INTERVIEW | PATTERNED INTERVIEW

Q. Explain the types of (patterned) interview.

Ans: In a patterned interview the interviewer controls the direction of conversation.

Patterned Interviews are of two kinds.

1. Direct Interview: In direct interview the interviewer keeps very close control at all times by directing limited and specific question. He / She asks close ended question and does not let the interviewee speak freely.

2. Indirect Interview: In indirect interview the interviewer makes little or no attempt to direct the applicants conversation.

 

Q. What are the different purpose/objectives for which interview is carried?

ANSWER. Interviews are face-to-face communication. It is a form of interpersonal Communication. Interviews are not just for job procurement. The purpose for which interviews are carried may be as follows:

1. COUNSELLING: taken by a supervisor, officer, or counselor who may ask questions relating to work or problem from the employee. In other cases, interviews may be conducted by a doctor/psychiatrist of patients or person facing psychological problems.

2. EVALUATING: taken by supervisor, manager to review and evaluate the performance of the employee(s).

3. DISCIPLINING: taken by an officer, manager if the behavior of the employee(s) require action to maintain discipline.

4. COMPLAINT: taken by an officer, manager if the employee(s) wish to lodge complaint for certain dissatisfaction or action required.

5. TERMINATION: taken by an officer/manager to inform employee(s) about the termination from job.

 Other objectives There are following objectives of patterned interviews.

1. The resume provides a lot of information about the candidate but not all the information so this interview is conducted to evaluate job qualification that the resume can’t provide.

2. Another purpose is to determine the real communication ability of the interview candidate/applicant.

3. This interview also helps the interviewer provide essential facts about the job and company.

4. It also instills a feeling of material understanding and confidence in the applicant, who accepts the job.

5. It promotes good will towards the company, whether the applicant accepts the job or not. It is important to give the right impression to the candidate who is disappointed by a turndown.

 

Q. Discuss briefly various symbols of positive and negative attitude of an interview?

Ans: An interview may have a negative or positive attitude during the time of interview. The summary of these negative or positive symbols is as below.

A.  Direct Interview:

Positive                                          Negative

a) Early arrival                                        Late arrival

b) Alert, responsible attitude                  Intensive, dull attitude

c) Emphatic attitude                               Withdrawn attitude

d) Relaxed manner                               Tension, body tremor

e) Smiles                                                 Frowns

f) Clear voice                                           Choked voice

g) Diligent, responsible, smart                 Lack of concentration, dull, weak

h) Strong and determined attitude           Lack of determination

 

B. Verbal Behavior:

Positive                                                                     Negative

a) Sticking to the main point                                 Changing the subject

b) Relevant responses                                            Irrelevant responses

c) Well organized presentation                                 Disorganized presentation

d) Appropriate use of humor                              uncalled levity

e) Spontaneous replies                                              Long pause before replying

f) Speaking well of people                                      Criticism of others

g) Eye contacting confident                                   Looking sideways cresting eyes downward.

 

Q. How should an effective interviewer behave during interview? What pitfall an effective interviewer avoid? What are the guidelines to an interview to conduct and effective interview? Or what are the responsibilities of an interviewer?

Ans: Giving an interview is equally important as taking interview, one has to be very careful while giving an interview, there are following guidelines in general which could enable an interviewer to conduct a good and effective interview.

a) Preparation b) Conduct during interview c) Evaluation

a) Preparation: The interviewer should prepare himself before the interview, the following points are to be considered in this regard.

1. Reading applicant’s Resume: There is much information provided in his/her resume so the resume should be read in detail. So as to asks the question in the perspective of resume. 

2. Being aware of state Regulation: There are many policies and rules and regulation made by a state about the recruitment of employees. The interviewer should be aware of them so as to avoid any prospective lawsuit.

3. Planning the questions: The interviewer should plan the pattern of question, the number of question types length duration etc. should be clear in the mind of interviewer.

4. Omitting personal bias: There might be many biases in the minds of interviewer about the candidates. In order to make the interviewee fair he should avoid these biases.

b) Conduct during the interview: Having prepared for the interview the interviewer should consider the following points during interview.

1. Letting the candidate speak: The main objective of interview is to have the information from the candidate as much as possible, so interviewer should let the candidate speak as much as possible.

 2. Using the language of candidate: If there is no restoration regarding the language such a language should be used in which the candidate feels easy and free.

3. Avoiding arguing with the candidate: The purpose of interview is to evaluate the candidate not to solve a dispute, so argumentation with the candidate should be avoided.

4. Not interrupting the candidate: The candidate is already under a lot of pressure. So the candidate should not be interrupted.

