Challenges of Conducting Interviews

Challenges of Conducting Interviews Introduction Among the most important inputs of any firm is the human capital or labor force, who oversees the whole production process. Labor determines the productivity of a given firm and in some cases, the sales capacity where employees are involved in the marketing process. It is important therefore, to get the right choice of employees in the workforce of the firm and encourage them to perform to their best.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Challenges of Conducting Interviews specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More During job recruiting exercises, it is important that every step is taken carefully to ensure objectivity high standards are applied. However, in many instances human resource managers make various mistakes which may lead to loss of a valuable employee or inclusion into the workforce of the company an employee who is more of a liability than an asset. These mistakes mostly occur during interview process and needs to be identified and addressed accordingly. Human Resource Department Any organization has the human resource department, which is involved with the hiring process and the welfare of the employees while they are working for the organization. It is upon the human resource manager to ensure that the employees that are included in the workforce of the organization are the best qualified in the society (Daly 75). On top of that, employees who are not given the best working conditions tend to reduce their productivity rate hence the human resource managers should ensure that employees are satisfied with how they are treated. With the increase in competition, both locally and globally on the need for qualified employees and for customers, human resource managers must play a central role in ensuring that other than employing the best brains, retention of employees is given emphasis (Daly 98). Human resource managers need to be mentors and coaches of the employees to guide them toward s achieving highest productivity while at the same time they should be able to develop talents amongst the employees (Dale 47). Most importantly, human resource managers have to influence key decision making in an organization as well as being able to propel the organization culture among the employees so as to boost the firm’s output. Job Interview This is a process in which the prospective employee is evaluated by the prospective employer or a mandated party on behalf of the prospective employer to ascertain whether the employee is qualified for the position. In many cases, it comes after the employee has applied for the position in question, and the interview panel or person therefore has some clue about the identity of the interviewee (Billsberry 58). Interview is the main tool of choosing the best employee and requires immense resource investment from the employer. Interviews can range from one session to several sessions depending on the importance of the position being interviewed for to the organization and the kind of a person being sort for (Jenkins 110). Contrary to the notion that interview always helps in identifying the best qualified candidate, there have been many situations where this has not been the case hence bringing in a point of unreliability.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More This is due to various inadequacies of the interviewing party on carrying out their job leading to loss of absolute due diligence (Yeung 103). It is rather difficult to identify the talents of an individual or how to maximally tap the potential of a person during interview given that the environment itself is tense and it is difficult to know a person’s true picture. In order to evaluate the interviewee interview, question need to test on mental ability, personal character, experience, interests and ability to be ingenious (Lussier 241 ). Challenges Faced During Interviews Many of us think that interview is challenging to the interviewee because this is the person who is going to be the subject during the whole process, but on the contrary even the interviewers are faced with the dilemma of determining the right way of conducting the interview (Lussier 233). The interviewer is faced with the task of employing the best talent from the whole lot of people who will attend the interview and should therefore strategize a way of evaluating who is best qualified candidate. They are expected to be as objective as possible and at the same time to be fair to all people and conduct the exercise in a manner that put the interests of the organizations first (Billsberry 60). The Right Question Dilemma Determining the type of questions that should be asked during the interview process is the first nightmare that faces the human resource managers since they have to ensure that only the right questions are asked. The kind of quest ions needs to be as simple as possible, while they also need to bring out the required response which will enable the interviewer to evaluate the candidate accordingly (Dale 165). The human resource managers also find themselves asking questions that dwell too much on the private life of the candidates which sometimes makes the candidate feel embarrassed. Too brief questions also tend to obscure useful information that could have been depicted later on and most human resource managers are faced with the dilemma of determining the right length of questions to be asked (Yeung 55). In conjunction with that, the human resource managers mostly do not know how to get information of how the employee will perform under pressure without stressing the candidate during the interview process (Jenkins 189). Often, human resource managers in a move not to look too stringent to candidates do not know how to ask some questions which seem to be tough therefore compromising the recruiting process. Il legal Questions The most challenging part of preparing for an interview by the human resource manager is perhaps avoiding of asking illegal questions. The reputation of the organization lies at stake if the interviewers are unable to structure questions in a manner that would not seem illegal (Dale 157). Wording of a question can make a genuine question turn illegal hence the language used should be given emphasis to ensure it does not distort the meaning of the questions.