fact, positioning the screen in a manner that allows a participant's entire
body to be in view may take the focus off what is being said as well as facial expressions.
For example, I once participated in a videoconference call in which all the participants
were in a large room. Not only were they seated far apart from each other, their screen
was placed far away so that they could all appear full body on the screen. From the

Prof. Ningambika G Meti Dept of MBA, SVIT

 receiver's perspective, it was challenging for me to hear what on-screen was talking at
various points on the call. I had to bounce visually around their they were saying, to see
their facial expressions and body language, and to keep track of the flow of conversation
because i was unable to clearly see who was talking at different times. A better option for
them would have been to sit next to each other and he to keep track of the flow of
conversation because I was unable to clearly see who was talk. Placing the device in a
position that enable the participant’s to clearly see body language such as hand gestures
can add context and depth to the conversation, important in terms of adding richness to a
video interview that is considered a two dimensional communication modality.

4. Lighting
The fluorescent overhead lighting that is typical among most work environments is the
least video friendly type of lighting, as it can create a harsh washed out on screen
appearance of the participants. Very few people are able to maintain a healthy and vibrant
appearance under the least video-friendly type of lighting, as it can create a harsh, washed
out on-screen appearance fluorescent lights. A change in lighting can breathe life back
into an on-screen appearance. Try to avoid a stark white background, which can causes
glare. If having a solid white background wall is unavoidable, then switching fluorescent
light for soft lamp lighting should also alleviate the glare factor. Again, it is advisable to
do a practice video call internally before conducting the actual interviews to determine
what elements for more visually appealing lighting.

5. Personal Appearance
Each participant should be prepared to make just as professional of an impact on a vide
Interview as they would expect to make during an in-person interview. Business-
appropriate attire is essential for both the interviewer(s) and the interviewee. This
typically translates a suit or a jacket and tailored pants or skirt, with a button-down shirt
or business-appropriate blouse underneath the jacket. Of course, the organizational
culture will impact the norm for business attire among interviewers but should always be
neat and professional. You may be thinking, wait a minute, why does appearance matter
from the waist down if only the head and shoulders or upper body will be visible on-
screen? Consider the possibility of having move from the table or desk on-screen during
the video interview. What if you need to get to locate a file folder, book, or some other
resource, or attend to an unscripted need while you are on the call, and you are dressed in
a suit jacket, jeans, and sneakers? This may soul silly, but it actually happens more often
than you might think, as there is always the possible that you may need to move around
and away from your on-screen “set” during the video cal. As an interviewer, you want to
be taken seriously and give a job candidate the impression de you are a respected and
professional representative of the organization. As an interview you want to make as
strong of a first impression as possible, that you are a well-organised and prepared
professional, focused and detail oriented, and ready to step into the opportunity and
succeed.

Prof. Ningambika G Meti Dept of MBA, SVIT

6. Body Language
It is probably stating the obvious that body language, also referred to as nonverbal
communication, is critical to participating in a video interview. Mastering on screen body
language does take some practice in terms of identifying any unconscious mannerisms
that may not be appropriate, as well as integrating some nonverbal communication
elements that will add value to your verbal dialogue and make a positive impact. First,
closely examine your body language in a practice interview, either with a partner or by
recording yourself on devices you naturally ask and/or answer questions. Notice your eye
contact, posture, head nodding tilting, whether you are smiling or frowning, hand
gestures, fidgeting, or repositioning yourself may not be aware. Eye contact can be tricky
during a video call, and this is probably the most in the chair, pen/foot tapping, and any
other body language that you demonstrate and may or important facet of nonverbal
communication. I am sure many of us have a natural tendency to look at the screen rather
than the camera, and even focus on our own image in the little offset occasions, fixing my
hair, and then I catch myself when realizing that is what the other participants on the call
are watching me do. Making eye contact with the camera is critical, as people read a lack
of eye contact as an indicators a variety of negative attributes such as being a
disinterested, aloof, scattered unfocused, untrustworthy, and even perhaps unintelligent.
But it is normal and perfectly reasonable to break eye contact occasionally so the other
participants do not get the feeling you are staring at them. Maintaining a consistent
balance of genuine eye contact with occasional breaks is the goal. Another critical
element of nonverbal communication involves upper body movement, such as posture
and hand/arm gestures. It is important to be mindful of maintaining a tall posture in your
chair or behind a desk or table, with no shoulder rounding, slouching, and propping
yourself up on hands and elbows. Hand gestures also require a delicate balance of
appropriate activity. Interviewers should avoid sitting stiffly with no movement, which
will come across as harsh, wooden, and unnatural.
Conversely, hands and arms should not be flailing wildly, potentially cutting off other
participants from view and becoming a distraction. The hands can be used to emphasize
verbal content and provide an additional layer of visual engagement during the call. The
bottom line on nonverbal communication is simple: It is easy to forget that a video
interview is a formal and professional interaction. Take the time to assess your body
language, train yourself to include positive body language elements and avoid the
negative ones, even if it means creating a hidden checklist or cheat sheet under your
interview questions. Lastly, continue to be mindful of how you are presenting yourself,
which of course is critical to all forms of face-to-face interaction.

7. Background Distractors
A neutral setting with minimal distractors is ideal for the focus to remain on the verbal
exchange between the interviewer(s) and interviewee during a video call. A setting in a
cluttered, messy, high-traffic, and/or noisy area will diminish the clarity and attention
paid to the dialogue. This can negatively impact both sides of the interview experience, as
participants may lose their train of thought, get flustered, or forget key information they
had intended to convey.

Prof. Ningambika G Meti Dept of MBA, SVIT

STRUCTURED INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

An interview should strive to achieve an environment that is a balance of cordial and

comfortable with structured & professional, which will help to keep the questioning process
as positive and relevant of an experience for all participants as possible.

