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 ASSIGNMENT
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1 Explain the nature of structured, unstructured, stress, group, and virtual interviews.
2 Explain the steps in the interview process.
3 Prepare effective answers to questions often asked in job interviews, including illegal
interview questions.
4 Compose 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
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
14-1c Stress Interviews 259
14-1d Series Interviews 260
14-1e Phone Interviews 260
14-2 Preparing for an Interview 261
14-2b Study Yourself 262
14-2c Plan Your Appearance 262
14-2d Plan Your Time and Materials 263
14-3 Conducting a Successful Interview 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
14-4c Thank-You Messages 269
14-4d Job-Acceptance Messages 270
14-4e Job-Refusal Messages 270
14-4g Recommendation Requests 272
TEACHING SUGGESTIONS
LEARNING OBJECTIVE 1
Explain the nature of structured, unstructured, stress, group, and virtual interviews.
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.
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
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
Be prepared to ask the interviewer questions
• 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
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
Conducting a Successful Interview
• Introduce the discussion by noting the typical interview has three parts: (a) the opening
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.
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
CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. Subscribing 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.
2. 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.
d. Discuss the results of the critique.
3. 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?
4. 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
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.
5. 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.
REVIEW QUESTIONS & SUGGESTED ANSWERS
1. What types of interviews are common in today’s business environment and how do they
different from one another?
Structured interviews follow set plans, and unstructured interviews are freewheeling exchanges;
good interviewers are capable of having one seem like the other. Using computer-assisted
interviewing to screen applicants during preliminary interviews, recruiters obtain standard,
2. What information should you locate about a company with which you will interview?
What means will you use to locate the information?
3. Write a brief statement that describes your unique value to an employer. Include
information about your educational experiences, work experience, involvement in
student organizations, and other pertinent information.
4. What nonverbal messages can an interviewee convey to favorably impress an
interviewer? What negative nonverbal messages can be conveyed?
5. How do responses to standard and behavioral interview questions differ?
6. What is a good strategy to use when you are asked about your major weakness? Provide
a specific example you might use?
7. Discuss three ways an interviewee can handle an illegal interview question. What are
the advantages and disadvantages of each?
Three ways to handle illegal interview questions: (a) refuse to answer the illegal question, (b)
8. How do the thank-you and the follow-up letter differ? What should each contain?
9. What guidelines should be followed in requesting a recommendation letter?
10. Which would be written deductively: (a) an acceptance letter, (b) a refusal letter, or (c)
a resignation letter? What ideas should be included in each of these letters?
a) an acceptance letter should be written deductively. It accepts the job in the first sentence.
11. How can a job applicant maximize the likelihood of accepting the “right” job?
12. Explain why communication skills are the universal job requirement.
FEATURED ASSIGNMENTS
1. Developing Verbal Skills: Research and read a selection of articles on job interviewing and
compose a list of rules for effective interview language. Then develop a one-page plan of
action for improving your interviewing language skills. Give several examples for each rule.
In class, compare your lists with your classmates.
2. Notifying a Reference of Information Requests: Write an email message asking a reference
to provide information to prospective employers. A reference can be a professor, past or
present employer, or other appropriate person. Remember to include a résumé and specific
information about how their qualifications relate to the job requirements in your request.
3. Thinking Logically and Creatively: Separate into small groups and locate five brain teasers
that could be incorporated into a job interview to identify an applicant’s ability to think
logically and creatively. Consult the numerous brain teaser books available in bookstores,
visit one of many brain teaser websites, or share brain teasers that you know have been used
during actual job interviews. Then write a two-page report on the importance of logical and
creative thinking to their chosen career field. Include the brain teasers your group selected as
examples of how critical thinking can be assessed in an interview.
4. Developing Interview Skills: Interview a manager, preferably in your field, who conducts job
interviews regularly. Discuss techniques that will improve your interviewing techniques.
Then prepare a short presentation to share your findings with the class.
5. Performing Mock Interviews: Find a partner and stage an effective mock performance
interview. Write a commentary that explains why the portrayed behaviors and dialogue you
used are appropriate interview behaviors.
ADDITIONAL ASSIGNMENTS
1. Rebounding from a Termination: Each year, many workers from every career field find
themselves out of work. The process of becoming reemployed can be stressful, to say the
least. Find an article that presents strategies for surviving a job termination and successfully
becoming re-employed. Using the information in the article, develop a checklist of strategies
for locating and landing a desirable job. Add your own additional strategies. Submit your
checklist to your instructor.
Sample checklist:
• Investigate who you really are and what you want to do.
