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Chapter 7: Interviewing Candidates 7-5
Copyright © 2017 Pearson Education, Inc.
Chapter Review
Chapter Section Summaries:
7-1: A selection interview is a selection procedure designed to predict future job performance
based on applicants’ oral responses to oral inquiries; we discussed several basic types of
interviews.
7-2: One reason selection interviews are often less useful than they should be is that managers
make predictable errors that undermine an interview’s usefulness.
7-3: The manager should know how to design and conduct an effective interview.
7-4: High-engagement firms like Toyota use total hiring programs to select employees.
7-5: After choosing which candidate to hire, the employer turns to developing and extending
the job offer.
Discussion Questions:
7-1: There are several ways to conduct a selection interview. Explain and illustrate the
basic ways in which you can classify selection interviews.
Interviews can be classified according to:
1. Degree of structure – this is the extent to which interviews are, or are not, structured with
previously designed questions so that each candidate must answer the same questions.
2. Purpose – interviews may be designed to accomplish several purposes, including
7-2: Briefly describe each of the following possible types of interviews: unstructured panel
interviews; structured sequential interviews; job-related structured interviews.
In the unstructured panel interview, the panel of interviewers ask questions as they come to
mind. They do not have a list of questions or points that need to be covered but may follow
many different directions. The structured sequential interview consists of the candidate
7-3: For what sorts of jobs do you think unstructured interviews might be most
appropriate? Why?
Chapter 7: Interviewing Candidates 7-6
Copyright © 2017 Pearson Education, Inc.
The computerized interview can be used as a screening device for virtually any type of
position that may generate a large number of applicants. It is less likely to be used for
7-4: How would you explain the fact that structured interviews, regardless of content, are
generally more valid than unstructured interviews for predicting job performance?
This item can be assigned as a discussion question in MyManagementLab. Student
7-5: Briefly discuss what an interviewer can do to improve his or her performance.
The students should refer to the section in the chapter on designing and conducting the
effective interview to form his/her suggestions for how an interviewer can improve
7-6: What items should a letter of offer definitely contain?
This item can be assigned as a Discussion Question in MyManagementLab. Student
7-7: What parallels do you see between the Toyota and Google total selection processes?
What differences?
The students should refer to the section in the chapter on Employee Engagement for
Managers to address both the Toyota and Google processes. Student responses should
include: both companies use a total selection program aimed at selecting candidates
whose totality of attributes best fits the employer’s total requirement; and they both do
Individual and Group Activities:
7-8: Prepare and give a short presentation titled, “How to Be Effective as a Selection
Interviewer.”
There are several things you can do to prepare to be an effective interviewer. Some of the
responses the students should give include: structure the interview; prepare for the interview;
Chapter 7: Interviewing Candidates 7-7
Copyright © 2017 Pearson Education, Inc.
7-9: Use the Internet to find employers who now do preliminary selection interviews via the
Web. Do you think these interviews are useful? Why or why not? How would you
improve them?
The students should use the Internet to search the Web sites of various companies to find
examples of companies that use the Web for preliminary selection interviews. They should
7-10: In groups, discuss and compile examples of “the worst interview I ever had.” What
was it about these interviews that made them so bad? If time permits, discuss as a
class.
Based on their experiences, the students should come up with various examples. They
7-11: In groups, prepare an interview (including a sequence of at least 20 questions) you’ll
use to interview candidates for the job teaching a course in Human Resources
Management. Each group should present their interview questions in class.
The students should use this opportunity to design their own interview questions using the
7-12: Some firms swear by unorthodox interview methods. For example, Tech Planet, of
Menlo Park, California, uses weekly lunches and “wacky follow-up sessions” as
substitutes for first-round job interviews. During the informal meals, potential staffers
are expected to mingle, and the Tech Planet employees they meet at the luncheons then
review them. One Tech Planet employee asks candidates to ride a unicycle in her office
to see if “they’ll bond with the corporate culture or not.” Toward the end of the
screening process, the surviving group of interviewees has to solve brainteasers, and
then openly evaluate their fellow candidates’ strengths and weaknesses. What do you
think of a screening process like this? What are its pros and cons? What changes, if
any, would you recommend?