Open-Ended and Closed-Ended Questions

To begin our exploration of interview question types, let's revisit open-ended and closed
ended questions. To review, open- and closed-ended questions are not a type of interview
question per se, but rather two different question structures or formats that will enable an
interviewer to obtain a more or less detailed response regardless of the type of question
background, job knowledge, behavior-based, situation-based) can be asked as either open
Think about it this way: Any of the types of questions we will discuss in this section (e.
ended or close ended. It is important to determine how to integrate both open-ended and
closed-ended questions in an interview because the information you will obtain will be quite
different with these two question formats.
An open-ended question allows the interviewee to provide a free-form detailed answer. An
example of an open-ended job knowledge interview question for the job of bartender is “How
do you make a dry martini?" and the interviewee' response should involve a detailed
explanation of the sequence of steps needed to make this drink. With a closed-ended
question, there is no opportunity for the interviewee to answer conform to one of two options-
in an interview, typically yes or no.
An example of a closed-ended job knowledge interview question for the job of bartender is
“How do you make a dry martini?” and the interviewee’s response should involve a detailed
explanation of the sequence of steps needed to make this drink.
Both open-ended and closed-ended questions have their usefulness in the interview
process. However, it is advisable to take into account the balance and sequence of the use of
both types of questions from the beginning to the end of the interview in your strategy.
Consider this: It would not be a good idea to ask all closed-ended questions, because you will
not get adequate information from the interviewees regarding their experience or knowledge.
Could you imagine asking interviewees only closed-ended questions and making a job offer
to the candidate who answered yes to all your questions? Conversely, asking all open-ended
Questions may not be entirely necessary and may exhaust the interviewee. Have you ever
been on a job interview in which the interviewer asked you a seemingly relentless stream of
open-ended questions, each requiring you to think and craft an intelligent and detailed
response? That is a stressful experience. Asking several open-ended questions in a row is
usually fine, but take care to provide small opportunities for the interviewees to regroup and
gather their thoughts from one complex open-ended question to the next, or at least weave in
a few simple open-ended questions along with the more complex questions. This is also a
Challenge for the interviewer who may be taking diligent notes as the interviewee is
providing
in-depth, detailed answers to the questions. A more reasonable approach may be to open each
new topic with a closed-ended question and follow it up with a few relevant open-ended
questions. Let's return to our example of the bartender job interview. A question sequence

Prof. Ningambika G Meti Dept of MBA, SVIT

could be designed in this manner:

Topic: Customer Service

Question #1: Have you ever had a difficult customer at the bar? (Yes/No)
If yes, proceed with Question #2: Can you give me an example of a difficult customer you
had to take care of on your shift? What was the issue, and how did you handle it?

Topic: Beverage Making

Question #1: Do you have experience with making tropical specialty drinks? (Yes/No) If yes,
proceed with Question #2: Can you describe your process for making a mai tai?

Open-ended and closed-ended questions are both valuable to the interview process but are not
necessarily interchangeable, and neither should be relied on exclusively in the question
design. Both types of questions can be built into the interview structure to enable the
interviewer to obtain the most-detailed information needed from each interviewee in a clear,
non overwhelming, and logical manner.

Background/Chronology Questions

Background/chronology-based questions are the most basic type of Background/ question and
relatively self-explanatory. These questions are designed to Chronology Question obtain
additional information and/or validation about an interviewee's background pertaining to
anything supplied on his or her resume and job application.
An interview question designed to obtain validation and/or ad about candidates qualifications
as provided by his or her resume and job application.
Background questions can be integrated in a way that additional information about
candidate's career path and sequence of events in terms of job movement, education, and
other professional endeavors. Going back to qualifications as provided the example of the
bartender job, consider the following background chronology interview question:

Question #1:

From your resume, it appears that you worked for two employers at the same time, a hotel
and a conference center, during the date range of May through August 2015. Were these both
full-time jobs, part-time jobs, or a combination of full-and part-time? Could you provide
clarification of your employment around this time frame?

Of all the types of questions, background/chronology interview questions are perhaps the best
questions to ask during a pre-screening phone interview, essentially to confirm all the details
about a candidate's qualifications and back story prior to coordinating an in-person interview.
These are not the questions to spend an inordinate amount of time on in a face-to-face
individual or group interview session when you really need to ask the more critical and
impactful job knowledge, behavioral, and situational questions. It can also be a good idea for
a recruiter and/or HR representative to ask background questions as an initial step so they ma

Prof. Ningambika G Meti Dept of MBA, SVIT

provide a comprehensive candidate packet with any ambiguities clarified to whomever will
be conducting follow-up interviews.

Job Knowledge Questions

Another fairly self-explanatory category, job knowledge questions are designed to ascertain
the extent to which a candidate possesses and can articulate key areas of job-related
knowledge. Job knowledge questions are appropriate for a recruiter or HR representative to
ask as part of a pre-screening phone interview, and they can also be integrated in to follow up
interviews with the hiring manager and other relevant stakeholders. One common approach is
for the HR interviewers to ask any job knowledge questions that are more general and basic
in nature, and for the job knowledge questions asked by the hiring manager to be more
specific and complex. To revisit the example of a bartender job opening, consider the
following types of job knowledge questions. The first question example is a basic question,
and the second is clearly more complex and skill specific.

Question #1: What are the most common types of craft beers currently requested by bar
customers?
Question #2: What is the appropriate glassware in which to serve the following types of
beers: wheat beers, stouts, lagers, IPAs, and pilsners?

Job knowledge questions can also be valuable for group interviews and structured in such a
way that one interviewer opens up a new topic with the simpler question, and the next
interviewer with the more complex question. This is where a pre interview meeting of all the
interviewers may be useful to organize all the questions, their sequence, and which
interviewers will ask certain questions.

Behavior-Based/Experiential Questions
Behavior-based/experiential interview questions are strategically designed to elicit a response
from interviewees that includes an example Experiential Question: of how they behaved or
performed in a specific past situation that is directly related to the job for which they have
applied. The premise designed to determine the likelihood of a behind behavior based or
experiential interview questions is that the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior.
A job candidate is performance on the job likely to engage in a similar behavior or perform in
a similar manner in based on his or her past a future job as they did in a past job. Asking
interviewees to articulate behavior/performance, their actual experience in a particular
situation and how they behaved in their job role in that context can yield valuable insight into
critically important performance dimensions. Let's take a look at examples of behavior-based
interview questions for several different jobs:

Question #1 Customer Service Representative

Would you tell me about a time in which you diffused an angry and dissatisfied customer,
either in person or over the phone, and worked effectively to resolve the issue? What was the
situation that prompted the interaction, how did you work with the customer to resolve the
problem, and what was the outcome?

