Validity and predictive power english language essay

MARYAM SHABBIR[Type the abstract of the document here. The abstract is typically a short summary of the contents of the document. Type the abstract of the document here. The abstract is typically a short summary of the contents of the document.]

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 role.

Contents

Role

Interview constructs

Process

Process model

Types of questions

History of interview questions

Behavioral questions

Situational interview questions

Other types of questions

Case

Panel

Stress

Technical

Telephone

Interviewee strategies and behaviors

Nonverbal behaviors

Physical attractiveness

Coaching

Faking

Validity and predictive power

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 resumes 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

To identify the constructs that are measured during an 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 Interviewee performance Job-irrelevant interviewer biases

I. 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 that 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:

Mental ability: Applicants’ capacity to learn and process information. Personality: Conscientiousness, agreeableness, emotional stability, extroversion, openness to new experience. Interest, goals, and values: Applicant motives, goals, and person-organization fit.

Experiential factors:

Experience: Job-relevant knowledge derived from prior experienceEducation: Job-relevant knowledge derived from prior Declarative educationTraining: Job-relevant knowledge derived from prior training

Core job elements:

Knowledge: Applicants’ learned knowledgeProcedural skills and abilities: Applicants’ ability to complete the tasks required to do the jobMotivation: Applicants’ willingness to exert the effort required to do the job

II. 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, 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:

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 interviewerSelf-monitoring: Applicants’ regulation of behaviors to control the image presented to the interviewerRelational control: Applicants’ attempt to control the flow of the conversation..

Interpersonal Presentation:

Verbal expression: Pitch, rate, pausesNonverbal behavior: Gaze, smile, hand movement, body orientation

Personal/contextual factors:

Interview training: Coaching, mock interviews with feedbackInterview experience: Number of prior interviewsInterview self-efficacy: Applicants’ perceived ability to do well in the interviewInterview motivation: Applicants’ motivation to succeed in an interview

III. Job-irrelevant interviewer biases

The following are personal and demographic characteristics that can potentially influence interviewer evaluations of interviewee responses. These factors are typically not relevant to whether the individual can do the job thus their influence on interview ratings should be minimized or excluded. The list of job-irrelevant interviewer biases is presented below; Attractiveness: Applicant physical attractiveness can influence interviewer’s evaluation of one’s interview performanceRace: Whites tend to score higher than Blacks and Hispanics; racial similarity between interviewer and applicant, on the other hand, has not been found to influence interview ratingsGender: Females tend to receive slightly higher interview scores than their male counterparts; gender similarity does not seem to influence interview ratingsSimilarities in background and attitudes: Interviewers perceived interpersonal attraction was found to influence interview ratingsCulture: Applicants with an ethnic name and a foreign accent were viewed less favorably than applicants with just an ethnic name and no accent or an applicant with a traditional name with or without an accent. In sum, the following is recommended: Interviews should be developed to assess the job relevant constructs identified in the job analysis.

Interview Process

A typical job interview has a single candidate meeting with between one and three persons representing the employer; the potential supervisor of the employee is usually involved in the interview process. A larger interview panel will often have a specialized human resource worker. While the meeting can be over in as little as 15 minutes, job interviews usually last less than two hours. The bulk of the job interview will entail the interviewers asking the candidate questions about his or her job history, personality, work style and other factors relevant to the job. For instance, a common interview question is ” What are your strengths and weaknesses” The candidate will usually be given a chance to ask any questions at the end of the interview. These questions are strongly encouraged since they allow the interviewee to acquire more information about the job and the company, but they can also demonstrate the candidate’s strong interest in them. Candidates for lower paid and lower skilled positions tend to have much simpler job interviews than do candidates for more senior positions. In many companies, assessment days are increasingly being used, particularly for graduate positions, which may include analysis tasks, group activities, presentation exercises, and psychometric testing. In recent years it has become increasingly common for employers to request job applicants who are successfully shortlisted to deliver one or more presentations at their interview. The purpose of the presentation in this setting may be to either demonstrate candidates’ skills and abilities in presenting, or to highlight their knowledge of a given subject likely to relate closely to the job role for which they have applied. It is common for the applicant to be notified of the request for them to deliver a presentation along with their invitation to attend the interview. Usually applicants are only provided with a title for the presentation and a time limit which the presentation should not exceed.