The students should use the information they’ve learned in this chapter to make judgments
7-13: Several years ago, Lockheed Martin Corp. sued the Boeing Corp. in Orlando,
Florida, accusing it of using Lockheed’s trade secrets to help win a multibillion-dollar
government contract. Among other things, Lockheed Martin claimed that Boeing had
obtained those trade secrets from a former Lockheed Martin employee who switched to
Boeing. But in describing methods companies use to commit corporate espionage, one
writer says that hiring away the competitor’s employees or hiring people to go through
its dumpster are just the most obvious methods companies use to commit corporate
espionage. As he says, “one of the more unusual scams—sometimes referred to as ‘help
Chapter 7: Interviewing Candidates 7-8
Copyright © 2017 Pearson Education, Inc.
wanted’—uses a person posing as a corporate headhunter who approaches an employee
of the target company with a potentially lucrative job offer. During the interview, the
employee is quizzed about his responsibilities, accomplishments, and current projects.
The goal is to extract important details without the employee realizing there is no job.”
Assume that you own a small high-tech company. What would you do (in terms of
employee training, or a letter from you, for instance) to try to minimize the chance that
one of your employees will fall into that kind of trap? Also, compile a list of 10
questions that you think such a corporate spy might ask one of your employees.
Students may suggest that the employer educate employees that tactics such as the ones
described here are used by competitors, suggest an appropriate response, and encourage
employees to report any such contact to management. Building trust and loyalty is clearly
7-14: Appendices A and B at the end of this book list the knowledge someone studying for
the HRCI (Appendix A) or SHRM (Appendix B) certification exam needs to have in
each area of human resource management (such as in Strategic Management and
Workforce Planning). In groups of several students, do four things: (1) review
Appendix A and/or B; (2) identify the material in this chapter that relates to the
required knowledge Appendix A and/or B required knowledge lists; (3) write four
multiple-choice exam questions on this material that you believe would be suitable for
inclusion in the HRCI exam and/or the SHRM exam; and (4) if time permits, have
someone from your team post your team's questions in front of the class, so that
students in all teams can answer the exam questions created by the other teams.
Material from this chapter that may be included in the HRCI certification exam includes
interviewing procedures, federal, state, and local employment-related laws, and interviewing
Experiential Exercise: The Most Important Person You’ll Ever Hire
Purpose: The purpose of this exercise is to give you practice using some of the interview
techniques you learn from this chapter.
Required Understanding: You should be familiar with the information presented in the chapter,
and to read this: “For parents, children are precious.” It's therefore interesting that parents who
hire “nannies” to take care of the children usually do little more than ask several interview
questions and conduct what is often, at best, a perfunctory reference check. Given the often
questionable validity of interviews, and the (often) relative inexperience of the father or mother
doing the interviewing, it's not surprising that many of these arrangements are disappointments.
Chapter 7: Interviewing Candidates 7-9
Copyright © 2017 Pearson Education, Inc.
You know from this chapter that it is difficult to conduct a valid interview unless you know
exactly what you are looking for. Most parents simply aren't trained to do this.
How to Set up the Exercise/Instructions: Set up groups of five or six students. Two students
will be the interviewees, while the other students in the group will serve as panel interviewers.
The interviewees will develop an interviewer assessment form, and the panel interviewers will
develop a structured situational interview for a “nanny.”
7-15: Instructions for the interviews: The interviewees should leave the room for about 20
min. While out of the room, the interviewees should develop an “interviewer
assessment form” based on the information presented in the chapter regarding
factors that can undermine the usefulness of an interview. During the panel
interview, the interviewees should assess the interviewers using the interviewer
assessment form. After the panel interviewers have conducted the interview, the
interviewees should leave the room to discuss their notes. Did the interviewers exhibit
any of the factors that can undermine the usefulness of an interview? If so, which
ones? What suggestions would you (the interviewees) make to the interviewers on
how to improve the usefulness of the interview?
7-16: Instructions for interviewers: while the interviewees are out of the room, the panel
interviewers will have 20 min. to develop a short structured situational interview
form for a “nanny.” The panel interview team will interview two candidates for the
position. During the panel interview, each interviewer should be taking notes on a
copy of the structured situational interview form. After the panel interview, the panel
interviewers should discuss their notes. What were your first impressions of each
interviewee? Were your impressions similar? What candidate would you all select for
the position and why?
Application Case: The Out-of-Control Interview
7-17: How would you explain the nature of the panel interview Maria had to endure?
Specifically, do you think it reflected a well-thought-out interviewing strategy on the
part of the firm, or carelessness on the part of the firm's management? If it was
carelessness, what would you do to improve the interview process at Apex
Environmental?