Prof. Ningambika G Meti Dept of MBA, SVIT

Question #2 HR Manager
Would you tell me about a time in which you successfully coached a department manager
who was having trouble conducting performance appraisals in a timely and effective manner?
What were the issues that the manager faced, and what approach did you take to help the
individual develop the required skill sets and improve the process?

Question #3 Financial Analyst

Would you tell me about a time in which you identified a critical error in the data in a
financial report before it was due to be reviewed by key stakeholders How did you locate the
root cause of the error, and what approach did you take to reconcile the issue so that the
follow-up report to be delivered to stakeholders had no errors?

The key to success with behavior-based interview questions is for the interviewers to have an
understanding of the behaviors that would be considered desired and acceptable for a specific
job, as well as those behaviors that would be considered red flags and potentially
unacceptable. Again, this is where a preinterview meeting with the recruiter/HR
representative and hiring manager to discuss performance expectations that would be
provided to the interviewers involved would be a valuable use of time.

Situation-Based Question:
 Situation-based questions are nearly identical to behavior-based questions in that they are
designed to obtain information from candidates about how they would behave or perform
in a specific job- question designed to related situation. The key differentiating factor in
using these two types of questions is whether or not candidates have real examples
performance on the job based on his or her from their past experience they are able to
share. If the candidate is response to a entry-level, for example, or does not have specific
past experience in a particular situation to refer to, then a situation-based question can be
hypothetical job scenario a reasonable alternative to a behavior-based question.
 A situation- based interview question is structured to pose a hypothetical scenario
relevant to the job and ask the interviewee to describe how he or she would handle or
perform in that situation Rather than wording the question as "Tell me about a time in
which you effectively handled an irate customer and successfully resolved his or her
issue," a situation-based question may be worded as "Imagine you are confronted with an
angry customer who bought an expensive product that broke after 2 days of use. How
would you create a positive customer experience in which you are able to calm him or her
down and take care of the issue to the customer's satisfaction?" It is likely that
interviewees will have a similar behavioral response to a hypothetical scenario in a
situation-based question as they would have if they had an actual personal experience to
share.
 Interview question content, format, and sequence should be predetermined by the
recruiter and/or HR representative involved in the selection process, as well as the hiring
manager and any other key contributors or stakeholders such as a search committee,
external consultant, or search firm. The questions should be constructed based on the
qualification requirements, performance dimensions, and essential job tasks and

Prof. Ningambika G Meti Dept of MBA, SVIT

 responsibilities as stated in the job description, which hopefully has been developed and
validated following a thorough job analysis.

COMMON INTERVIEWER ERRORS

1. Halo Effect
 The tendency to assume that a person possesses multiple positive characteristics based on
the observation of one perceived desirable or appealing attribute. Have you ever met a
new person, someone you knew little to nothing about, and noticed something about him
or her that you would typically perceive in a positive manner? Perhaps that positive
attribute was related to a physical trait such as height or hair color, the car that you saw
him or her driving or perhaps that you also drive, or a handbag that appealed to you mind
that you connected with this feature, maybe wealth, intelligence, industriousness,
compassion, or charisma? If this has happened to you (relax, it happens to all of us), then
you have experienced the halo effect.
 This common behavioral phenomenon can quickly and easily influence our perception of
a person, because we are essentially making an assumption that this person has many
other valued attributes that we have not yet confirmed to be true simply based on one
observed element or characteristic. Try to notice how many times during the course of a
normal day you experience the halo effect and how these assumptions can affect your
behavior toward others.
 Now, consider how such assumptions may impact candidate interviews, and how often
interviewers who are not aware of the halo effect may not notice or acknowledge its
influence on their perceptions of the job candidates they are meeting and overall
evaluation of their suitability for the job.

2. Contrast Error
 The order in which the candidates are interviewed may affect the interviewers' initial
impressions and perceptions of them. For example, a candidate whose interview is just
average may be perceived much more favorably if he or she is interviewed after a
candidate who interviewed poorly.
 Conversely, a candidate who is interviewed immediately after a stellar, amazing
candidate may come across as unimpressive or inadequate by comparison, even though
that individual is well-qualified and presented appropriately in the interview.
 This phenomenon is called contrast error, or contrast effect, and is a common issue
because we as humans like to categorize, compare, rank, and perform other cognitive
processes that help us make sense of the information and surroundings with which we are
presented.
 It can challenge to focus solely on the information presently in front of us without
factoring in or comparing any information or influences that were previously provided to
us.

Prof. Ningambika G Meti Dept of MBA, SVIT

3. Inappropriate Substitutes
 The tendency to mistakenly exchange one behaviour for another even though they are not
similar or relevant to one another. This is a fascinating phenomenon, though not as
commonly known or referred to as often some of the other errors in rater judgment.
Inappropriate substitutes occurs when a person mentally exchanges one behavior for
another even though they are not similar or relevant to one another.
 The substitution may be made in an effort to depict someone in a positive or negative
light. In the context of an interview, a candidate may not demonstrate adequate
knowledge required to effectively perform the job they are not send but shares how much
he or she enjoys baking and tends to bring relevant to one another homemade baked
goods such as muffins and cakes to the office for coworkers to snack on.
 Interviewers may like the idea of having someone bring delicious treats into the office for
everyone, and this attribute could overshadow that candidate's lack of job related
knowledge. This may sound somewhat ridiculous, as baking muffins is not a substitute
for job knowledge, but this phenomenon occurs more often than you might think.

4. Primacy and Recency Effects

 Have you ever tried to recall a series of information--for example, the presidents of the
United States of America—and found that you were able to remember the first three or
four, but as you proceeded you were unable to name the fifth president, the sixth, and so
on? Well, you experienced the phenomenon known as the primacy effect, which posits
that individuals are more likely to remember information from the beginning of a series or
sequence, and that one's memory gets fuzzier while attempting to recall the information
further information into the series.
 Next, recall the presidents from the current one to the beginning of a series or previous
ones and determine how far back you can recall their names sequence. with ease and
accuracy. Is this range somewhere within the past six or seven presidents? You have just
experienced the phenomenon known as Recency Effect, which posits that individuals are
more likely to an individual is more successfully remember information from the end of a
series or sequence. likely to remember.
 The key takeaway point here is that we can typically recall information information from
the middle (or at least not with the best accuracy and reliability). How does this
phenomenon impact the interview process? Consider a typical interview schedule in
which candidates are brought in starting on Monday morning and finishing on Friday
afternoon. According to these behavioral phenomena, interviewers are more likely to
remember the candidates' interviews from Monday (primacy effect) and from Friday
(recency effect) than from, say, Wednesday. Does this automatically doom all job
candidates scheduled for interviews in the middle of the week? The answer is no, it
absolutely should not negatively impact candidates.
1. Primacy and recency effects, like all the behavioral phenomena we have examined that
can distort an interviewer's ratings of an interviewee, can be remediated with a fairly
simple solution. The best, most comprehensive structured interview will lose its
effectiveness if the information obtained from the interviewees is not recorded and
organized objectively and consistently for clear and accurate recall.

