Evaluate the effectiveness of using traditional interview processes to select high-quality candidates for vacant posts, ensuring you critically comment on how the ‘predictive validity’ of interviews might be increased
Selection of candidates for an organisation is a very critical step because the selection of high-quality candidates can benefit an organisation very much. In one of the surveys conducted by The Harris Poll, 40 percent of total 1000 human resources and hiring managers are going to plan to hire full-time employees while 47 percent of the total managers is going to plan to hire part-time positions in their organisations. This survey has been conducted for the period from December 20, 2018, to January 16, 2019 (Carberry and Cross, 2015). These figures are similar to the previous year figures. These survey results show that human resource managers are seeking high-quality candidates and they have to be concerned about recruiting employees those may perform well for their organisations. To select candidates, there are several recruitment methods, and interview processes are also effective. However, some voices are saying that traditional interview processes should be replaced with other recruitment and selection processes. However, traditional interview processes are still popular among human resource managers and recruiters. This paper would evaluate its effectiveness to know whether it is going to enable human resource managers and recruiters to select high-quality candidates. Traditional interview processes should be used in selecting high-quality candidates, but the predictive quality of these processes should be increased.
The effectiveness of Traditional Interview Processes to select High-Quality Candidates
The interview process for selecting candidates does not comprise of one step only, but it has a combination of different steps. There are different types of interviews which are employed by human resource managers, and each type of interview has its significance. However, there is a question whether this traditional interview process is helpful to select high-quality candidates because the selection of candidates affects an organisation strategically. A high performing candidate for an organisation is an asset, and it adds competitive knowledge and expertise to an organisation. On the other hand, a less performing candidate is a cost for the organisation. Therefore, the effectiveness of traditional interview processes is going to be evaluated in the following.
To evaluate the effectiveness of traditional interview processes, it is vital to recall some theoretical concepts related to the process of recruitment, selection, and related elements for these processes. Interviews come under the head of the selection in the process because suitable employees are contacted for employment and a judgment is made about them. High-quality candidates are selected in the result of the traditional interview process, and it is important to evaluate whether the traditional interview process is capable of selecting high-quality candidates.
Screening Interviews
In the traditional process of interviews, high-quality candidates can be selected effectively because there is a process of screening interviews. Most organisations conduct screening interviews as part of filtering candidates. It shortlists applicants based on broad requirements, and there is no need for a face to face meeting between interviewer and interviewee. Communication over a phone call or any other medium is enough to ask some straightforward questions. It immediately removes the possibility of time and resource wastage if the interviewee does not have sufficient skills. Thus, this part of the traditional interview process is effective to select high-quality employees in an organisation (Reees and Smith, 2014).
Selection Tests v. Interviews
In the traditional selection process of a candidate, there are selection tests which are different from interviews. In the selection tests, a standardised test is used to assess job applicants or candidate’s skills and expertise. The selection test is reliable and valid to assess the ability of the candidate in the job position. The application of selection tests in the selection process gives the impression, and it is a valid impression that interviews have some shortcomings which are covered using selection tests. One of the reasons may be that interviews are subjective while selection tests are objective. However, selection tests do not undermine the effectiveness of traditional interview processes, but it can be said to be part of the process. It is just another way to evaluate the abilities of a job applicant or candidate for the job position (Mello, 2015).
Interviewing Candidates
The interview is not a stage in the traditional selection process which comes immediately in the process of selection. Traditional interview processes start from screening interviews and selection tests as they have been noted above. It is almost impossible to conduct interviews of all applicants because huge resources and costs are involved in the process. Therefore, the applicant pool is trimmed through screening steps in the selection process. Time can be allocated for an interview in light of the nature of the job and available time. For selecting high-quality candidates, more time has to be spent on the interview process and flexibility of interview process makes it possible. It also shows and ensures the effectiveness of the interview process that it can adapt to changes in the requirements and needs of applicants (McKenzie and Nicotera, 2018).
