Selection Interview and Interviewing Skills

 Selection Interview and Interviewing Skills

Human Resources Management (HRM) considered one of the most vital functions within organizational management. Among the HRM process, conducting interviews is one of the methods within the stage of selection. On the contrary, the selection interview is a formal, in-depth conversation, conducted to evaluate the acceptability of candidates for employment (Armstrong,2006).  The aim of conducting interviews is to discover those aspects of an applicant that may not be disclosed by other methods. In that sense, an Interview considered as a purposeful exchange of ideas, the answering of questions, and communication between two or more persons, as in a panel ( Scott et al.,2007 ). Further, an interview is a selection technique that enables the employer to view the total individual and directly appraise his behaviour as well as a method by which an idea about the applicant's personality can be obtained by a face to face contact (Armstrong, 2006;Swider et al.,20 15)). Moreover, an interview is essentially a structured conversation where one participant asks questions, and the other provides answers (Noe et al., 2006; Carbonell et al., 2020).). Therefore it could be concluded that, an interview act as the heart of the employment process, as might be the most useful selection method and a skilled process. 

A selection interview is a formal in-depth conversation conducted to evaluate the acceptability of candidates for employment and very popular among a large number of organizations. Therefore the interview should be designed carefully to discover those aspects of an applicant which may not be disclosed by other methods, either by educational certificates or just a CV.  According to Snell and Bohlander,(2007 ), an Interview is a purposeful exchange of ideas, the answering of questions, and communication between two or more people. Further, it should follow some specific guidelines, rather than just a conversation between the interview panel and interviewee (Carbonell et al., 2020). As a principle, the selection interview should not be a lengthy one as well should attempt to secure the maximum amount of information from the candidate concerning the suitability for the job under the consideration (Snell and Bohlander, 2007 ).

A selection interview should provide the answers to three fundamental questions as such (Armstrong and Taylor. 2014);

a) Can the individual do the job? Is the person capable of doing the work to the standard required?

b) Will the individual do the job? Is the person well-motivated?

c) How is the individual likely to fit into the team? Will I and other team members be able to work well with this person?   (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014)

Therefore, to fulfill the effective solutions or answers for the above questions, the interviewer has to have the following key skills developed within himself, before an interview process.

The following Key interviewing skills have been proposed by Armstrong (2006; Armstrong and Taylor,2014);

(1) Establishing rapport: to establish a good relationship with candidates 

This is a friendliness skill that getting on their wavelength, putting them at eases, encouraging them to respond, and generally being friendly. The achievement of the rapport will more likely get the candidates to talk to both their strengths and weaknesses freely ( Scott et al., 2007;Swider et al.,2015) ). Further, good rapport is created at the good start of the interview by giving the candidate the questions and getting answers and replies from the candidates in a friendly manner. Questions should not be posed aggressively or not imply that the interviewer is criticizing some aspect of the candidate’s career. When responding to the answers, the interviewer should be appreciative, not critical.  As an example interviewer can positively encourage like ‘Thank you that was very helpful. Now can we go on to…?’ , instead of  ‘Well, your attitudes seem like not match with our objectives/ or you have a lot of qualifications but you cannot well expressed yourself in English’. (Carbonell et al.,2020).

On the contrary, body language is also very important when establishing rapport. Maintaining natural eye contact, avoid slumping in the position of the interviewer, nod and make encouraging comments when appropriate, establish better rapport and get more effective outcomes from the selection interviewing process(Armstrong,2006;Armstrong and Taylor ,2014;Tamanna,2018). ). Further, some people like the idea of ‘stress’ interviews but they could be counterproductive and create a negative impression of the interviewer and the organization. 

(2) Listening: listen to the interviewee

As the second key skill, the listening skill is very important in the interview. Due to the nature of the process, an interview is a purposeful conversation between both parties, therefore maintaining good listening skills is mandatory. Herein, the interviewer should understand the candidate's comments, or what is actually meant by the interviewee. Accordingly, the interviewer should concentrate on what candidates are telling or actually meant (Armstrong, 2006; Armstrong and Taylor,2014;Tamanna,2018). ). This is a skill where some of the interviewers neglecting and try to provide their own interpretations of the certain comments/answers given by the interviewee. Therefore, always advisable to “listen carefully” to what is meant by the interviewee, and not providing any interpretations as such.