Prof. Ningambika G Meti Dept of MBA, SVIT

INTERVIEW RATING AND EVALUATION FORM

Interview evaluation forms are to be completed by the interviewer to rank

the candidate's overall qualifications for the position for which they have applied. Under each
heading, the interviewer should give the candidate a numerical rating and write specific job-
related comments in the space provided.

 It is a tool for documenting notes during the interview and rating interview resonses to a
strucutured set of questions

 Interview questions can also be weighted based on the importance of the tasks and
responsbilities.

Prof. Ningambika G Meti Dept of MBA, SVIT

Prof. Ningambika G Meti Dept of MBA, SVIT
HOW ARE MILLENNIAL SHAPING THE RECRUITMENT LANDSCAPE IN
ORGANIZATIONS?

1. Millennial are involved in technologically advanced modes of job search:

 Millennial have grown up in an age dominated by a series of technological
developments such as the introduction of devices such as computers, smart phones
and tablets coupled with the phenomenal growth of the internet.
 These technological forces have had a marked influence on the lives of millennial and
have completely transformed the way they do things. The same holds true even for
activities like looking for a job. Millennial are starkly different from baby boomers
and Generation Xers in their job search patterns. In a recent survey conducted by
Talent Trends, a majority of the millennials reported that they visited social media for
job-related information, preferred electronic communication over physical methods,
and believed that they should be able to apply for jobs over smartphones or tablets.
 Not surprisingly, a large number of job search apps like Naukri.com, Monster jobs,
Glassdoor, LinkedIn and Simply Hired have come up during the past few years.
Organizations are trying to cater to the changing job search preferences of millennials,
which is evident from the number of jobs that are posted on these platforms each day.

2. Millennials prefer shorter hiring process and the use of sophisticated hiring
techniques:
 Several studies in the marketing literature have demonstrated that millenni also
reflected in other spheres of millennials' lives such ity to delay gratifications (11, 12).
These tendencies a as their preference for shorter hiring processes.
 In a case study conducted by KPMG, it was observed that more than one-third of the
400 job applicants found the hiring process excessively long to the point of
frustration. On the one hand, millennials demand a reduction in the length of the
hiring process. On the other hand, the length of the entire recruitment process has
increased from an average of 13 days in 2011 to 23 days millennials experience due to
the length of the hiring in 2015.
 Given the frustration and uneasiness respond process, organizations are trying to
concerns through a host of strategies. First, organizations are using sophisticated
technologies such as applicant tracking systems (ATS) to automate the hiring
process.
 ATS offers a range of benefits such as easy job postings, quick filtering capabilities,
time and cost savings, and a broader reach. Technologies such as ATS reduce the
manual effort often consumed in activities such as screening resumes, which in turn
helps in shortening the hiring process. Second, organizations are doing away with
traditional interaction methods such as face-to-face interviews and are taking the help
of technology to screen potential hires.
 Organizations such as Goldman Sachs are replacing the initial rounds of campus
interviews and opting for virtual meetings such as to these Skype interviews. The
adoption of such techniques is a crucial step in the direction of shortening the hiring
process and meeting millennial expectations.

Prof. Ningambika G Meti Dept of MBA, SVIT

3. Millennials are increasingly focused on corporate culture:
 Millennials place a lot of value in the culture of the organization they would be
working for. Hence,manage their corporate culture actively. Their focus it is vital for
organizations to take crucial steps to building a culture that is attractive to the should
be on millennial workforce corporate Estimates suggest that millennials are willing to
compromise on salary and bear an average pay cut of $7,600 in the pursuit of career
development opportunities, meaningful work, work-life balance or better company
culture. Such findings underscore the importance of good culture in attracting as well
as retaining millennials.
 It is, therefore, imperative that during recruitment, organizations direct their efforts
towards building and marketing their company culture in order to attract as well as
retain millennial candidates.

4. Parents' involvement with millennial children:

 Helicopter parents, who have coddled and overprotected their millennial children all
through their childhood, have now started hovering over their work organizations.
 Generation Y, as a cohort, is particularly close to its parents. This closeness assumes
the form of increased involvement in the job search as well as post-job activities. In a
study conducted by CERI, 32 per cent of the employers (with an employee base of
more than 3,688) and 26 per cent of the employers (with an employee strength of 351-
3,687) indicated that they had witnessed parental involvement in the recruitment
process as well as in the early career stages of college recruits.
 Employers reported that this involvement was exhibited in the form of activities such
as obtaining information about the company, submitting resume on behalf of the
student, promoting their children for a position, attending career fairs, complaining if
their children were not hired, making interview arrangements, negotiating salary and
benefits and attending the interviews.

STRATEGIES FOR RECRUITING AND SELECTING GENERATION Y INTO THE

WORKFORCE

Having deliberated upon the needs and expectations of millennials during recruitment and
selection, we now elaborate needs and expectations. Some of the strategies that organizations
needs and expectations.

1. The role of the organization's official website:

Within the HRM literature, past academic research studies have been conducted to spot
the factors that play a vital role in predicting the attraction of millennials towards
organizations. A research study conducted in the con text of web-based recruitment of
millennial employees noted that perceptions of work-life balance as conveyed on the
organization's official website and perceptions of website usability were significant
predictors of millennials' attraction towards the organization. The findings of this study
emphasize the importance of website content in shaping millennials' perceptions of the
job as well as the organization. Therefore, it would be advantageous for organizations to

Prof. Ningambika G Meti Dept of MBA, SVIT

 develop user-friendly websites. It is equally important for organizations to maintain their
websites and update them regularly by posting content that is likely to appeal to the
millennial cohort (22).

