TYPES OF INTERVIEWS

The word ‘Interview’ is derived from the French word ‘intervue’ which means ‘view between’ or ‘to see each other’. It is a formal meeting or interaction between two or more persons for specific purposes. It is a purposeful face to face oral interpersonal communication between two or more persons. According to Murphy and Peck, “An interview is a conversation with a purpose. It aims at getting truthful responses from the candidate”.

A)SELECTION INTERVIEW:  Selection interview is also known as ‘Employment’ or ‘Job’ interview. Selection interview is conducted to select the most suitable candidate for the post or job. Selection interview is one of the oral evaluation and assessment methods for a candidate.

The following are the objectives behind conducting selection interview-

1)To determine the most suitable candidate: In an interview when the interviewer and the interviewee meet face-to-face, it is possible to assess the personality of each candidate and to evaluate as to who will be able to do the job best.

2)To give the candidate information about the job and the company: Another objective of selection interview is to provide details to candidate about the nature of work, duration and working timings, opportunities for promotion, service benefits, other facilities and company policies, etc. This enables the candidate to decide whether or not he should accept the job and work for the company.

3)To motivate the candidate to accept the job: The interviewer motivates the candidate to accept the job and instill in him a feeling of mutual understanding and confidence. If a candidate is found to be the most suitable, the interviewer can convince him to have good career prospects with the company.

4)To promote good will towards the company: When a candidate is not selected, it is ensured that he is treated with courtesy and without hurting his self respect.  It is necessary to treat him properly and to present the good qualities of the company so that he carries a good impression of the company.

B)APPRAISAL INTERVIEW:  Appraisal interview is also known as ‘Assessment’ interview. An appraisal interview is a formal, scheduled meeting between an employee and the direct supervisor. It is held once or twice a year. The purpose is to review the performance of the employee, to see if past targets have been completed, to set new targets, to clear doubts and misunderstanding and to consider employee’s promotion prospects.

Appraisal interview is conducted for the following purposes:

1)Review past performance: Appraisal interview is conducted to review the past performance of the employee, to see if he has completed the targets or not.

2)Set new targets: Having looked backwards, it is now time to set new targets for the next year.

3)Discuss problems: The interview is also conducted to discuss the problems, issues if employee faces any.

4)Finding training needs:  The interviewer should find out through discussion whether on/off job training is required for better performance.

5)Agree action and follow up plans: The interview should end with a summary of discussion, dates agreed for follow up.

6)Consider promotion prospects: Appraisal interview is conducted to review and consider promotion prospects of the employee.

C)GRIEVANCE INTERVIEW: A grievance is resentment or complaint against some injustice which may be real or imagined. When human beings interact and work together, there are bound to be grievances and complaints. A worker may have a grievance against his fellow workers or superiors. A superior may have a grievance against his subordinates.  The primary aim of the grievance interview is to seek clarification regarding the problems faced by the employees. It also provides workers with an opportunity to give vent to their pent-up feelings by talking about them in this interview.

The interviewer, in the grievance interview, should listen very attentively to and, if possible, convince the interviewee that steps will be taken to redress his grievances. This will help enhance the self-respect of the employee because he will realise that his employer is prepared to hear him and try to redress his complaints. Whether grievances are real or imaginary, justified or unjustified, it is important that managerial response to grievances should be rational.

D)EXIT INTERVIEW: Exit interview as the name indicates, takes place when an employee leaves the company. It is very important interview for the employer. As an employee leaves the job, he is likely to speak freely and frankly about the company. So, exit interview enables the management to get proper information of the real working of the company.  The aim of the exit interview is to collect useful feedback. The employee’s decision to leave the job may be voluntary or involuntary. If an undesirable employee is dismissed, it is an involuntary exit and the exit interview does not usually take place. If the employee resigns, it is a voluntary exit; he is given an interview before his exit. Exit interview of voluntary leaving employee is important because management can find out the reasons for the employee’s decision to leave and can clear up misunderstandings that might have been created. Through exit interview the management tries to know the other reasons like poor pay, poor working environment, no challenge in the job, no future prospects, no reward for achievement, etc.

E)ONLINE INTERVIEW: An online interview is a job interview conducted over the internet using a web camera, a computer microphone and in some cases a live chat feature like Skype. Online interview is similar to a face-to-face interview and interview success needs an attitude of professionalism. Different companies conduct online interviews in different ways. Some want candidates to use their webcam to answer the interview questions while others use online web-based systems like Spark Hire for interviewing, thereby providing options for recorded interviews via webcam and for in-depth live interviewing through split screen online interviews with candidates. Still other employers prefer to email a list of interview questions to the candidates with the instruction that they must film themselves answering them.

Like face-to-face interview, online interview also needs formalities on the candidates’ side. Candidate must smile and maintain friendly eye contact with the camera. He must wear professional dress and shoes. He must select a comfortable non-noisy environment where he can concentrate easily while attempting the questions. He should keep his pen, paper ready for use. The webcam may reveal more than the face. So, the desk or computer table in use must be kept clean and mess free. Webcam and other tools should be tested in advance and candidate should rehearse with it to ensure that there are no problems in their usage.

Advantages of online interview: # It provides to the entire population, with no bias for the geographic location of the candidate or for their ability to be mobile.

# Candidates feel free from the stress of new setting as they can face interview from home.

# It is time and money saving for both the interviewer and the interviewee.

# It allows for easy data recording and hence allows interviewers to revisit the interview in case of doubt.

Disadvantages of online interview: # Candidates may lack technical knowledge needed for the process.

# There may be physical or technological barriers at either end.

#For online interview, finding timings suitable to both the interviewer and the interviewee is difficult.