978-1337116848 Chapter 14 Lecture Notes

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14 Interviewing for a Job and Preparing

Employment Messages

IN THIS CHAPTER YOU WILL FIND:

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

KEY CONCEPTS

KEY TERMS

CHAPTER OUTLINE

TEACHING SUGGESTIONS

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES

REVIEW QUESTIONS & SUGGESTED ANSWERS

FEATURED ASSIGNMENTS

ADDITIONAL ASSIGNMENTS

CASE ASSIGHMENT

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

1Explain the nature of structured, unstructured, stress, group, and virtual interviews.

2Explain the steps in the interview process.

3Prepare effective answers to questions often asked in job interviews, including illegal

interview questions.

4Compose effective messages related to employment (including application, follow-up,

thank-you, job-acceptance, job-refusal, resignation, and recommendation request messages).

KEY CONCEPTS

Because it is probably the type of interview most familiar and of most concern to students, the

employment interview receives primary emphasis in Chapter 14. Additionally, employment

interviews are a logical continuation of the resume and application-message topics in Chapter 13.

Students are exposed to traditional interviews, as well as more contemporary techniques

publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.

including computer-assisted, stress, series, and virtual interviews. The chapter gives special

attention to preparation for interviews, interview behavior and feedback techniques (paraphrasing

and questioning), and dress and grooming.

KEY TERMS

TERM PAGE TERM PAGE

Stress interview 259 Unstructured interview 259

Structured interview 259 Virtual interview 260

CHAPTER OUTLINE

14-1 Understanding Types of Employment Interviews 259

14-1a Structured Interviews 259

14-1b Unstructured Interviews 259

14-1c Stress Interviews 259

14-1d Series Interviews 260

14-1e Phone Interviews 260

14-1f Virtual Interviews 260

14-2 Preparing for an Interview 261

14-2a Research the Company 261

14-2b Study Yourself 262

14-2c Plan Your Appearance 262

14-2d Plan Your Time and Materials 263

14-2e Practice 263

14-3 Conducting a Successful Interview 263

14-3a The Opening Formalities 263

14-3b The Information Exchange 264

14-3c The Closing 268

14-3d Additional Considerations for Phone Interviews 268

14-4 Preparing Other Employment Messages 269

14-4a Application Forms 269

14-4b Follow-Up Messages 269

14-4c Thank-You Messages 269

14-4d Job-Acceptance Messages 270

14-4e Job-Refusal Messages 270

14-4f Resignation Messages 270

14-4g Recommendation Requests 272

TEACHING SUGGESTIONS

LEARNING OBJECTIVE 1

Explain the nature of structured, unstructured, stress, group, and virtual interviews.

publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.

Types of Employment Interviews

Invite guest speakers to discuss the job search process, effective interviewing techniques,

business protocol, and performance appraisal interviews. Consider former students, local

human resources professors or managers, business protocol professors, communication

consultants, officials in the school’s career services center, or local employment agents.

Emphasize to students that the traditional one-on-one interview scenario is not the only

possible interviewing arrangement. Discuss the various job interviewing arrangements.

Ask students to discuss their experiences with job interviews.

Structured interviews

Lead a discussion of the purposes of the behavior-based interview.

Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of computer-assisted interviews as an alternative to

traditional face-to-face interviewing.

Unstructured interviews

Emphasize that the goal of an unstructured interview is to determine the applicant’s ability to

speak comfortably about a wide range of topics. Lead a discussion of types of unstructured

interviews: stress, group, and virtual.

Virtual Interviews

Lead a discussion as to how a virtual interview differs from a traditional one.

How should the candidate prepare for a virtual interview? What factors would be of concern

that would not figure in a traditional interview?

LEARNING OBJECTIVE 2

Explain the steps in the interview process.

Preparing for an Interview

Discuss preparation for an interview. Remind students that preparing is as important as

actually showing for the interview.

Discuss the various places for obtaining information about the company, the position, and the

career paths available.

Discuss when an interviewer forms an impression of the job candidate—in the first 15–30

seconds of the interaction. Remind students that overcoming a negative first impression is

more difficult than forming a good first impression. They want to spend their interview time

strengthening the tie between their qualifications and their job under discussion, not

overcoming a negative first impression.