5. Controlling the emotions: During the interview there are many stages on which the interviewers might get emotional. This may cause failures to the interview process.

6. Establishing eye contact: In order to be confident and the put the candidate at case, the interviewer should establish an eye contact with the candidate.

7. Using body language: Use of body language can play an important to make the question clear the candidate.

8. Asking open ended questions instantly: The close or dead ended questions are not very useful to acquire more information. So open-ended question should be asked as much as possible.

 

c) Evaluation:

After the interview the last step is to evaluate the interviewee. For this purpose there are following points which should be given importance.

1. No personal bias: There might be many candidates with whom the interviewer may have personal bias. This should be avoided in any case so as to hire the potential people.

2. Clear cut standards: The interviewer should try to establish a clear-cut standard for evaluation such as point system.

Q. What pitfall an interviewer should avoid?

Ans: There are many things in which the interviewer can easily be trapped. There are the general pitfalls which should be avoided. They relate mainly to the following biases prejudices and other weaknesses within the interviewer.

1. Halo Effect: It is the tendency of the interviewer to from an overall opinion regarding the applicant on the basis on a single aspect of his or her personality. For example, if the candidate did not comb his hairs properly the interviewer might have an image that the applicant is a careless person.

2. Stereotype Error Trap: It is the tendency to categorize the candidate on the basis of features of surface cleans or some superficial hints.

3. Expectancy Error: It is the tendency of the applicant to anticipate the need and preference of the interviewer and to respond accordingly. For example, the candidate may give an answer, which is correct but not in accordance with the interviewer preference. So the interviewer should give the leverage to the candidate.

4. Ideal image error: Usually, an interviewer has an image of a candidate. This usually happens that the image in the mind interviewer does not coincide with the candidate. So the interviewer should go on for a compromise.

5. Personal bias of the interviewer: The interviewer may have many personal biases against the candidate. Poor handshake, biting of finger, gum, chewing, loud, clothes, poor eye contact etc. these should be ignored.

6. Pseudoscience and myths: Handwriting, outward features, date of birth number of letters n the name lines or makes on the palm of hand and shape and bulges of the skull are not scientific tolls to judge the ability of the candidate. An interviewer should avoid them.

7. Stereotypes: Interviewer might indulge in monotony in different questions in different ways should be asked.

8. Other pitfalls: There are a number of pitfalls other than those mentioned above. These are as follows;

i. Illusion that the previous experience of itself guarantees ability to do the job well.

ii. Being impressed because the applicant needs a job even though the necessary qualification is lacking.

iii. Talking too much by interviewee not listening.

iv. Poor preparation before interview.

v. Asking inappropriate questions.

vi. Being discourteous and rude towards the applicant.

vii. Jumping to conclusion.

viii. Accepting facts without intending to determine meaning and accuracy.

ix. Leaving unexplored gaps.

x. Allowing candidate to guide the interviewer.

xi. Depending on memory to conduct interview and to evaluate the applicant’s qualification.

xii. Asking other questions when the applicant hesitates a moment.

 xiii. Appearing to be critical and cold towards the applicant.

xiv. Not observing non-verbal be clues.

xv. Poor questions (a) leading question (b) loaded question (c) dead ended question.

 

Q What is the role of interview in interpersonal communication? Or what is the purpose / Objective or patterned interview? Or what is the importance or interview?

Ans: Interview plays a very important role in interpersonal communication, since it is between two persons or parties i.e. interviewer and interviewer, its importance is discussed with respect to both aspects.

a) From Interviewer Point of View: Interview has following importance for the interviewer.

1. To Match the applicant and the job: A job has specific requirement. Every person is not suitable for every kind of job, so the interviews enable the interviewer to match the applicant and the job requirement. This matching may be in the following way.

(a) Matching Qualification: A candidate having a master’s degree does not mean that he has the knowledge of master level. Asking questions about the field of candidate enables the interviewer to know as to how much knowledge the candidate has acquired.

(b) Matching Candidate Ability: Different candidates have different abilities. The interview helps know the abilities of every candidate according to the job requirement.

(c) Other Areas: Candidate’s conduct, attitude, confidence, communication skill and other areas are expressed means of interviewers.

2. To develop the image of organization:

Another secondary role of interviews is to establish a good image of an organization before candidate and ultimately before the market.

b) From Interviewee Point of View: An interview is equally important for interviewers as it’s for interview.

This importance is enumerated as follows.

1. To have information: An interviewee can have different information about the organization. This information might be about the organization nature of job salary rule and regulations, etc.

2. To have a suitable job: Interview helps the candidate know about the job. In this way, he / she can choose the best one of him / her.