Slide 1

CHAPTER

An Introduction to Interviewing
An Introduction to Interviewing

Chapter Summary

The Essential Elements of Interviews

Traditional Forms of Interviewing Nontraditional Forms of Interviewing

Summary

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Slide 2

Introduction
Interviews share characteristics with intimate interactions, social conversations, small groups, and presentations, but are significantly different.
Interviews are distinguishable from other forms of interpersonal communication, and can be viewed as a relational form of communication.

2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Slide 3

The Essential Elements of Interviews

The Five Elements of Interviews

Interactional

An interview is interactional because there is an exchanging, or sharing, of roles, responsibilities, feelings, beliefs, motives, and information.

Continued

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Slide 4

The Essential Elements of Interviews

Interactional
Roles may switch from moment to moment. It takes two to make an interview a success. Interactional does not mean equal (e.g. journalistic & counseling- interviewee, information giving & sales- interviewer, employment- both) Sharing of responsibilities. All interviews involve risk.
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Slide 5

The Essential Elements of Interviews

Interactional
Be aware of your feelings, motives, beliefs & information before an interview begins Collaborative is important in an interview

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Slide 6

The Essential Elements of Interviews

Process

Dynamic, continuing, ongoing, everchanging interaction with a degree of system or structure An interview is a complex process. No interview occurs in a vacuum. Once initiated, the interview is an ongoing process.
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Slide 7

The Essential Elements of Interviews

Parties

The interview is a dyadic- two partyprocess

A dyadic process involves two parties.

Many interviews include more than 2 people but never more than 2 parties

If more than two parties are involved, a small group interaction may be occurring, but not an interview.
2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

How many parties involve in these situations?

1.

2.

3.

Three friends (planning to room together next semester) interviewing an apartment manager Three different investments firms bidding on lakeside acreage Four designers from Toyota discussing a new hybrid vehicle

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Slide 9

The Essential Elements of Interviews

Purpose
At least 1 party must come to an interview with an important goal and focus on it Predetermined & serious purpose distinguishes the interview from conversation All interviews have a degree of advanced planning & structure.

2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Slide 10

The Essential Elements of Interviews

Questions
All interviews involve questions and answers. Types of questions: 1. entirely on questions & answers, 2.mixture of questions & information sharing, 3. questions to obtain or clarify information & change another persons ways of thinking, feeling or acting Questions play multiple roles in interviews.

2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Slide 11

The Essential Elements of Interviews

Questions
Roles of questions in interviews: 1. obtain information, 2. check the accuracy of messages sent & received 3. verify impressions & assumptions, 4. provoke feeling or thought

2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Slide 12

The Essential Elements of Interviews

Thus,
An interview is an interactional communication process between 2 parties, at least one of whom has a predetermined & serious purpose, that involves the asking & answering of questions

2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

What Is & Is Not an Interview?

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

An academic counselor is discussing possible class schedules with a student Three supervisors are discussing ways they might alter performance reviews in the second quarter of the year A professor is asking questions about an assigned case study and its practical applications in computer software design A sales representative is attempting to sell furnishings to two brothers who are planning to open a quality mens clothing store A college student is talking on the telephone with an alumnus about contributing to the annual scholarship fund campaign
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Slide 14

Traditional Forms of Interviewing

Information- Giving Interviews

Purpose: to exchange information as accurately, effectively & efficiently as possible Simple (transferring facts, data, reports & opinions from one party to another) but difficult encounters as compared to other forms

E.g. training, instructing, briefing sessions

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Slide 15

Traditional Forms of Interviewing

Information- Gathering Interviews

Purpose: to gather accurate, insightful & useful information through the skillful use of questions May create questions prior interview or on the spot E.g. surveys, exit interviews, investigations

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Slide 16

Traditional Forms of Interviewing

Selection Interviews
Purpose: to select the best qualified applicant for a position in an organization & an applicant attempting to attain this position or to determine the ideal placement of a staff member E.g. recruiting staff, promotion

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Slide 17

Traditional Forms of Interviewing

Reviewing the Interviewees Behavior

Purpose: to coach a student, employee or team member to continue that which is good & to set goals for future performance E.g. helping interviewee dealing with personal problem during counseling interview

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Slide 18

Traditional Forms of Interviewing

Reviewing the Interviewers Behavior

The emphasis is on the interviewers behavior, performance or attitudes Often interviewee- initiated (e,g. filing a grievance) while others are interviewer- initiated (e.g. receive suggestions for improving a service)

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Slide 19

Traditional Forms of Interviewing

Persuasion
Occurs whenever 1 party attempts to alter/ reinforce the thinking, feeling, or acting of another party May be informal or formal

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Slide 20

Nontraditional Forms of Interviewing

The Focus Group Interview

Used in qualitative research Consists of 6 or 12 people as an interviewee party and a highly skilled interviewer (moderator or facilitator) who asks a carefully selected, small set of questions that focus on a specific topic May generate opinions & information
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Slide 21

Nontraditional Forms of Interviewing

The Telephone Interview

The telephone interview is convenient and inexpensive.

Interviewers and interviewees can talk to several people at one time, answer or clarify questions directly, and receive immediate feedback.
A major drawback with telephone interviews is the lack of presence of parties.
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Slide 22

Nontraditional Forms of Interviewing

The Telephone Interview

The Cellular Telephone Cellular Telephones Have Created a Whole New World of Talking Their Usage Has Created a New Concern for Privacy

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Slide 23

Nontraditional Forms of Interviewing

The Videoconference Interview

8 of 10 companies use them for recruiting interviews Visual cues are limited to upperbody ones Videoconference interviews provide less nonverbal information Interviewees do not prefer videoconference interviews

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Slide 24

Nontraditional Forms of Interviewing

The E- mail Interview

With the introduction of Internet, many interviews went face- to- face and ear- to- ear to finger- tofinger The internet lacks the nonverbal cues critical in interviews. However, if both parties use the internet to interact in real time, it meets the definition of an interview.
2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Slide 25

Nontraditional Forms of Interviewing

The E- mail Interview

Obstacle: reluctance of interviewee to type lengthy answers to questions that they can provide easily in person or over the telephone

2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Slide 27

Nontraditional Forms of Interviewing

The Virtual Interview

Applicants proceed to answer from a series of typical employment interview questions by picking the correct answer from a series provided for each. They are informed if they chose the incorrect answer and why it was incorrect Cheaper & need not spend time traveling to locations Interviews are conducted in the form of instant- messaging chats Suggestions: 1) avoid slang & chatspeak 2) do not use tricks 3) act professionally
2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Slide 28

Summary
Interviewing is an interactional communication between two parties, at least one of whom has a predetermined and serious purpose, that involves the asking and answering of questions. We employ interviews to get and give information, to recruit, to assess performance, to persuade, to counsel, and receive help, and to provide quality healthcare.

2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.