Interview Process model

One way to think about the interview process is as three separate, albeit related, phases: (1) Pre interview phase: which occurs before the interviewer and candidate meet. (2) Interview phase: where the interview is conducted (3) Post interview phase: where the interviewer forms judgments of candidate qualifications and makes final decisions. Although separate, these three phases are related. That is, impressions interviewers form early on may affect how they view the person in a later phase. Pre interview phase: The pre interview phase encompasses the information available to the interviewer beforehand (e. g. resume, test scores, social networking site information) and the perceptions interviewers form about applicants from this information prior to the actual face-to-face interaction between the two individuals. In this phase, interviewers are likely to already have ideas about the characteristics that would make a person ideal or qualified for the position. Interviewers also have information about the applicant usually in the form of a resume, test scores, or prior contacts with the applicant. Interview phase: The interview phase entails the actual conduct of the interview, the interaction between the interviewer and the applicant. Initial interviewer impressions about the applicant before the interview may influence the amount of time an interviewer spends in the interview with the applicant, the interviewer’s behavior and questioning of the applicant, and the interviewer’s post interview evaluations. As interviews are typically conducted face-to-face, over the phone, or through video conferencing (e. g. Skype), they are a social interaction between at least two individuals. Thus, the behavior of the interviewer during the interview likely ” leaks” information to the interviewee. That is, you can sometimes tell during the interview whether the interviewer thinks positively or negatively about you. Knowing this information can actually affect how the applicant behaves, resulting in a self-fulfilling prophecy effect. Post interview phase: After the interview is conducted, the interviewer must form an evaluation of the interviewee’s qualifications for the position. The interviewer most likely takes into consideration all the information, even from the pre interview phase, and integrates it to form a post interview evaluation of the applicant. In the final stage of the interview process, the interviewer uses his/her evaluation of the candidate (i. e., in the form of interview ratings or judgment) to make a final decision. Sometimes other selection tools (e. g., work samples, cognitive ability tests, personality tests) are used in combination with the interview to make final hiring decisions; however, interviews remain the most commonly used selection device in North America. For interviewees: Although the description of the interview process above focuses on the perspective of the interviewer, job applicants also gather information on the job and/or organization. The interview is a two-way exchange and applicants are also making decisions about whether the company is a good fit for them. Essentially, the process model illustrates that the interview is not an isolated interaction, but rather a complex process that begins with two parties forming judgments and gathering information, and ends with a final interviewer decision.

Types of questions

History of interview questions:

In interviews that are considered ” structured interviews,” there are typically two types of questions interviewers ask applicants: Situational questions b. Behavioral questions (also known as patterned behavioral description interviews). Both types of questions are based on ” critical incidents” that are required to perform the job but they differ in their focus. .

Behavioral questions:

Behavioral (experience-based or patterned behavioral) interviews are past-oriented in that they ask respondents to relate what they did in past jobs or life situations that are relevant to the particular job relevant knowledge, skills, and abilities required for success. The idea is that past behavior is the best predictor of future performance in similar situations. By asking questions about how job applicants have handled situations in the past that are similar to those they will face on the job, employers can gauge how they might perform in future situations.

Situational interview questions:

Situational interview questions ask job applicants to imagine a set of circumstances and then indicate how they would respond in that situation; hence, the questions are future oriented. One advantage of situational questions is that all interviewees respond to the same hypothetical situation rather than describe experiences unique to them from their past. Another advantage is that situational questions allow respondents who have had no direct job experience relevant to a particular question to provide a hypothetical response. Two core aspects of the SI are the development of situational dilemmas that employees encounter on the job, and a scoring guide to evaluate responses to each dilemma.

Other types of questions:

Other possible types of questions that may be asked in an interview include: background questions, job experience questions, and puzzle type questions. A brief explanation of each follows. Background questions include a focus on work experience, education, and other qualifications. Job experience questions may ask candidates to describe or demonstrate job knowledge. The puzzle interview was popularized by Microsoft in the 1990s, and is now used in other organizations.