2. The role of corporate recruiting videos and photos:

 Another empirical research study has demonstrated the importance of novel techniques
such as corporate recruiting videos in attracting millennial applicants. Being one of the
initial points of contact with prospective hires, corporate recruiting videos offer a glimpse
into the kind of work environment and lifestyle an applicant will experience once he (she)
steps into the Organizations.
 Videos featuring meditation rooms, sleep pods, onsite massages and laundry, in-house
gyms and so on are especially attractive to young talent. Industry giants today are offering
a wide range of unusual perks to their employees.
 For instance, Google allows it employees to enjoy a host of facilities such as getting a
haircut at work, taking showers or taking naps in one of the sleep pods. Likewise, Airbnb
provides its employees the opportunity to explore their passion of travel by providing
coupons worth as much as per year.
 While these benefits fall under the purview of compensation planning which is discussed
at length in the next chapter, it is the proper marketing of these benefits that falls within
the scope of the present chapter. In order to attract the best of millennial talent,
organizations need to broadcast the perks that they are offering to entice Generation Y
applicants. This could be achieved by posting such corporate recruiting videos and
images on a wide variety of platforms to ensure maximum coverage.

3. The role of recruitment advertisements:

 Another research has pointed out the role of recruitment advertisements in attracting
millennial applicants. The study employed an experimental research design to assess the
impact of different types of recruitment advertisements on applicant attraction.
 It found that advertisements featuring information pertaining to training and development,
financial rewards and career advancement were as more attractive by these participants.
Similarly, participants in another study were found to be the most reported attracted
towards organizations whose job posting contained information about a flexible career
path and least a traditional career path.
 These findings highlight the importance of the design of job postings in influencing
millennials' attraction towards them. Hence, it may be inferred that organizations should
carefully design their job postings keeping in view the expectations of millennials with
the needs and expectations of millennials would. Job postings containing information that
resonates help the organizations to attract more applications from this cohort.
4. The role of job review sites:
While consumer review websites such as TripAdvisor and Yelp are well known for
providing customers the opportunity of posting online reviews of the brands that they
have shopped from, the concept of employee review websites is relatively less common
but is multiplying. Over the past few years, websites such as Indeed and Glassdoor have

Prof. Ningambika G Meti Dept of MBA, SVIT

 come up, which allow employees to post anonymous reviews about the organizations that
they have worked for. Such reviews play a crucial role in shaping the brand image of the
organization amongst the prospective hires. Being technologically active, millennials
often go through such review websites while looking for jobs. This is evident from the
findings of a recent survey conducted by Software Advice in which 52 per cent of the
4,633 respondents agreed to having used Glassdoor at some point in their job search.
Hence, it is necessary for organizations to realize the importance of having a strong and
positive presence on such job search platforms.

5. The role of embracing diversity and inclusion.

Lately, the meaning of diversity has ceased to remain limited to mere surface-level
differences based on age, race, gender and skin colour. For millennials, a participative
environment fosters new ideas and perspectives leading to collaboration. Hence, it is
often argued that millennials see diversity very differently from Generation Xers and
Baby Boomers.

DEVELOPING EFFECTIVE INTERVIEWERS

Interviewer training is a sound practice for preparing interviewers and ensuring the
understand how they are expected to perform in the role not only accurately and reliably also
ethically and legally. A foundational yet effective interviewer training session may inclusthe
following components:..

 Demonstrating positive interpersonal communication skills and building rapport

 Maintaining a structured agenda
 Understanding question content
 Understanding question context-how they should be asked in the proper sequence
Understanding the legal and ethical compliance behind the question wording and
importance of not deviating from the predetermined interview questions
 Being aware of monopolizing the conversation with irrelevancies and time wasters
 Avoiding side conversations with other interviewers in a group setting
 Prompting the interviewee to provide greater detail or more information
 Allowing time for the interviewee to ask questions at the end of the interview, and be
prepared for answering commonly asked questions
 Taking clear and adequate notes during the interview to facilitate information recall

INTERVIEW TECHNIQUES:
While interviewing is not always easy, whether it's face to face or through a virtual interview,
there are a few things you can do to universally increase your chances of getting a call back,
and ultimately, scoring an offer.

Prof. Ningambika G Meti Dept of MBA, SVIT

1. Be positive.
 You'll be a more attractive candidate (and coworker!) if you're upbeat and optimistic
about your career outlook. One of the biggest tricks to interviewing is sounding
enthusiastic about the position. Mastering that skill is a big payoff, though-- the
interviewer is reassured that you are interested in the job and that you'll be a good team
player.
2. Set goals.
 Prior to interviewing, take the time to write down where you want to be in 1 year, 3 years
and 5 years. Be specific and map out a step by step plan on how you’ll achieve those
goals. Be focused and tenacious in your goals and let those ambitions be heard by the
hiring company.
3. Sell what you can do.
 Know what benefits and skills you bring to the table. Read over the job description and
envision the concerns and needs of that employer. By convincing the interviewer that you
can deliver the desired results, you are more likely to get an offer and you increase your
leverage when it comes to negotiating the salary you want.
 Be approachable and likable. This shows that you'll fit with the company culture and get
along with other employees. The best way to make the interviewer confident that you’ll
fit in is to be approachable and likable throughout the interviewing process. Whether
you’re talking to the interviewer face-to-face or through a virtual interview, smile.
4. Ask the right questions in the right way.
 People don’t like hidden agendas and interviewers are no different. Before any interview,
prepare a list of questions that you are comfortable with and learn to deliver those politely
and intelligently.
 In the end, hopefully, you can decide whether or not you want to work for the company,
rather than passively allowing a company to pick you up. Be proactive, and above all,
know what you want. Regardless of pay, title or industry, there are both positive and
negative aspects to any position. Make the decision to focus on the things you enjoy about
the job rather than letting the downsides cloud your judgment and outlook.

