Daniel Salter
Penn State University
Editor

Stuart Brown
StudentAffairs.com
Executive Editor

Take the Guesswork Out of Conducting Interviews

Editor's Note: Job hunting season begins in earnest this month. Once you've posted your organization's job openings on StudentAffairs.com's Position Listing pages, the number one job fair site on the Internet, it's time to get prepared for the responses. To assist employers with the interview process, the College and University Personnnel Association has provided some tips that take the guesswork out of conducting interviews.

Conducting interviews of job candidates is one of the most important tasks that supervisors perform. Poorly managed interviews can lead to a less than optimal choice among candidates; they can even land an organization in legal trouble. To avoid these outcomes, supervisors must understand the multiple goals of the interview process and how to meet them.

Five Goals

According to Interview Guide for Supervisors (College and University Personnel Association, 1998), some of the primary goals of the interviewer are to establish rapport with the applicant, take control of the interview, gather useful information, treat all applicants in exactly the same way, and provide information sufficient to help applicants make an intelligent decision about the acceptability of the position in question. The following guidance is taken from the fifth edition of the Guide.

Establishing rapport
Research has shown that rapport between the interviewer and the applicant contributes substantially to the effectiveness of the interview. The interviewer should be a good host, alleviating any apprehension on the part of the interviewee, which could impede the flow of useful information. A warm greeting and some "small talk" can relax both the interviewer and the interviewee and help establish mutual confidence.

Taking control of the interview
Following these preliminaries, the interviewer should take control of the interview by letting the applicant know how long the process will take and the steps that will be involved&emdash;for example, a question-and-answer session, followed by introductions to staff members and a tour of the office. To keep control, the interviewer must have earlier reviewed the applicant's background materials and noted areas on which to follow up with questions. Ideally, the interviewer should take no more than 25 percent of the allotted time in asking questions of and providing information to the applicant. As long as the interviewer is talking, nothing about the applicant can be learned.

Gathering useful information
To gather truly useful information, the interviewer should take particular care in framing questions. He or she should avoid asking questions that will elicit only a "yes" or "no" answer&emdash;for example, "Did you enjoy your last job?". Much more helpful are open-ended questions that encourage the applicant to impart information that sheds light on his or her motivations and interests&emdash;for example, "What aspects of your last job did you most enjoy?". The interviewer should also avoid asking leading questions, such as "We prefer a team-oriented environment, don't you?" or "Do you like to work with people?". Such questions defeat the purpose of the interview&emdash;which is, as the Interview Guide for Supervisors states&emdash;"to obtain a clear and balanced picture of the applicant's qualifications, not to indicate hoped-for responses." In general, questions using words and phrases such as "why," "how," "what," "describe," and "tell me about" will yield the most revealing information. The question "Do you like to work with computers?" will yield much less information than the question "What type of work do you enjoy?". If the applicant provides irrelevant information in response, the interviewer can get him or her back on track by rephrasing the original question or moving on to a new question.

The interviewer should take care in reacting to responses and conveying information. Like a leading question, an unduly sympathetic or disapproving reaction (whether words, facial expressions, or gestures) can telegraph a desired follow-up comment. Such a reaction can prompt an applicant to make dishonest statements, withhold information, or "back peddle" on an honest response. For these same reasons, the interviewer should not give personal opinions on subjects that arise during the interview.

Treating all applicants in the same manner
To ensure that no federal or state equal employment opportunity laws are violated, all applicants must be treated exactly the same. Application of different standards to different candidates on the basis of gender or minority status is both unlawful and insulting. Therefore, the interviewer should not indicate to the applicant his or her interest in hiring a woman or minority individual. Nor should the interviewer place undue emphasis on conditions of employment (such as travel, heavy lifting, long hours, and so on) in the hope of prompting the applicant to withdraw his or her application. However, the interviewer must review the essential functions of the job with all applicants.

No applicant should be asked questions related to sex, age, color, race, religion, national origin, or disability. Such questions are inappropriate during interviews because they can and have been used in a discriminatory way. Nor should any applicant be asked questions relating to his or her marital status, parent or child care arrangements, or spouse's situation (for example, income, prospects for transfer, and feelings about the applicant's work or travel).

Providing information
The interviewer isn't the only person seeking information in an interview. The applicant needs to learn about the position (and the organization). The interviewer should provide the relevant facts in a straightforward manner so that the applicant can decide whether the position is acceptable to him or her. A detailed description of the position's duties should be saved until the end of the interview so that the applicant receives no "coaching."

Recent court decisions in employment-at-will cases should alert the interviewer to the need for caution in describing the job. In light of these decisions, Interview Guide for Supervisors offers the following advice:

Do not, for example, assure the applicant that if hired he or she can count on a long career, that there are no layoffs, that discharges always require 'just cause,' or make similar comments. Discussion of salary, promotional opportunities, and tenure or other job security must be carefully worded. Otherwise, the person hired for the job might interpret this information as an implied employment contract. Any promises made during the interview might subject the employer to lawsuits by discharged employees for breach of implied contract.

Once the interviewer and applicant have satisfied their respective information needs, the former should thank the latter for his or her time and convey the approximate date of the hiring decision and the way in which it will be communicated. Now the task of evaluating the applicant begins.

Getting It Right

The interview itself represents a very small&emdash;albeit important!&emdash;portion of the interview process. A host of pre- and post-interview tasks must be accomplished with care and precision if the interview is to lead the interviewer to the right candidate for the job. Getting the whole process right requires, among other kinds of knowledge, an understanding of often complex employment &endash;related laws and regulations. With respect to the actual interview, understanding of the Americans with Disabilities Act is particularly important. Because the interview process carries high stakes for everyone concerned, supervisors should take the time to learn it thoroughly and to acquire any relevant skills and knowledge. Once they can undertake the process with confidence, they can perform one of the most valuable services that can be rendered to an organization.