Case:

A case interview is an interview form used mostly by management consulting firms and investment banks in which the job applicant is given a question, situation, problem or challenge and asked to resolve the situation. The case problem is often a business situation or a business case that the interviewer has worked on in real life.

Panel:

Another type of job interview found throughout the professional and academic ranks is the panel interview. In this type of interview the candidate is interviewed by a group of panelists representing the various stakeholders in the hiring process. Within this format there are several approaches to conducting the interview. Example formats include; Presentation format – The candidate is given a generic topic and asked to make a presentation to the panel. Often used in academic or sales-related interviews. Role format – Each panelist is tasked with asking questions related to a specific role of the position. Skeet shoot format – The candidate is given questions from a series of panelists in rapid succession to test his or her ability to handle stress filled situations. The benefits of the panel approach to interviewing include: time savings over serial interviewing, more focused interviews as there is often less time spend building rapport with small talk, and ” apples to apples” comparison because each stake holder/interviewer/panelist gets to hear the answers to the same questions.

Stress:

Stress interviews are still in common use. One type of stress interview is where the employer uses a succession of interviewers whose mission is to intimidate the candidate and keep him/her off-balance. The ostensible purpose of this interview: to find out how the candidate handles stress. Stress interviews might involve testing an applicant’s behavior in a busy environment. Questions about handling work overload, dealing with multiple projects, and handling conflict are typical. Another type of stress interview may involve only a single interviewer who behaves in an uninterested or hostile manner. Candidates may also be asked to deliver a presentation as part of the selection process. The ” Platform Test” method involves having the candidate make a presentation to both the selection panel and other candidates for the same job. This is obviously highly stressful and is therefore useful as a predictor of how the candidate will perform under similar circumstances on the job. Selection processes in academic, training, airline, legal and teaching circles frequently involve presentations of this sort.

Technical:

This kind of interview focuses on problem solving and creativity. The questions aim at your problem-solving skills and likely show your ability and creativity. Sometimes these interviews will be on a computer module with multiple-choice questions.

Telephone:

Telephone interviews take place if a recruiter wishes to reduce the number of prospective candidates before deciding on a shortlist for face-to-face interviews. They also take place if a job applicant is a significant distance away from the premises of the hiring company, such as abroad or in another state or province.

Interviewee strategies and behaviors

Nonverbal behaviors

It may not only be what you say in an interview that matters, but also how you say it (how fast you speak) and how you behave during the interview (hand gestures, eye contact). In other words, although applicants’ responses to interview questions influence interview ratings, their nonverbal behaviors may also affect interviewer judgments. Nonverbal behaviors can be divided into two main categories: vocal cues (articulation, pitch, fluency, frequency of pauses, speed, etc.) and visual cues (smiling, eye contact, body orientation and lean, hand movement, posture, etc.). Oftentimes physical attractiveness is included as part of nonverbal behavior as well. Applicants’ nonverbal behaviors may influence interview ratings through the inferences interviewers make about the applicant based on their behavior. Applicants’ verbal responses and their nonverbal behavior may convey some of the same information about the applicant. However, despite any shared information between content and nonverbal behavior.

Physical attractiveness:

To hire the best applicants for the job, interviewers form judgments, sometimes using applicants’ physical attractiveness. That is, physical attractiveness is usually not necessarily related to how well one can do the job, yet has been found to influence interviewer evaluations and judgments about how suitable an applicant is for the job. Once individuals are categorized as attractive or unattractive, interviewers may have expectations about physically attractive and physically unattractive individuals and then judge applicants based on how well they fit those expectations. As a result, it typically turns out that interviewers will judge attractive individuals more favorably on job-related factors than they judge unattractive individuals. People generally agree on who is and who is not attractive and attractive individuals are judged and treated more positively than unattractive individuals.