Subjective Nature of Interviews
Interviews are not written or objective in nature. They are verbal, and the interviewer asks questions from interviewees. Most of the time, there is no clear right or wrong answer to these questions. For example, an answer may be the same from different interviewees, but results may differ very much. It is because of the subjective nature of the interviews. There is a huge potential of error and mistake in the traditional interview process, and the interviewer is independent enough to select one candidate. Interviewees are expected to implement a knowledge or theory into a practical setting. It is very rare to ask for any concept or any question from the textbook. Therefore, there is huge room for answering a question in different ways. Evaluation of the interviewer may be different, and this subjective nature of interviews raises questions about the effectiveness of interviews (Marshall et al., 2013).
Traditional Interview Process enables Evaluation of Hard and Soft Skills
In the theoretical perspective of human resource management and selection process, there is a concept of soft and hard skills. Like intrinsic rewards and extrinsic rewards, skills can also be divided or distinguished based on hard and soft attributes. The traditional interview process enables evaluation of hard and soft skills. In the traditional interview processes, steps like selection tests and other steps where evaluation can be done easily, enable assessment of hard skills successfully. However, soft skills can never be assessed using tests and other statistical methods. For this purpose, there must be verbal evaluation and interviews are suitable and effective verbal evaluation method of applicants (Brewster et al., 2011).
The significance of soft skills is very high because soft skills cannot be measured, and subjective nature of interviews allows the interviewer to evaluate soft skills like the way of communication and the ability of interviewee to respond to questions practically. The interviewer can assess the body language of the interviewee as well which is called body language. Interpersonal skills can also be evaluated through interviews, and an interviewer can ask questions in a scenario, and an interviewee can be evaluated in light of his or her answers in that scenario. It is found that hard skills and soft skills are important theoretical concepts in human resource management and interviews come up with this theoretical concept effectively.
The effectiveness of the traditional interview process in light of Different Types of Questions
The interview is a flexible process for selecting high-quality candidates. The emphasis is there on high-quality candidates. High-quality candidates need to be evaluated by presenting them in different situations and scenarios. The interview process cannot be confined to one type of question. Even though the interviewer has chosen one specific type of questions for the interview, there should be room for change in the types of questions. Therefore, there are at least three types of questions which can be asked in an interview. Structured questions, situational questions, and nondirective questions are three types of questions which can be asked in an interview.
Structured questions are one set of questions which are asked of all candidates. It is no different in questions, and it gives evaluators a chance to assess all candidates based on one criterion. It is less time consuming and less resource-driven method because evaluation based on one set of questions is easy to conduct (McIntosh and Morse, 2015). However, this method might not be suitable for selecting high-quality candidates because they have to be presented in different situations. For them, situational questions can be used, but it is recommended to use situational questions. Situational questions put the interviewee in a situation and ask for his or her response in a particular situation. The response is evaluated in terms of his ability to interpret and apply the knowledge into a practical situation (Ingold et al., 2015)
On the other hand, there is the third type of nondirective questions, and these are open-ended questions. The interviewer does not set the criterion of these questions and let the situation during the interview decide to choose suitable questions. In this way, the effectiveness of traditional interview processes increases because of the flexibility of choosing questions in an interview process (Banfield and Kay, 2012).
Team and Individual Interviews
There are some shortcomings of traditional interview processes, and the subjective nature of this process is one of them. This subjective aspect of interviews increases when there is an individual interviewer because his tendencies and biases must be there in evaluating a job applicant. However, there is a growing trend of team interviews in which a team interviews a job applicant. Although it is difficult for all team members to be present at the time of the interview, it is managed. Moreover, interviewees may feel stress while facing an interviewing team. However, this is not a major concern. A team can better evaluate a job applicant and discussion among team members leads to choosing a high-quality candidate effectively. Members of the interviewing team may belong to different departments and backgrounds and input from multiple groups and departments is very helpful in selecting a high-quality candidate.