5 EFFECTIVE INTERVIEW TECHNIQUES FOR EMPLOYERS

There are many different types of job interviews and numerous different interviewing
techniques.
If you ask HR professionals and experienced recruiters, each of them will have its own
favorite interview technique and interviewer hacks, tips and tricks.
Here are the top 5 interview techniques HR professionals use to choose the right
candidate for the job:

Prof. Ningambika G Meti Dept of MBA, SVIT

1. Traditional interview

 You’ve probably most familiar with the traditional job interview technique - you know,
the one where you ask your candidates about their skills and experiences in order to find
out if they’re a good fit for your open job position.
 Traditional interviews come in many shapes and sizes. For example, a traditional
interview can be structured, unstructured or semi-structured. It can also be a one-on-
one interview, a panel interview or even a group interview. A traditional interview can be
conducted in the form of a phone screening interview, video interview or a face to
face interview.
 The problem with traditional interview technique is that is has been proven ineffective in
certain areas. According to LinkedIn’s report, which surveyed over 9,000 recruiters and
hiring managers, the traditional interviewing technique has many weaknesses.
 For example, traditional interview technique is especially bad at assessing soft skills and
understanding candidate weaknesses. It also leaves room for recruitment bias, takes a
lot of time, and relies on asking the right interview questions to get a clear picture of a
candidate.
 This is why many HR professionals have started experimenting with innovative, out-of-
the-box interview techniques.

2. Job simulation

 Job simulation (sometimes also called job audition) is the most popular innovative
interview technique. Job simulations are becoming increasingly popular among

Prof. Ningambika G Meti Dept of MBA, SVIT

 employers because they help companies predict if a candidate if a good fit for a role
more accurately.
 In a job simulation, a candidate is asked to complete a task they would actually do if
they were hired. In other words, when you use this interview technique, you don’t
ask candidates to tell you about their about their skills. Instead, you directly
observe candidates’ skills and performance.
 Besides for employer, job simulations are also beneficial for candidates, too. By taking
part in a job simulation, candidates get a real-life job preview, which helps
them assess how much they really like to job. Simply put, they can try out a job and see
if it fits!
 Besides giving your candidates a certain task, job simulations can take on a
more elaborated form. For example, you can organize a competition (such as
hackathon), or invite your candidate to join your employees in a brainstorming
session and help them solve a real-life problem your company is currently facing.

3. Casual interview

 Another popular interview technique is a so-called casual interview. With a casual

interview technique, a candidate is being interviewed outside the office, usually over
a meal. Inviting candidates for breakfast, lunch or dinner offers a unique opportunity
to observe candidates in a more casual setting.
 This interview technique is especially beneficial if you want to assess your
candidates' communication and social skills. It will also allow you to spend more
time with your candidates and get to know them better. As a result, you can gain
a deeper insight into your candidate’s personality.
 Casual interviews can do wonders for your candidate experience. Since most employers
still stick with a quick in and out of the office interview, inviting your candidates over for
a meal will make them feel special. They will also appreciate you taking the time to get
to know them on a more personal note.
 Some employers even go that far to incorporate an additional test into this interview
technique. The most famous example is the case of an interview technique devised
by Walt Bettinger, chief executive of Charles Schwab Corporation. He gets to
the restaurant early and asks the waiter to mess up his candidate’s order - and then
he observes how the candidate will react.

4. Virtual interview

 In the last few years, we heard a lot about VR (virtual reality) and AR (augmented
reality). These technologies have been announced as the next big thing that will
completely change the way we live - and interview. Using VR and AR, employers can
now engage with candidates in a virtual job interview.
 Virtual interview technique was first used at college career fairs to attract the attention of
a younger generation of innovative, tech-savvy talent.
 However, the use of this interview technique has quickly evolved way beyond career
fairs. For example, General Mills created a virtual tour of its headquarters

Prof. Ningambika G Meti Dept of MBA, SVIT

 and Deutsche Bahn uses virtual reality to show candidates what it’s like to work at their
company, especially at hard to fill roles such as train conductor and electrician.
 Another good example is the use of virtual reality by Jaguar Land Rover. This
company created a virtual reality app that test candidates skills.

LEGAL AND ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS IN THE INTERVIEW PROCESS

 The legal and ethical needs that are important in the interview process are essentially
the same as the considerations for the recruitment process and the other practices that
encompass the overall selection strategy.

 Again, a structured interview approach is not only more efficient to administer and
more effective in terms of process accuracy and consistency, but it is also amore
ethical and legally minded practice. It is easier for an organization to legally justify a
component or method in a standardized, structured interview compared to an
unstructured interview that may contain inconsistent, ambiguous, and/or subjective
elements.

 An unstructured interview is not inherently illegal, but there is a significantly greater

likelihood for problems that may lead to claims of discrimination and unfair
employment practices.

 Use of standardized forms and materials, such as a set of interview questions that
were developed using the job description and a weighted rating and evaluation form,
are valuable for legal compliance needs

BEHAVIORAL EVENT INTERVIEWS

 BEIs are very focused, clinical-type, recorded interviews which can take from 2-2 1/2
hours to complete.

 They require working with a candidate to develop a series of "behavioral events."

After each interview, the recording is analyzed for evidence of competencies.

 The total process of recording the interview, creating transcripts and analyzing them
for competencies can take up to six hours per interview.

 The major step in the BEI interview is to elicit behavioral events. The interviewee is
asked to describe, in detail,

 Like: the five or six most important situations he or she has experienced in a
specific job.

 The situations should include two or three high points, or major successes, and two
or three low points, or key failures.

 The candidate is asked to answer five key questions.

Prof. Ningambika G Meti Dept of MBA, SVIT

 "What was the situation? What events led up to it?"

"Who was involved?"

"What did you (the interviewee) think, feel, or want to do in the situation?"

 Here the person conducting the behavioral event interviewing process should be
particularly interested in the person's perceptions and feelings about the situation
and people involved in it.

 Follow up questions should include:

How was the person thinking about others (e.g., positively or negatively) or about
the situation (e.g., problem-solving thoughts)?

What was the person feeling (e.g., scared, confident, excited)?

What did the person want to do - what motivated him or her in the situation (e.g.,
to do something better, to impress the boss)?

"What did you actually do or say?" Here you are interested in the skills that the person
showed.

"What was the outcome? What happened?"

 Trained specialists analyze the BEI transcripts to identify competencies that appear in
the Behavioral Events.

 If the goal is to build a competency model, the process must be repeated with 8-12
"star" performers and 8-12 average performers, each providing five or six
events.

 This means that 80-144 events must be generated and analyzed for each job.

 In today's busy, lean organizations, few interviewers have the time or resources for
the level of individual analysis of each candidate using the Behavioral Event
Interviewing methodology.

