Types of Employment Interview

1. Preliminary Interview

Interviews aim to procure Information uncovered by application form and tests

a) Informal interview

This is the interview which can be conducted at any place by any person to secure the basic and non-job related information. The interaction between the candidate and the personnel manager when the former meets the latter to enquire about the vacancies or additional particulars in connection with the employment advertisement is an example of informal interview.

b) Unstructured interview

In this interview the candidate is given the freedom to tell about himself by revealing his knowledge on various items/areas, his background, expectations, interest, etc. Similarly, the interviewer also provides information on various items required by the candidate.

2. Core Interview

It is normally the interaction between the candidate and the line executive or experts on various areas of job knowledge, skill, talent, etc. This interview may take various forms like:

a) Background information interview

This interview is intended to collect the information which is not available in the application blank and to check that information provided in the application blank regarding education, place of domicile, family, health, interests, hobbies, likes, dislikes, extracurricular activities of the applicant.

b) Job and probing interview

This interview aims at testing the candidate's job knowledge about duties, activities, methods of doing the job, critical/problematic areas, methods of handling those areas, etc.

c) Stress interview

This interview aims at testing the candidate's job behaviour and level of withstanding during the period of stress and strain. Interviewer tests the candidate by putting him under stress and strain by interrupting the applicant from answering, criticising his opinions, asking questions pertaining to unrelated areas, keeping silent for unduly long period after he has finished speaking, etc. Stress during the middle portion of the interview gives effective results.

d) Group discussion interview

There are two methods of conducting group discussion interviews, viz., group interview method and discussion interview method. All the candidates are brought into one room, i.e., interview room and are interviewed one by one under group interview. This method helps a busy executive to save valuable time and gives a fair account of the objectivity of the interview to the candidates.

Under the discussion interview method, one topic is given for discussion to the candidates who assemble in one room and they are asked to discuss the topic in detail. This type of interview helps the interviewer in appraising, certain skills of the candidates like initiative, inter-personal skills, dynamism, presentation, leading, comprehension, collaboration, etc.

Interviewers are at ease in this category of interview because of its informality and flexibility. But it may fail to cover some significant portions of the candidates' background and skills.

e) Formal and structured interview

In this type of interview, all the formalities, procedures like fixing the value, time, panel of interviewers, opening and closing, intimating the candidates officially, etc., are strictly followed in arranging and conducting the interview. The course of the interview is preplanned and structured, in advance, depending on job requirements. The questions items for discussion are structured and experts are allotted different areas and questions to be asked. There will be very little room for the interviewers to deviate from the questions prepared in advance in a sequence.

f) Panel interview

Interviewing of candidates by one person may not be effective. Hence most organisations invite a panel of experts, specialised in different areas/fields/ disciplines, to interview candidates. A panel of experts interviews each candidate, judges his performance individually and prepares a consolidated judgment based on each expert's judgment and weightage of each factor. This type of interview is known as panel interview.

g) Depth interview

In this type of interview, the candidates would be examined extensively in core areas of knowledge and skills of the job. Experts in that particular field examine the candidates by posing relevant questions as to extract critical answers from them, initiating discussions regarding critical areas of the job, and by asking the candidates to explain even minute operations of the job performance. Thus the candidate is examined thoroughly in critical/ core areas in their interview. Exhibit 6.3 presents questions frequently asked in interviews.

3. Decision-Making Interview

After the candidates are examined by the experts including the line managers of the organisation in the core areas of the job, the head of the department/section concerned interviews the candidates once again, mostly through informal discussion. The interviewer examines the interest of the candidate in the job, organisation, reaction/adaptability to the working conditions, career planning, promotional opportunities, work adjustment and allotment, etc. The HR Manager also interviews the candidates with a view to find out his reaction/acceptance regarding salary, allowances, benefits, promotions, opportunities, etc. The head of the department and the personnel manager exchange the views and then they jointly inform their decision to the chairman of the interview board, which finally makes the decision about the candidates' performance and their ranks in the interview.