Predictive Validity of Interviews
The above discussion has indicated positive attributes of traditional interview processes for selection of high-quality candidates for an organisation. It is found that predictive validity has been ensured in these processes of interviews, but there are certain shortcomings as well. Some of the shortcomings are that interviews are subjective and time-consuming. However, predictive validity is there because steps like screening interviews, selection tests, and different types of interviews enable recruiters and human resource managers to choose high-quality candidates effectively. There are, however, some issues and concerns whether the predictive validity of interviews is there. To ensure the effectiveness of traditional interview processes for selecting high-quality candidates, it is vital to take steps to increase it (Schein, 2004).
Increasing Predictive Validity of Interviews
In the following, strategies for increasing predictive validity of interviews would be commented in light of the above discussion on evaluation of the effectiveness of traditional interview processes in selecting high-quality candidates (Berkelaar and Murphy, 2017).
Planning and Preparation
In a Harvard Business Review’s article, lack of planning and preparation has been found in one of the most important and greatest issues going to affect the predictive validity of interviews. An inexperienced or ill-prepared interviewer may not be fully prepared for the interview process. An interviewer should know the purpose and objectives of an interview so that questions and proceedings of an interview can be finalised well before it starts. The interview should follow a clear path so that desired or expected questions can be asked to ensure predictive validity.
Building Rapport
The interviewer, whether he is an individual or a team of interviewers, should build rapport so that interviewee feels comfortable during the interview. Open communication and providing an easy environment to interviewees is essential because the environment of challenge and competition cannot bring effective results. Behaviour and abilities of the candidate cannot be evaluated effectively, and in the result, the predictive validity of interviews may affect. Interviews are effective for selection of high-quality candidates, and predictive validity can be increased by increasing this level of effectiveness.
Guiding the Conversation
The interviewer should guide the conversation because the interview is not a question-and-answer session. Its purpose is not to take a test of the candidate, but its objective is to explore the candidate. An interviewer should guide the interviewee into the conversation so that more insights into the interviewee can be brought to the surface. A better understanding of a candidate during an interview would increase the predictive validity of interviews.
Developing Information
Answers of the candidate for questions are raw pieces of information. It is not possible that the candidate provides answers to questions in an organised and formalised manner. Different questions should be asked from a job applicant and in the case of nondirective and situational interviews, the importance of developing information increases. Connections should be developed by the interviewer from the responses of the interviewee so that information about the interviewee can be developed. This information would predict the personality and future performance of the candidate; therefore, it would increase the predictive validity of interviews.
Analysing Data and Follow Up
There may be many strategies to ensure predictive validity but analysing data and follow up are the last strategies which have been used in this paper. The data obtained from the interviewee in the shape of answers should be analysed carefully, and it is recommended sharing data between interviewers so that both objective and subjective views can be possible simultaneously. Data should be analysed and followed up on obtaining information and data from the interview should be reviewed and double checked. All of the information obtained from the interviewee should be organised so that predictions about his or her personality can be made. It is how predictive validity of interviews can be increased.
Discussion and Conclusion
The paper evaluates the effectiveness of using traditional interview processes to select high-quality candidates for vacant posts. During this evaluation, critical comments on increasing predictive validity of interviews have also been made. The effectiveness of using traditional interview processes has been evaluated, and different processes have been highlighted and evaluated in the discussion. One thing that has been made clear is that the predictive validity of interviews should be increased, increasing the effectiveness of interview processes. Although the interview is not the most effective and error-free process for selection of high-quality candidates, it is widely used and one of the most practical methods of selecting candidates, therefore, it should be promoted by taking steps of increasing predictive validity.
The paper concludes that the effectiveness of using traditional interview processes is there and organisations are employing these processes for selecting high-quality candidates. Moreover, it is also noted that there is an issue of predictive validity and organisations should ensure it while using a traditional interview process so that attitudes, abilities, behaviours, and personality of selected candidates can be by actual attributes of the candidates. The paper recommends using traditional interview processes for selecting high-quality candidates, and these processes should be made better by increasing predictive validity. The predictive validity of interviews can be increased by enriching the process so that all information about the interview can be used in his or her selection.
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