SIX STEPS TO CONDUCTING A BEHAVIORAL EVENT INTERVIEW

 Explaination

 Duties and Responsibilities

 First Behavioral Event

 Further Behavioral Events

Prof. Ningambika G Meti Dept of MBA, SVIT

  Characteristics

 Summary and Writing

Step 1. Explanation

Everyone will want to know why he or she is being interviewed. Your explanation might
go something like this:

“I’ve been asked to try to figure out what competencies it takes to do your job. The best
approach seems to be to ask a person who is doing a job how he or she does it. You are
the obvious expert in what it take to be (whatever the person does). We’re just going to
talk for awhile about some examples of how you do your job”.

Optional, depending on the interviewee’s curiosity and/or your mandate:

“This is part of a program which should lead to better selection and training for the job. If
we can identify the competencies needed for a job, we can select people who have
those competencies needed for the job or train job incumbents to develop the necessary
competencies to a fuller extent”.

At this point you should get the permission of the interviewee for you to tape-record the
interview. You can explain it this way:

“With your permission, I would like to record parts of this interview to help me with my
notes. Everything you say will be kept confidential and will not be shared with anyone
else in (interviewee’s organization). But if there is anything you want to say off the record
or don’t want me to record, just let me know and I’ll turn off the tape”.

Step 2. Duties and Responsibilities

It is a good idea to break the ice by getting the interviewee talking about what he or she
does in a general way, that is, about what his or her duties and responsibilities are.

“Let’s begin by taking about what your responsibilities are in your job. I really know
nothing about what it takes to be a good (policeman, naval officer, manager, etc.). What
do you do? Where do you work? Whom do you work with? What are your hours? Whom
do you report to? Who reports to you?”

The objective here is to get the interviewee talking in as free and relaxed a way as
possible about his or her job. Sometimes interviewees have difficulty getting started, but
most of them find it easy to talk about their work and they like telling others what they
do. It is wise not to push the behavioral event approach on them too soon; lead into it
gradually.

Often in the course of describing their work, interviewees will say things that puzzle you
or that you want clarified. For example, a police captain may say, “Well, I supervise the
lieutenants”. Here he is simply quoting a job description to you and your problem is to
find out what he means. So you say “Could you explain a little more what you mean by
‘supervise’? Do they write reports for you to read? Do they come in to talk with you first

Prof. Ningambika G Meti Dept of MBA, SVIT

 thing in the morning, or when they leave? Do you observe them working with the
patrolmen? What is the chance you would get to know they were doing something wrong
or to give them some direction? It helps most if you can describe an actual case where
you supervised someone”.

Step 3. First Behavioral Event

Hopefully this questioning about duties will lead to a critical event which you can ask the
interviewee to describe in detail so that you can get a better idea of how the job is done
and what characteristics it takes to do it well. You may say something like:

“To get a better idea of what supervision consists of, can you think of an instance where
you were able to help someone do his or her job better, or keep him or her from making a
mistake? I need an example of just how you operate”.

It is hard to generalize about just how you will hit on the first incident since it should
come up naturally in the course of discussing various responsibilities. But once you have
got the interviewee talking about a particular event, you should push hard for behavioral
detail.

“Now let me get the setting straight. Let’s begin at the beginning. Where were you? What
time of day was it? What had you been doing when this came up? What was in your
mind?”

You may want to ask what kind of day it was (raining?) or how the interviewee was
feeling, to recreate the whole scenario. Here you become an investigative reporter,
pushing to get clear in your mind just what happened. Asking for time, place and mood
often helps the interviewee recall the episode, since all the person has left in his or her
mind usually is some memory of how it all turned out which he or she told you first
anyway. You should have in mind the following questions as the interviewee begins to
tell the story:

· What led up to the event?

· What was the person thinking? (of the individual he or she was interacting
with, of the situation,etc.)
· What did the person do, and why?
· What was the person feeling, wishing?
· How did it all turn out?

 You are interested in the interviewee’s:

o Perceptions of the people and the situation
o Thoughts
o Acts
o Feelings
o Conclusions for future reference

Try to get the interviewee to begin at the beginning and take you through the story as it
unfolded. Otherwise you may get confused about what happened and who did what. This
may be difficult because the interviewee will usually start by remembering the outcome
of an event. Just say, “That’s exactly what I had in mind. Now let’s start at the beginning

Prof. Ningambika G Meti Dept of MBA, SVIT

 so that I can understand what happened”. As the interviewee tells you all this, you are
learning things about him or her, and you should ask questions that will verify or double-
check inferences you are beginning to draw about his or her competencies. In all
questioning, however, be sure that you are giving the interviewee plenty of reinforcement
for what he or she is telling you. You are not the FBI. You should laugh with the
interviewee, tell stories of your own if necessary to keep the flow of talk informal and
pleasant, constantly reinforce him or her for the help he or she is giving you in clarifying
what goes on in this job.

Your objective is to get the interviewee to tell you little vignettes, scenarios of things that
happened to him or her. Some people need a lot of encouragement and stimulation to
really get into the process of telling a story.

Step 4. Further Behavioral Events

You may find it easy in talking about an event in the area of supervision to move on to an
example of when things didn’t go well:

“That helps me understand much better what supervision involves. Now, can you think of
an instance in which you feel you didn’t carry out supervision as well as you might
have? That will help me also, because it will identify the characteristic one ought to
show in such situations”.

If the interviewee can’t think of one, you can make a few suggestions (“Did you ever
have to fire somebody?” “Did you ever have problems with any of your subordinates?”)
and if the interviewee still blocks (an unusual occurrence!) you can go to some other area
(“Well, can you think of a time when things didn’t go well on the job?”). Again, when the
interviewee comes up with and event, ask first for time, place and setting, and then go
into detail.

In all, it is best to try to get detailed descriptions of three events where the interviewee
was effective and three events where the interviewee was ineffective. but there is nothing
magical about these numbers. The crucial question is whether you are learning what it
takes to do this job well.

Occasionally you will run into someone who blocks when you ask him or her for an
example of something that went particularly well or poorly. The interviewee just can’t
seem to think of anything important. In that case, don’t keep pressing him or her; your
main goal of getting the interviewee to talk about how he or she performs on the job may
only be interfered with as he or she gets more frustrated or annoyed about not being able
to do what you want. Then you should use other approaches to get the interviewee to talk,
such as asking the person to take you through what he or she did yesterday or probing in
detail, or just how he or she goes about supervising someone through an example.

