Interview Reccomendation

Interview Recommendation

One of the many purposes of an interview is having the ability to meet that person face to face. It is always hard to put a face to an application and sometimes the application may fit the job perfectly but the person and their appearance may not be the best fit for the type of job that they applied for. Another purpose of an interview to see how well the applicant interacts with others and how well they communicate. If a person is not friendly and cannot hold a simple conversation, then they may not be the best fit for a position that would need those qualities. An interview is a good way to get a first impression on the applicant. If the applicant shows up ahead of time, then that means that they are more likely to do so in their job, whereas if they showed up late then that would show that that behavior will continue throughout their employment. Bringing an applicant in for an interview can give the opportunity to give them scenarios on how well they would handle certain situations that the job would entail.

Some knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics that could be assessed in an interview would be attendance, communication and prior work experience. If an applicant shows up on time to an interview that means they are giving a good first impression and that habit will continue throughout their employment. Also, if an applicant is dressed appropriately for the interview, they could be considered a good applicant. It would show their professionalism and appreciation of your time that you are giving up to interview them. A way that communication would be assessed is if the applicant comes off enthusiastic, personable and attentive. That would show that the applicant is easy to talk to and listens thoroughly, showing good communication skills. By looking at an applicant’s resume, you will be able to view the different types of employment that they have held and for how long. This will give you a good idea of what tasks they had to complete in their previous work history. Having this knowledge will give you the ability to properly place the applicant in the area that would best benefit your company and the applicant.

Other KSAOs include, leadership skills, working as a team, honesty and competing priorities. Looking back at the applicants resume and contacting previous employers you will be able to evaluate if and how well that applicant was in a leadership role. If the applicant was in a leadership position and held that position for longer than a year and the old employer also spoke highly of the applicant, then that applicant would handle a leadership role well. Simply asking the applicant if they would rather work in a team environment or as an individual would be a way that you could evaluate if they would make a good team member for your company. Being able to evaluate someones honesty or integrity is a difficult task. Looking at their resume and contacting previous employers could determine if they were honest on their resume. Another way is to give them situational questions to see if they would give the correct answer. Having competing priorities is something that most retail stores have to handle on a daily basis, asking situational questions or having them list the order of the events that should be dealt with.

A structured interview is when all questions are prepared beforehand and are put in the same order for each applicant. An advantage of a structured interview is the reliability of the questions that is required in the interview. This method has more of a professional atmosphere, in this type of interview you would get to know how the applicant would apply their critical thinking skills, and how well they adapt to different questions. The disadvantage to a structured interview is that it lacks the free flow of a conversation. An unstructured interview is when the interview does not have any set format, but you may have some key questions in advance. The questions are based on the applicant's responses, which allows a friendly, free flowing conversation. This makes the interview more relaxed and more personable. A disadvantage to an unstructured is that there is lack of reliability of a structured interview.

I would recommend using both a structured style interview as well as an unstructured style interview. This way you will be able to get the answers that you need for the job related questions as well as be able to get to the know the person on a more personal level. This will help you figure out they will be a benefit to your company and be able to mesh well with your other employees or if they will not benefit your company and wont mesh well with your other employees.

There are many different way to identify KSAOs. One way is to ask situational questions to the applicant to see if they have the knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics to handle the situation correctly. For attendance, you could ask a question such as, "What time do you think would be acceptable to show up for work?" Available answers could be, ten minutes before work, five minutes before work, or right when your shift starts. This way you could evaluate how important attendance is to that applicant. Communication and customer service would be similar to evaluate. A situational question such as, "If a customer was waiting in your check-out line and was getting impatient, how would you handle that?" Available answers could be, call a manager to deal with the situation, finish with the customers in front of them, or inform the customer that another line is available and that employee will be happy to assist them. This will assess how the applicant can maintain their temper, as well as being able to properly communicate with customers without causing a discrepancy. Work experience and leadership skills could also be related, by looking at past experience and roles on the resume and asking a question, "What is the highest job title you have held?" and "Would you be willing to move in the company and take on more responsibilities if asked to?" This would assess if they would be able to handle the job open and if they would be willing to take on more responsibilities if given the opportunity. Simply asking the applicant if they would rather work in a team environment or if they like working on projects alone, would assess if they would be a team player and could contribute to a team or if they needed a job that they would work solely by themselves. Assessing honesty could be done with a situational question such as, "If you saw a customer steal an item what would you do?" Varies answers could be available, but one that would stick out the most, would be to inform other associates and managers and ask to assist that customer find anything that would go with items they are carrying around. This way, you would know that the employee is not encouraging stealing and is willing to do something about it if it happens. Assessing how an applicant would determine how to manage competing priorities would be to have them list the ones that should be assessed first and then the ones that follow after.

Using a scored and anchored response scales can help you evaluate each applicant more effectively. Giving an applicant a situational question with a ranking of one to five, with different answers underneath can help score that applicant against the others that have applied for the job. For example, if a customer asked you to assist them and you did so incorrectly. How would you solve the problem. One could be walk away, two apologize and walk away, three apologize and ask others to help, four is to apologize and call a manager, and five could be to apologize and assist the customer correctly. Having these questions scored can help you remember how they answered and to make the interview flow. Having anchored responses is a good way to assess how the applicant applies their critical thinking skills. Since the applicant is unaware that they are being scored, it is unavailable for them change their answer.

I would recommend a scored and anchored response scale, because it is somewhat like a structured interview, each applicant would be asked the scored questions and it would be a good way to assess how each applicant would handle that situation and how their critical thinking skills would be applied. Scored and anchored response scales would make it easier on the interviewer, because they would be able to remember how they answered the questions compared to other applicants without having to write it down every time.

There are many ways to complete a successful interview. Looking at varies knowledge, skills, abilities and other characteristics of an applicant can help narrow down your search for the right applicant. Being able to have the right style of interview can determine how the interview goes, using a structured and unstructured interview can give both the professional and the personable interview atmosphere. Having questions and a way to assess those KSAOs is a good way to be prepared for the applicant and can give each KSAO a way to be assessed.