Coaching:

An abundance of information is available to instruct interviewees on strategies for improving their performance in a job interview. Information used by interviewees comes from a variety of sources ranging from popular how-to books to formal coaching programs, sometimes even provided by the hiring organization. Within the more formal coaching programs, there are two general types of coaching. One type of coaching is designed to teach interviewees how to perform better in the interview by focusing on how to behave and present one self. This type of coaching is focused on improving aspects of the interview that are not necessarily related to the specific elements of performing the job tasks. This type of coaching could include how to dress, how to display nonverbal behaviors (head nods, smiling, eye contact), verbal cues (how fast to speak, speech volume, articulation, pitch), and impression management tactics. Another type of coaching is designed to focus interviewees on the content specifically relevant to describing one’s qualifications for the job, in order to help improve their answers to interview questions. This coaching, therefore, focuses on improving the interviewee’s understanding of the skills, abilities, and traits the interviewer is attempting to assess, and responding with relevant experience that demonstrates these skills. Additionally, research has shown that interviewees tend to have positive reactions to coaching, which is often an underlying goal of an interview. Based on research thus far, the effects of coaching tend to be positive for both interviewees and interviewers.

Faking:

Interviewers should be aware that applicants can intentionally distort their responses or fake during the interview and such applicant faking has the potential to influence interview outcomes if present. Two concepts that relate to faking include social desirability (the tendency for people to present themselves in a favorable light), and impression management (conscious or unconscious attempts to influence one’s image during interactions). Faking in the employment interview, then, can be defined as ” deceptive impression management or the conscious distortion of answers to the interview questions in order to obtain a better score on the interview and/or otherwise create favorable perceptions”. Thus, faking in the employment interview is intentional, deceptive, and aimed at improving perceptions of performance.

Validity and predictive power

There is extant data which puts into question the value of job interviews as a tool for selecting employees. Where the aim of a job interview is ostensibly to choose a candidate who will perform well in the job role, other methods of selection provide greater predictive power and often lower costs. Furthermore, given the unstructured approach of most interviews they often have almost no useful predictive power of employee success. While unstructured interviews are commonly used, structured interviews have yielded much better results and are considered a best practice. Interview structure is defined as ” the reduction in procedural variance across applicants, it can translate into the degree of discretion that an interviewer is allowed in conducting the interview”. Structure in an interview can be compared to a typical paper and pencil test: we would not think it was fair if every test taker was given different questions and a different number of questions on an exam, or if their answers were each graded differently. Yet this is exactly what occurs in an unstructured interview; thus, a structured interview attempts to standardize this popular selection tool. While there is debate surrounding what is meant specifically by a structured interview. There are typically two broad categories of standardization: 1) content structure 2) evaluation structureContent structure includes elements that refer to the actual content of the interview: Base questions on attributes that are representative of the job, as indicated by a job analysisAsk the same questions of all intervieweesLimit prompting, or follow up questions, that interviewers may askAsk better questions, such as behavioral description questionsHave a longer interviewControl ancillary information available to the interviewees, such as resumesDon’t allow questions from applicants during interviewstructure includes aspects that refer to the actual rating Evaluation of the interviewee: Rate each answer rather than making an overall evaluation at the end of the interviewUse anchored rating scalesHave the interviewer take detailed notesHave more than one interviewer view each applicant (i. e. have panel interviews)Have the same interviewers rate each applicantDon’t allow any discussion about the applicants between interviewersTrain the interviewersUse statistical procedures to create an overall interview scoreIt is important to note that structure should be thought of as a continuum; that is, the degree of structure present in an interview can vary along these various elements listed above. In terms of reliability, meta-analytic results provided evidence that interviews can have acceptable levels of Interpreter reliability, or consistent ratings across interviewers Interpreter reliability , when a structured panel interview is used. In terms of criterion-related validity, or how well the interview predicts later job performance criterion validity, meta-analytic results have shown that when compared to unstructured interviews, structured interviews have higher validities, with values ranging from . 20-. 57 (on a scale from 0 to 1), with validity coefficients increasing with higher degrees of structure. That is, as the degree of structure in an interview increases, the more likely interviewers can successfully predict how well the person will do on the job, especially when compared to unstructured interviews. In fact, one structured interview that included: a) A predetermined set of questions that interviewers were able to choose from, b) Interviewer scoring of applicant answers after each individual question using previously created benchmark answers, showed validity levels comparable to cognitive ability tests for entry level jobs. Honesty and integrity are attributes that can be very hard to determine using a formal job interview process: the competitive environment of the job interview may in fact promote dishonesty.