Remember, the goal is to get the interviewee to talk about the way he or she does the
job. Any method of doing that is legitimate.

Prof. Ningambika G Meti Dept of MBA, SVIT

 Step 5. Characteristics

It is often useful at the end of the interview to ask the interviewee what characteristics he
or she thinks a person ought to have to do his or her job well. This serves the double
purpose of establishing good relations by asking the interviewee’s opinion and also of
giving you some further insight into what he or she thinks is important. For example, if
none of the good incumbents thinks to mention interpersonal skills, you may want to infer
that incumbents in this job can get along without caring much about interpersonal
relationships.

Step 6. Summary and Writing

After the interview is over it is a good plan to sit down quietly for an hour and summarize
what you have learned. This may include a brief characterization of the person you have
just interviewed. It also helps you define things about which you are still unclear. In other
words, it is a time to make your budding hypotheses explicit so that you can check them
in later interviews. If you have the time, this is the best point to write up the entire
interview, while your memory is still fresh.

SIMULATIONS

 A job related activity designed to assess a job candidate's proficiency and ability to
perform specific job task.

 Simulations, as part of a selection strategy, may include real hands-on or hypothetical

job-related exercises and activities designed to assess a candidate's proficiency and
ability to perform relevant tasks.

 It is one of the most valuable methods for witnessing candidate perform actual job
tasks without yet having that individual employed in the job. The hands-on type of
simulation exercise may also be referred to as a work sample assessment, and this is
indeed a major category of simulation exercise

 Job simulations are employment tests that ask candidates to perform tasks that
they would perform on the job. By using job simulations, employers can evaluate
whether a job candidate can do the job, rather than guess based on interview answers
and personality questionnaires.

TYPES:

 High fidelity :

A selection exercise in which a candidate demonstrate his or her performance on real

work sample. Ex stores sales and work setting like cash register, computer

 Low fidelity(situational judgement test):

A selection exercise in which candidate demonstrate a describe how a she would

perform in a hypothetical shop job situation

Prof. Ningambika G Meti Dept of MBA, SVIT

  Role play exercise

In general terms, a role play exercise is used to assess your “fit” to the job at hand, by
simulating real life situations, in which either the assessors at the assessment centre or
hired actors take part in the simulation. There are many different types of role play
exercises and these are tailored to specific jobs.

Role playing is defined as pretending to be someone else or pretending to be in a

specific situation that you are not actually in at the time. An example of role playing
is when you pretend that your friend is your boss and you have a practice
conversation in which you ask for a raise.

DESIGNING &IMPLEMENTING SIMULATION EXERCISE

 Task statements written during JD Development

 These statements are used to build out a realistic work sample simulation exercise

 While interviewing questions are certainly fine to explore experience and

qualifications.

CANDIDATES EVALUATION FORM FOR SIMULATION EXERCISE

 Communication skills

 Candidates understanding of the situation

 Problem solving skills

 Professionalism

 Employee relations skills

ASSESSMENT CENTRES

 An assessment center is a multimodal selection strategy that integrates an array of

methods that comprise an assessment center are typically a combination of high- and
methods and techniques to evaluate job candidates independently and/or in a group.

 Assessment centers are often used for jobs that are senior level in an organization as
may also be implemented for managerial and non managerial jobs that have complete
performance dimensions and certain elements of criticality, high risk, and/or a high
level of financial responsibility. Because the assessment center is designed to measure
multiple and often complete performance dimensions, an array of exercises will be
developed that target different performance dimensions and behavioral competencies
to form an overall picture.

 An assessment center will often use multiple assessors to enable multiple rounds of
exercises to happen simultaneously with all the candidates, which ensures efficiency
the process and having all the candidates move through the entire schedule together.
Prof. Ningambika G Meti Dept of MBA, SVIT
 Assessment Center Structure

 The assessment center is designed to measure multiple and often complex

performance dimensions, an array of exercises will be developed that target different
areas. A consideration in the development of an assessment center is to determine the
most critical performance identified performance dimensions and their associated
behavioral competencies in as dimensions and behavioral competencies to examine.

 The goal should be to integrate the organized and logical manner as possible to ensure
the outcome is worth the cost and effort involved. The above text box highlights some
relevant performance dimensions that would be included in an assessment center.

 It is important to only include those performance dimensions that are relevant to the
job, thus ensuring validity right from the beginning of the process

 Again, the name of the game here is leverage: tests, simulation exercises, interview
questions, and other selection methods may already exist for a particular job (or even
a similar job) that can be integrated into an assessment center with little to no
modifications needed.

Assessment Center Logistics

 Once the performance dimensions and related competencies are determined, the
logistical considerations for the assessment center should be worked out.

Prof. Ningambika G Meti Dept of MBA, SVIT

  The length of an assessment center, whether a 1-day or multiday agenda, will often
depend on the number of exercises needed to evaluate all the performance
dimensions, as well as logistical factors such as the number of candidates who will
participate, the number of available assessors, and the physical space/number of
usable private rooms.

 For example, if an organization has five job candidates at least that many trained
assessors, and five private rooms in which individual assessment exercises can be
conducted simultaneously, then perhaps a 1-day assessment center approach may be
feasibly accomplished. However, if there are more than three or four exercises
involved, Or if the logistical requirements exceed what is available, a multiday
assessment center structure may be necessary.

Prof. Ningambika G Meti Dept of MBA, SVIT

IMPORTANT QUESTIONS:

1. What is Structured Interview? 3m

2. What is Panel Interview? 3m
3. Explain the interview phases integrated within selection process model with an
example?7m
4. Enumerate the key methods often included in structured interview process? 7m
5. Elaborate the success factors of Video Interview? 7m
6. What are open ended and closed ended questions in an interview?3m
7. Describe the different types of structured interview questions candidates’ face in an
interview with suitable examples? 10m
8. Explicit common interviewer Errors?7m
9. Elaborate simulation in detail? 10m
10. What is BEI? Explain the process? 7m
11. Explain Assessment Center in detail?7m
12. Mention the steps to be followed in developing Effective Interviewers? 7m
13. Mention the different interview techniques to be followed in an Interview?7m
14. How are Millennial shaping the recruitment Landscape in Organizations?7m
15. Explain the Strategies for recruiting and selection Generation Y in to the workforce? 7m

Prof. Ningambika G Meti Dept of MBA, SVIT