(3) Maintaining continuity: continue the point where the interviewee stopped

Herein, the interviewer must link the questions to the candidate’s last reply so that the interview progresses logically and a cumulative set of data is built up at the end. Simply, the interviewer should concentrate on the last answer given by the interviewee, and continue with that point (Swider et al.,2015). At this point, the interviewer can keep the bridging questions to candidates such as ‘Well, that was a remarkable job that you have done with your last project, Ok, could you please further tell us how you handle the procurement and logistic matters at the project? Hence these types of continuations might build confidence in the interviewee on the organization as well(Carbonell et al., 2020).

(4) Keeping control: take control of your hand!

As the next key skill, the interviewer should take the control of the process, rather than letting the interviewee go further. The best practice is to let the interviewee /or the applicant talk, but need to place the control on the context.  When preparing for the interview, the interviewer should have drawn up an agenda then stick to the agenda (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014;Tamanna,2018). Here the interviewer should interrupt where necessary, rather not letting the interviewer do take control himself. At that point, the interviewer can express ‘Ok, thanks, we got your point about the social distancing. Now can you move forward on explaining to us your responsibilities as a project officer..? Therefore, these types of skills need to be focused on, and the control part of the process should be taken by the interviewer (Carbonell et al., 2020). 

(5) Note-taking: getting notes

As the last skill, focus on getting the things clearly in written format, and those will be helpful once the interview is over. Therefore keep notes and specially the key points of each candidate/or interviewee discreetly but not surreptitiously. At the last stage, when finalizing the best-suited applicant, the notes would be helpful to the interviewer. Therefore these skills will be highly applicable to conduct an effective interview, as well as strengthening the HR process of an organization (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014; Tamanna, 2018). 

Further, the following qualifications should possess the interviewer other than the key interviewing skills(Tamanna,2018); (a) complete knowledge of the job, (b) approach should be objective ,think critically systematically and analytically, (c) experience in conducting interviews, (d) not be over-talkative  and (e) maturity and poise. In a conclusion, the interview should be effective communication between two parties, interviewer and interviewee; as well the output should be specific. Therefore the interviewer should be trained with a certain type of skills before conducting an interview, 

 

References 

Armstrong, (2006 ) , A Hand Book of Human Resource Management Practice ,10th Edition, Kogan Page Limitedpublishers

Armstrong, M. & Taylor, S.( 2014 ) Human Resource Management Practice, 13th Edition, Kogan Page Limitedpublishers

Bhardwaj,R (2003), Management of Competent Human Work Force , New Business Researchers 

Carbonell N., Théophile Nassè , Alidou O., Bagassé H , Agyei A. and  Moussa K.(2020), Recruitment methods and performance: an evidence from businesses in Burkina Faso, International Journal of Management & Entrepreneurship Research,2(4), pp 262-272

Fisher, C. D., Schoenfeldt, L. F. & Shaw, J. B. (2004) Human Resources Management, New Delhi: Biztantra. 

Noe, R. A., Hollenbeck, J. R., Gerhart, B. & Wright, P. M. (2006) Human Resource Management, NY: Mc-GrawHill IrwinPublishers

Scott,W., Clothier, W.& Spriegel, R (2007 ),Personal Management ; Principles ,Practices and point of view

Snell,S.& Bohlander,G ( 2007 ) Human Resource Management ,International Student Edition, Thompson Higher Education,OH.

Swider B. W., Zimmerman R. D., and M. R. Barrick, (2015), Searching for the Right Fit : Development of Applicant Person-Organization Fit Perceptions During the Recruitment Process, Journal of Applied Psychology, 100 (3), pp. 880–893

Tamanna P.E. (2018), Recruitment and Selection Strategies and Practices in the Private Sector Commercial Banks of Bangladesh: Evidence from Human Resource Practitioners, European Business & Management. 4(1), pp. 28-38