Initiate a discussion related to the appropriate attire for an interview. Ask students if the

culture of the organization for which the interview will be conducted affects the dress code

for the interview? Stress that good advice is to err on the side of formality rather than

informality when dressing for an interview. Students will benefit from actually experiencing

and witnessing recommended attire. You may ask students to investigate the topic further by

locating current articles on the topic.

publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.

LEARNING OBJECTIVE 3

Prepare effective answers to questions often asked in job interviews, including illegal interview

questions.

Practice for the Interview

Stress that students focus on the total picture:

How you listen and talk

Your actions, mannerisms, and appearance

Your education, experience, activities

Discuss the importance of practice so that communication in the interview is smooth,

confident and professional. Discuss the following steps in exchanging information:

List five or six key points that you want to emphasize.

Discuss the balance of soft and hard skills. Remind students that they must be able to present

job-related skills and people skills during an interview. Most employers are not interested in

an applicant with zero people skills, even if he or she has more applicable job skills than

other candidates.

In small groups, have students prepare a list of behaviors that might convey a professional

attitude to an interviewer.

Be prepared to answer standard interview questions.

Discuss standard questions an interviewee might ask an interviewer.

Discuss answering an interview question about weaknesses. Remind students that everyone

has weaknesses. Their answer should show awareness of a weakness that will not have a

negative effect on their job worthiness.

In small groups have students practice answering standard interview questions.

Be prepared to answer behavioral questions.

Discuss typical behavioral questions

In small groups have students practice answering behavioral questions.

Consider asking students to provide answers to five questions (any of the questions discussed

in the text or on the slides) as an assignment for this chapter. Writing their job-specific

answers to these questions will help them prepare for the interview process. Refer students to

helpful web sites for additional interview questions, both basic and job-focused.

Be prepared to demonstrate logical thinking and creativity.

Be prepared to discuss salary and benefits.

In small groups have students role-play the interaction of an interviewer and an applicant

concerning salary.

Be knowledgeable of interview questions that might lead to discriminatory hiring practices.

Discuss possible illegal interview questions and strategies for answering them.

Requires students to respond to challenging interview questions, including some that are

possibly illegal.

Be prepared to ask the interviewer questions.

publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.

Remind students an interviewer is not the only one making a decision during the interview

process. The job applicant or interviewee also must decide whether the position and the

company are right for him or her.

Remind students that they should be prepared to “interview the company” as part of the

process. Tell students to consider: “Are the company’s values the same as yours? Does the

work environment fit with what you need? Does this position fit the goals you outlined at the

beginning of your job search process?”

Asking Questions of the Interviewer

If you wish to cover the interviewer’s role, discuss effective interviewing techniques for

interviewers.

Activities and Assignments for interview practice.

In small groups, have students prepare a list of behaviors that might convey a professional

attitude to an interviewer.

Arrange for two volunteers to demonstrate an effective (and ineffective) job interview before

the entire class to provide a model for mock interviews in teams. This demonstration is an

excellent opportunity to use the expertise of resource persons, for example, human resources

management professors or practitioners, career services personnel, or students with special

communication abilities (students who have completed a full semester course in

interviewing).

Have students participate in mock interviews. As a suggestion, have four students work as a

team. One plays a role as interviewer, another as interviewee, and two serve as observers to

provide critiques of the effectiveness of the interview. Teams should continue mock

interviews until all members have an opportunity to be both interviewer and interviewee.

Require students to distribute copies of their résumés to other team members. To increase the

effectiveness of the mock interviews, complete these activities prior to the interviews:

Have students research a company and writing ten original questions that could be

asked during a job interview.

Require students to write interview questions based on a peer’s résumé. Discuss

students’ responses in class.

Have students investigate and demonstrate appropriate and inappropriate nonverbal

messages. Discuss some of the nonverbal signals that create good/bad impressions—

especially during the first four minutes.

Following the interviews, have students discuss or describe the following:

Summary of the strengths and detailed description of the areas needing improvement

before the next interview.

Significant points discussed during the interview that can be used in a thank-you

letter.

Conducting a Successful Interview

Introduce the discussion by noting the typical interview has three parts: (a) the opening

formalities, (b) the information exchange, and (c) the close. Then, initiate a discussion of

effective strategies for each part.

Ask students if they have ever heard the expression, “You never get a second chance to make

a first impression.”

publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.