It is fairly clear that the panel interview was a stress interview designed to see how well
she could handle difficult situations. In this respect, it seems to have been a well-thought-
out interviewing strategy, but there was a very clear element of carelessness on the part of
7-18: Would you take the job offer if you were Maria? If you're not sure, what additional
information would help you make your decision?
Chapter 7: Interviewing Candidates 7-10
Copyright © 2017 Pearson Education, Inc.
Maria needs additional information. What she does know is the nature of the job and the
clear fit with her training and skills. The additional information that she should seek
involves the number of women who work at Apex, the levels of management they have
7-19: The job of applications engineer for which Maria was applying requires: (a) excellent
technical skills with respect to mechanical engineering; (b) a commitment to working
in the area of pollution control; (c) the ability to deal well and confidently with
customers who have engineering problems; (d) a willingness to travel worldwide; and
(e) a very intelligent and well-balanced personality. List 10 questions you would ask
when interviewing applicants for the job.
There are a wide variety of specific questions that could be posed to address these issues.
Questions need to be job-related, specifically to the requirements listed above. They also
Continuing Case: Carter Cleaning Company – The Better Interview
7-20: In general, what can Jennifer do to improve her employee interviewing practices?
Should she develop interview forms that list questions for management and non-
management jobs. If so, how should these look, and what questions should be
included? Should she initiate a computer-based interview approach? If so, why and
how?
Carter Cleaning Company has an inadequate, unstructured way of interviewing and
hiring. One solution students could suggest is to utilize a structured interview guide such
as the one provided in Figure 7-1 as an example of a tool that managers could use to
7-21: Should she implement a training program for her managers, and if so, specifically
what should be the content of such a training program? In other words, if she did
decide to start training her management people to be better interviewers, what should
she tell them and how should she tell it to them?
The obvious answer to this question is yes, a training program should be designed and
delivered. Students should include suggestions from the section on designing and
conducting effective interviews, including training in preparation, utilization of a
Chapter 7: Interviewing Candidates 7-11
Copyright © 2017 Pearson Education, Inc.
as outlined in the text. She should also provide an opportunity for practice with mock
Hotel Paris: Improving Performance at the Hotel Paris – The New Interviewing
Program
7-22: For the jobs of security guard or valet, develop five additional situational, five
behavioral, and five job knowledge questions, with descriptive good/average/poor
answers.
Examples may be found in Figures 7-2 and 7-3. Student answers will vary. For the
security guard, questions might focus on ascertaining the level of dependability,
7-23: Combine your questions into a complete interview that you would give to someone
who must interview candidates for these jobs.
Students should follow the outline for interviewing in Figure 7-1 and refer to Figure 7-3.
My Management Lab
Students can find the following assisted-graded writing questions at mymanagementlab.com.
Answers to these questions are graded against rubrics in the MyLab.
7-24: Briefly discuss and give examples of at least five common interviewing mistakes. What
recommendations would you give for avoiding these interviewing mistakes?
7-25: What parallels do you see between the Toyota and Google total selection process? What
differences?
Key Terms:
Unstructured (or Nondirective) Interview – An unstructured conversational-style interview in
which the interviewer pursues points of interest as they come up in response to questions.
Structured (or Directive) Interview – An interview following a set sequence of questions.
Chapter 7: Interviewing Candidates 7-12
Copyright © 2017 Pearson Education, Inc.
Situational Interview – A series of job-related questions that focus on how the candidate would
behave in a given situation.
Behavioral Interview – A series of job-related questions that focus on how the candidate
reacted to actual situations in the past.
Job-Related Interview – A series of job-related questions which focus on relevant past job-
related behaviors.
Stress Interview – An interview in which the applicant is made uncomfortable by a series of
often rude questions. This technique helps identify hypersensitive applicants and those with low
or high stress tolerance.
Unstructured Sequential Interview – An interview in which each interviewer forms an
independent opinion after asking different questions.
Structured Sequential Interview – An interview in which the applicant is interviewed
sequentially by several persons; each rates the applicant on a standard form.
Panel Interview – An interview in which a group of interviewers questions the applicant.
Mass Interview – A panel interviews several candidates simultaneously.
Candidate-Order (or Contrast) Error – An error of judgment on the part of the interviewer
due to interviewing one or more very good or very bad candidates just before the interview in
question.
Structured Situational Interview – A series of job-relevant questions with predetermined
answers that interviewers ask of all applicants for the job.