2. Researching a Company and Asking Questions of an Interviewer: In small groups or
individually, research a company of your choice. To guide your research use the chapter
information and locate the following article online or from a database available from your
campus library:
Daniel, L. (2006). Finding the right job fit: Asking the right questions—of
yourself and a potential employer—can help ensure that you end up in the right
place. HRMagazine, 51(3), 62(6).
Generate a list of ten questions to ask an interviewer from the company you researched. Your
original questions should communicate initiative, intelligence, and genuine interest in the
company and the job. Submit a memo to your instructor that summarizes important facts
3. Following Up on a Job Application: Assume that you have applied for a position earlier in
this current class term. Make the assumption you prefer about the position: You applied for
(a) an immediate part-time job, (b) a full-time job for next summer, (c) a cooperative
education assignment or internship, or (d) a full-time job immediately after your graduation.
Assume you have now completed the current class term. Mentioning the courses you have
taken this term, write a follow-up letter for the position for which you have applied.
4. Saying “Thank–You” for an Interview: Assume that you were interviewed for the job for
which you applied in the previous Additional Assignment. Write a thank-you email message
to the interviewer; send it to your instructor or submit as directed.
5. Accepting a Job Offer: Write a letter of acceptance for the job (internship) for which you
applied in Additional Assignment 3. Assume you have been asked to start work in two weeks.
Provide additional details concerning work arrangements, salary, etc. Supply an address.
6. Refusing a Job Offer Diplomatically: Assume that the job search identified in Additional
Assignment 3 was very successful; you were offered positions with two firms. Write a letter
refusing one of the job offers. Because you want to maintain a positive relationship with the
company for whom you are refusing to work, provide specific reasons for your decision.
Supply an address.
7. Resigning from a Job: Write a letter resigning from your current job. If you are not currently
employed, supply fictitious information.
Stress the importance of writing fresh, original employment messages. The resignation should
8. Informing a Reference of an Extended Job Search: Your job search is taking much longer
than you had hoped. Because your references have been providing recommendations for six
months now, you must write expressing your gratitude and updating them on the status of
your job search. If your qualifications have changed, include an updated résumé. Compose
an email to one of your references. Send to your instructor or submit as directed.
9. Sending the Right Nonverbal Signals: While what you say in an interview will obviously be
important, you will also have to be careful to send the right unspoken signals. Your numerous
nonverbal messages will also be noted by a prospective employer. Locate the following
article about nonverbal communication in interviews by searching online or using a database
available from your campus library:
Riggio, R. E. (2011, Jan. 5) Using effective nonverbal communication in job
10. Organizing an Employer Panel: Working with a small group, organize an employer panel
for a class session on successful interviewing. Include the following elements in your panel
activity:
a. Contact employers who would be willing to serve on the panel and share their views
about successful job interviewing.
11. Conducting a Job Interview: Identify another student in your class with similar career goals,
and together select a related job listing from a newspaper or web posting. Using that job
listing, develop a set of questions for an employment interview. Stage an interview, with one
12. Conducting a Performance Appraisal Interview: In pairs, stage an effective mock
performance interview. Record your interview and write a commentary that explains why the
portrayed behaviors and dialogue are appropriate. Submit your tape and commentary to your
instructor.
Responses will vary but should focus on the concepts discussed in the web enrichment at the text
CASE ASSIGNMENT 1
TO TELL OR NOT TO TELL: THE IMPLICATIONS OF DISCLOSING POTENTIALLY
DAMAGING INFORMATION IN AN EMPLOYMENT REFERENCE
Highly publicized and widespread business scandals have led to a significant increase in
reference checking. While some firms do their own checking, others turn to the expertise of
reference-checking services. Until recently, the rule for employers for responding to reference
checks about their employees was fairly simple: the less said, the better. The risk of providing
employment references to prospective employers is that former employees may sue if your
references are unfavorable and lead to job rejection or if they constitute invasion of privacy. The
employers may be liable to a former employee for defamation if the employer communicates to a
prospective employer or other person a false statement that results in damage to the former
employee’s reputation. Defamation is commonly referred to as “slander” if the communication is
verbal and as “libel” if the communication is written. Employers have traditionally been
cautioned about relating information that is not formally documented or for which no objective
evidence exists. Thus, the more information provided, the greater the likelihood of a defamation
or privacy invasion suit by the former employee. Awards in successful suits may include damages
for lost earnings, mental anguish, pain and suffering, and even punitive damages.