Remind students that most interviewers make their decisions about “no” or “maybe” as a

potential in the FIRST FOUR MINUTES. Stress the importance of that first impression based

on dress, nonverbal communication, confidence, and demeanor.

The Opening Formalities

Discuss effective interviewee behaviors.

Emphasize the importance of nonverbal behaviors and messages in the interview process.

The Information Exchange

Open discussion with pointers on how to display a professional attitude throughout the

interview.

Communicate sincere interest in the company.

Focus on satisfaction gained from your contributions to the company rather than the benefits

received.

Show humanness

The Closing

Advise students: Watch interviewer for closing cues and respond tactfully.

If you really want the job, ask for it.

LEARNING OBJECTIVE 4

Compose effective messages related to employment (including application, follow-up, thank-you,

job-acceptance, job-refusal, resignation, and recommendation request messages).

Preparing Other Employment Messages

Discuss the various employment messages other than the résumé and application that students

will be required to write.

Refer students to the good examples illustrated in the text as you lead a discussion of each of

these messages. Assign one or more of the related activities.

Discuss choosing an appropriate medium (letter or email) for sending the types of messages

indicated in the table below. Tell students to consider the company and the preferences of the

interviewers when determining the channel for thank-you, job, acceptance, job-refusal, or

resignation messages.

Show examples of appropriate follow-up messages listed below.

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES

1Subscribing to a Career Newsletter: Subscribe to the career newsletter at

http://www.quintcareers.com under “Career Tools” or to a newsletter from a career website

of your choosing. Create a career file that contains the following information about your

selected career field:

a. Outlook for job openings.

b. Typical starting salaries by region.

c. Minimum requirements.

publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.

d. Desired skills and experience.

e. Networking opportunities.

f. Recommended interview strategies.

g. Potential for advancement.

Submit your file to your instructor for review or use it as directed.

Evaluate based on the guidelines for effective self-marketing discussed in this and previous

chapters.

1. Preparing to Answer Interview Questions Effectively: Considering your career field,

compose a list of potential questions you might be asked in a job interview. As directed by

your instructor, complete one or more of the following:

a. Divide into groups of three and discuss appropriate answers to the interview questions.

b. Revise your answers, incorporating relevant feedback and being sure that the answers

are truthful and reflect your individual personality.

c. Conduct mock interviews, with one person portraying the interviewer, the second person

portraying the interviewee, and the third person performing a critique of the interview.

Discuss the results of the critique.

To shorten this assignment without sacrificing content, divide the questions equally among class

members. Discuss each question, giving students ample time to write notes about questions they

were not required to answer.

2. Developing Appropriate Interview Questions: Bring a copy of your résumé to class and

exchange it with another student. Assume you are an employer who has received the résumé

for one of the following positions:

a. A part-time job visiting high schools to sell seniors on the idea of attending your school.

b. A full-time summer job as a management intern in a local bank.

c. A campus job as an assistant in your school president’s office.

Write several appropriate interview questions based on the résumé. With the other student,

take turns playing the part of the interviewer and the interviewee. Critique each other’s

ability to answer the questions effectively.

Student responses will vary. Sample questions shown below:

How will the skills you obtained in your past employment aid you in this position?

What is your most important strength?

In what communication area are you the weakest and what are you doing to try to strengthen

your skills?

Give me one example of how you used your problem-solving skills to aid your employer.

Why do you want this job?

3. Responding to Challenging Interview Questions: Your instructor will divide the class into

pairs. One member will send an email message; the other will respond. The sender will

compose an email message to the other member asking for a thoughtful response to five

tough interview questions. At least one of the questions should be sensitive in nature (possibly

publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.

illegal or quite close). The team member receiving the message will email answers to the five

questions. Send your instructor a copy of the original message and the answers to the

questions. The instructor may ask that you reverse roles so that each of you has experience

composing and answering difficult interview questions.

Prepare visuals and show some of the more interesting questions posed, along with their answers.

Lead a discussion of other possible appropriate answers to the questions. Lead students in a

discussion of some unusual questions they have been asked in interview situations and how they

responded.

4. Critiquing a Job Application: Obtain a copy of a job application and bring it to class. In

small groups, critique each application, commenting on the appropriateness of items

included. Discuss how you would respond to each item. Share with the class any items you

felt were inappropriate or illegal and how you would respond.

Student responses will vary but should focus on illegal information asked for, space allowed for

providing information, and the general ease of using the application

publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.