Interviews are meetings with a purpose. Usually they are between two people, though there can be more than two present, as in a panel selection interview. Mostly they are conducted face to face, but telephone interviewing is becoming increasingly common, though less so for management interviews.
New technology is introducing new kinds of interviewing. Computers are being used as part of the selection process by a number of major corporations, and the time is not too far away when interviews will be conducted by video and satellite.
As we have already seen, interviews are preferably for a specific, pre-defined purpose which is, or should be, known to both participants. They are part of a process, never ends in themselves.
They are an essential part of the machinery of management. Information is gathered in order that it may be acted on. It is never gathered merely for its own sake.
Interviews are not static, rigid performances or quasi-dramatic presentations which allow managers to make speeches or, worse, interrogations in which they can exercise undue power over others.
Interviews differ from conversations in a number of important respects:
- Though, at best, they may sound conversational, they are controlled by the interviewers through the questions they ask and which the interviewees are required to answer. If, for some reason, they lose that control, the interview is at an end unless they can restore their control through one of the strategies mentioned here.
- In conversations the participants are usually, though not always, known to each other, and the rapport is already in existence or can be readily created. In interviews, the participants may be meeting for the first time and it is the inter viewer's responsibility to create a working relationship between them.
- Conversations are open-ended. They can go on for as long as the participants want them to. Interviews are generally for a set time and it is one of the interviewer's responsibilities to see that they do not run on over that time, otherwise they cease to be cost-effective.
- Like conversations, interviews can take place anywhere, but whereas conversations can be improved by convivial surroundings with other people present - in a pub or restaurant, for instance - interviews suffer from such distractions.
- In conversations the parties enjoy equal status, and their contributions are equal, but not so in most management interviews, where interviewees are subordinate to the inter viewers. Yet, paradoxically, despite the power of the inter viewers, the focus of the interview is always on the interviewees.
- A conversation can be discursive, covering a wide range of subjects, only the enjoyment of the parties determining its success. The interview has to explore the subject matter to the satisfaction of both, otherwise it has been a waste of time.
From this it becomes clear that the interview is a highly artificial relationship which both participants find tense and stressful. Interviewees particularly are aware that, not only are they required to answer the questions put to them to the best of their ability, but that they are also 'on show', exposing aspects of themselves to the scrutiny, as it were, of the interviewers. For these reasons, it is important that interviewers strive to put interviewees at their ease in order to get the most out of them. Unfortunately, this obligation is not always uppermost in the interviewers' minds.
Thus, for a recruitment interview, you might start: 'I thought we'd begin with your recent work experience, then your educational background and training, and then some questions about your general circumstances. Is that all right?'
For a disciplinary interview: 'We've had a complaint about the unfriendly way you are treating some of our customers. I thought we ought to talk about this, find out what the reasons are, and see how we can work out a plan of action so that we don't have a repetition of it.'
Once you have stated the purpose and general outline of the interview, your next step is to ask your first questions. It is important to get them right, because they set the tone and mood of the rest of the interview.
They should relate to the interviewees' personal experience, so that they can answer them with relative ease. The sooner interviewees hear the sound of their own voices, the sooner they will start to relax.
'Tell me about yourself or 'Tell me about your last job' are still fairly common opening questions, but they are too generalized and unfocused.
Avoid questions which relate to feelings rather than facts, for instance 'How did you feel when you were not given a rise?' or ‘What do you think about these new plans for the department?' These should be left to later in the interview when the interviewees have warmed up and are feeling more confident of themselves.
At any time, but especially at the beginning, avoid questions you should know the answer to from your research. If you start with 'How old are you?' when the answer is staring at you from the applicant's CV, you are saying that you have not bothered to look at it before the interview. Similarly, if you begin an appraisal interview with 'You've been working for us for-how long?' your interviewees know they can say goodbye to any genuine inquiry into, and understanding of, their current job situation.
Going into an interview without working out your first questions is a sure sign of carelessness or indifference.
To sum up, then, your first questions should tell interviewees that:
- You know the direction you want the interview to take.
- You are interested enough in them to have done some research.
- You know something about their circumstances, but you need to know more.
- You want to establish a rapport with them in order to make the interview a success.
