Unfortunately, it is easy for an interviewer to make a mistake in an employment
interview. Some of the common mistakes in poorly conducted interviews are as follows:
Mistakes |
Comments |
| Failing to establish rapport with the applicant. |
As a result, the interview never gets off the ground. |
| Not knowing what information is needed. |
Consequently, the interviewer does not know what questions to
ask the applicant. |
| Concentrating exclusively on the applicant as a
person. |
The perceptive interviewer specifically attempts to compare an
applicant's demonstrated abilities and experience with the actual job requirements. |
| Not remaining silent, or listening, long enough. |
The interviewer does too much talking and fails to obtain
meaningful information from the applicant. |
| Not allowing sufficient time to observe the
applicant's responses and behavior. |
The interview should not be too short and superficial. The
longer the interview, the better the chances of gaining meaningful information from the
applicant. |
| Incorrectly interpreting information obtained
from the applicant. |
The interviewer draws the wrong conclusion about the
applicant's ability to perform. |
| Being unaware of or not dealing directly with
biases for or against certain types of applicants (stereotyping). |
This includes how you feel about hair styles, clothing,
educational background, etc. (I have never hired a good secretary from that business
college.) |
| Being overly influenced (either favorably or
unfavorably) by one characteristic or trait of that particular applicant. |
This includes physical appearances, style or dress,
personality, etc. (I can't stand men who have mustaches, or I'd hire her for this job no
matter what her previous experience.) |
| Making a decision based only on intuition or
first impression, rather than careful insight and analytical judgment. |
no comment |
| Using stress techniques designed to trap or
fluster the applicant. |
no comment |
| Conducting a poorly structured or an unstructured
interview. |
no comment |
| Looking to see how an applicants past life
compares with the interviewer's. |
This results in substantial loss of time because more effort
is spent on the halo effect comparison than on obtaining information relevant to the job. |
| Failure to control or direct the interview. |
Whether out of a desire to be courteous or because the
applicant is particularly dominant, the interviewer can lose control of an interview. The
interviewer must regain control skillfully -- not abruptly. |
| Asking questions answerable by a simple yes or
no. |
People do this because their daily business conversations are
often short, but in interviewing, the interviewer must endeavor to do just the opposite --
draw the candidate out. This requires minimizing yes and no answers. |
| Making judgment
or leading statements. |
These telegraph to the candidate desired responses. Applicants
can read the interviewer's mind without direct guidance. |