Recent court decisions may have changed all of that or at least created confusion for
employers about what to disclose. If an employer gives a positive reference for a fired employee,
the employee could sue for wrongful termination. In situations where the employer knows that a
former employee has a history of criminal violence or extremely aggressive behavior, the
employer may have a legal obligation to provide such information to a prospective employer.
Questions arise as to what to do if you are not sure that the information about the previous
employee is true. The risk of remaining silent is that you could be sued for negligently failing to
disclose the information if the former employee were to harm someone on the next job. On the
other hand, you could be sued for defamation if you do disclose the information and the former
employee can successfully establish that it is not true.
Some attorneys recommend that companies have employees who are leaving the
organization sign a form releasing the employer from any liability for responding truthfully
during the course of giving references. All inquiries for references should be handled through an
established point of contact, and only written requests for references should be considered. Only
accurate and verifiable information should be reported.
Activities
1. Make a list of types of statements that a former employer should generally avoid making
when giving employment references.
2. Write an organizational policy that addresses the appropriate guidelines for giving employee
references. Include statements concerning appropriate content and the manner in which such
information should be issued.
Answers may vary but may include the following:
3. Formulate a legal argument that presents the conflict between the potential employer’s right
to know and the previous employer’s right to avoid possible defamation charges. Present
both sides in a short written report or presentation.
CASE ASSIGNMENT 2
GE: DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES?
Imagine, solve, build, and lead—four bold verbs that express what it is to be part of GE.
Known for its demanding high-performance culture, GE also recognizes the value of work/life
flexibility in helping employees feel fulfilled both professionally and personally. GE is made up
of 11 technology, services, and financial businesses with more than 300,000 employees
worldwide. The corporation heads the list of Top 20 Companies for Leaders and strives to create
a balance between the value that employees contribute to the company and the rewards offered in
return. GE views its size as strength, not a deterrent, in encouraging its employees to take risks
and think outside the box.
At GE, good ideas and a strong work ethic are encouraged, with company values based
on three traditions: unyielding integrity, commitment to performance, and thirst for change. GE
Diversity is not just a noble idea at GE but an ongoing initiative, evidenced by the fact
that women make up 35 percent of entry-level full-time corporate training programs hires.
Minorities make up about 30 percent. GE’s website proclaims its firm commitment to diversity
and team building: “We recognize the power of the mix, the strength that results from successful
diversity. Our business and workforce diversity creates a limitless source of ideas and
opportunities.” GE recognizes the “power of the mix” and the strength that results from
inclusiveness. In an atmosphere of inclusiveness, all employees are encouraged to contribute and
diversity officer, Deborah Elam steers efforts to globally develop and execute GE’s strategies to
promote internal diversity, flexibility, and inclusion.
Upon receiving her bachelor’s degree, Elam joined GE in 1989 as a human resources
intern. The company brings in hundreds of interns each year, offering 65 percent of them full-
organization and foster learning around the changing demands of the marketplace.
While GE’s diversity initiative started as a U.S. activity, the program was expanded and
refocused a few years ago and embodied in the slogan “global employer of choice.” “No matter
where we work or do business, we want to attract and retain the very best talent,” explains Elam.
“Diverse representation is clearly important around the world,” Elam continues. “In the U.S. it
may be women and U.S. minorities. In Europe it may be having a pan-European leadership
Diversity is a strong part of GE’s recruitment effort, and the company strives to be
reflective of the markets served. GE presently sponsors four employee affinity networks: the
African American forum, the women’s network, the Hispanic forum, and the Asian Pacific
American forum. A fifth initiative, the Native American network, is in its infancy. Activities for
all the networks include mentoring, coaching, networking, and creating opportunities that bring
members in contact with senior GE leaders. Participation in a network is voluntary, but each
network is viewed as an investment in people, and those who get involved get noticed. “We’ve
seen the results: getting more leaders into the pipeline,” says Elam.
Work/life issues are also important to GE. Onsite daycare and flexible work
arrangements are examples of benefits designed to aid employees in being their best, both at
Activities
1. What assessment factors are considered in determining the “America’s Most Admired”
award winners?
2. Using the assessment factors used in the award process as a guide, compose a list of
questions that you might ask during an employment interview to determine the respectability
of the company with which you are interviewing.
3. Visit the GE website to learn about some of the company’s plans to promote management
diversity. You may choose to visit any one of the network forums: Women, African, Asian, or
Hispanic. Summarize your findings in a short report.
4. Following directions provided by your instructor, post your response to the following
question: As GE uses focused strategies to get more minority employees into the management
pipeline, how can they assure that the traditional white male constituency is not
shortchanged?