How to get the suitable job

Job interview

A job interview is a process in which a potential employee is evaluated by an employer for prospective employment in their company,organization, or firm. During this process, the employer hopes to determine whether or not the applicant is suitable for the job.

Role

A job interview typically precedes the hiring decision, and is used to evaluate the candidate. The interview is usually preceded by the evaluation of submitted résumés from interested candidates, then selecting a small number of candidates for interviews. Potential job interview opportunities also include networking events and career fairs. The job interview is considered one of the most useful tools for evaluating potential employees. It also demands significant resources from the employer, yet has been demonstrated to be notoriously unreliable in identifying the optimal person for the job. An interview also allows the candidate to assess the corporate culture and demands of the job.

Multiple rounds of job interviews may be used where there are many candidates or the job is particularly challenging or desirable. Earlier rounds may involve fewer staff from the employers and will typically be much shorter and less in-depth. A common initial interview form is the phone interview, a job interview conducted over the telephone. This is especially common when the candidates do not live near the employer and has the advantage of keeping costs low for both sides.

Once all candidates have been interviewed, the employer typically selects the most desirable candidate and begins the negotiation of a job offer.

Interview Constructs

In light of its popularity, a stream of research has attempted to identify the constructs (ideas or concepts) that are measured during the interview to understand why interviews might help us pick the right people for the job. Several reviews of the research on interview constructs revealed that the interview captures a wide variety of applicant attributes. These constructs can be classified into three categories: job-relevant interview content (constructs interview questions are designed to assess), interviewee performance (applicant behaviors unrelated to the applicant characteristics the interview questions are designed to assess but nevertheless influence interviewer evaluations of interviewee responses), and potentially job-irrelevant interviewer biases (personal and demographic characteristics of applicants that may influence interviewer evaluations of interviewee responses in an illegal, discriminatory way).

Job-relevant interview content

Interview questions are generally designed to tap applicant attributes that are specifically relevant to the job for which the person is applying. The job-relevant applicant attributes the questions purportedly assess are thought to be necessary for one to successfully perform on the job. The job-relevant constructs that have been assessed in the interview can be classified into three categories: general traits, experiential factors, and core job elements. The first category refers to relatively stable applicant traits. The second category refers to job knowledge that the applicant has acquired over time. The third category refers to the knowledge, skills, and abilities associated with the job.

General Traits:

§  Mental ability: Applicants’ capacity to learn and process information

§  Personality: Conscientiousness, agreeableness, emotional stability, extroversion, openness to new experiences

§  Interest, goals, and values: Applicant motives, goals, and person-organization fit

Experiential Factors:

§  Experience: Job-relevant knowledge derived from prior experience

§  Education: Job-relevant knowledge derived from prior education

§  Training: Job-relevant knowledge derived from prior training

Core Job Elements:

§  Declarative knowledge: Applicants’ learned knowledge

§  Procedural skills and abilities: Applicants’ ability to complete the tasks required to do the job

§  Motivation: Applicants’ willingness to exert the effort required to do the job

Interviewee Performance

Interviewer evaluations of applicant responses also tend to be colored by how an applicant behaves in the interview. These behaviors may not be directly related to the constructs the interview questions were designed to assess, but can be related to aspects of the job for which they are applying. Applicants without realizing it may engage in a number of behaviors that influence ratings of their performance. The applicant may have acquired these behaviors during training or from previous interview experience. These interviewee performance constructs can also be classified into three categories: social effectiveness skills, interpersonal presentation, and personal/contextual factors.

Social Effectiveness Skills:

§  Impression management: Applicants’ attempt to make sure the interviewer forms a positive impression of them

§  Social skills: Applicants’ ability to adapt his/her behavior according to the demands of the situation to positively influence the interviewer

§  Self-monitoring: Applicants’ regulation of behaviors to control the image presented to the interviewer

§  Relational control: Applicants’ attempt to control the flow of the conversation

Interpersonal Presentation:

§  Verbal expression: Pitch, rate, pauses

§  Nonverbal behavior: Gaze, smile, hand movement, body orientation

Personal/Contextual Factors:

§  Interview training: Coaching, mock interviews with feedback

§  Interview experience: Number of prior interviews

§  Interview self-efficacy: Applicants’ perceived ability to do well in the interview

§  Interview motivation: Applicants’ motivation to succeed in an interview

by Wikipedia