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Challenges of Conducting Interviews specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Some types of questions are also illegal by their nature or by the nature of the answers they require the candidate to provide (Brisciana 28). To some extent, what is important to be known to the organization when asked in a certain way is illegal for example age. Being gender insensitive or biased, concentrating too much on the privacy of individu al and asking questions which seem to be cultural based is also illegal. Stereotyping Due to so circumstances preceding the interview process sometimes the human resource managers can make prejudged assumptions about an individual concerning the ability or even experience about the job (Yeung 93). If an employee is coming from an organization which is considered successful, there is a tendency of assuming that the candidate must be experienced and hence qualified for the job. Sometimes, the answers received to first questions tend to instigate stereotyping in the minds of the human resource managers to prejudge the candidate as either a failure or successful person. Stereotyping also manifests itself when the human resource managers end up using one interviewee as a cornerstone to evaluate another one who comes after. There is also a possibility of some human resource managers having negative attitude towards a certain group of people due to their gender, academic status and cultura l background among other factors (Jenkins 193). It then becomes a challenge for the same person to be fair to any candidate who happens to fall in the group they stereotype hence not being able to actually recruit the best talent. It should be noted that, stereotyping compromises the ability of an interviewer to objective during the interview process which in turn jeopardizes the possibility of getting the best candidate. Prior experience with a certain person or group of people mostly leads to stereotyping (Daly 56). However, stereotyping is not a personal problem as it has been shown by recent researchers but rather a common thing among human beings. Since it is difficult to understand peculiarities associated with different people grouping and categorizing is inevitable and this leads to stereotyping. Recommendations The first thing that should be avoided during interview process is to avoid questions that give the candidate a hint of what is being sort for. These questions will not only make the candidate aware of the answer that is best suited to earn him/her the job, but will not earn the interviewer an honest answer.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Questions that put too much pressure on the candidate will frustrate the interviewee and generate a bad employer employee relationship incase the same person is employed in the organization (Dale 45). On the same note, it is not practically possible to create the same kind of difficult situations that the employee will face in the real work environment during the interview process. Therefore, friendly but trick questions which test the ability of the employee to solve complex situations are very helpful. Interviewers are also advised to ask challenging questions without discrimination to everyone who attends the interview so as to be able to determine who is best qualified. Research has shown that even those interviewees who seem to be nervous from the onset can turn out to be the best employees when given a challenging situation to tackle (Brisciana 53). Questions that will make the candidates give answers that have much of â€Å"maybes† are not fit because they may not be a ssessing the candidates adequately. Furthermore, Questions that ask the candidate too much about the current employer or worse which want to show what a bad employer the candidate is currently working for compromise the reputation of the organization. These questions also waste the rime that could have been used to do other parts of the interview. Therefore, questions must be tailored at bringing out the potential, ability, qualifications and talent of the employee in a friendly but strictly professional environment. Appertaining illegal questions, Gender sensitivity is very vital during the interview exercise therefore, questions which tend to sexually discriminating should be avoided. For example, asking a female candidate whether she will be able to work with male employees is illegal as it discriminates women (Billsberry 73). Questions that may require the candidate to name his / her nationality or ethnic background should be avoided as they go against the employment law that re quires one to be employed on the basis of qualifications and not ethnicity. On the other hand, though it is important to have enough background information about the candidate, privacy should be respected and therefore questions that require answers that have to do with financial status, family background and age should be avoided. Though age is important, outright asking the candidate to state the age is illegal, this information can be found from official documents that the candidate will present. Due to the wide spread effect of stereotyping, group interviewing is paramount as only the average is done and is quite difficult for many people to look at the same people negatively (Lussier 289). Answers to the first questions should not distract the interviewer’s attention on how subsequent questions are answered since most people will be able to answer first questions superbly but fail to meet the threshold for the later questions. It also helps to evaluate each individual pe rsonally and not as per another person because if the person used as a guide was not qualified then slightly improved case will look like a genius when in reality both of them do not meet the desired minimum. The set of questions to be asked should be prepared before the interview process is commenced and should be done with someone who is not aware of who the interviewees are or will be. Every interviewee should be asked the same set of questions including the tough and challenging questions without discrimination this will amaze on what they reveal concerning the interviewees (Yeung 78). An interviewer who is aware of the stereotype he/she has towards a certain category of people should avoid taking the section that will require him/her interview on the same section. Conclusion Other factors of production are assembled and controlled by the employees present in the organization. The more the qualified and experienced labor force is present in the firm, the higher the rate of produ ctivity hence the need to maintain experienced workforce while at the same time ensuring that the best talented are recruited. Recruiting the wrong people may impact negatively on the organizational culture, productivity and returns hence the great care should be accorded the recruitment process. Billsberry, Jon. Experiencing Recruitment and Selection. Hoboken, NJ: John Willey and Sons, 2008. Print. Brisciana, Michael. Safe and Effective Faculty Recruitment, Retention, and Dismissal Practices: A ISM Handbook for Private-Independent Schools. Wilmington: Independent School Manageme, 2008. Print. Dale, Margaret. Managers Guide to Recruitment and Selection. London: Kogan Page Publishers, 2004. Print. Daly, John. Human Resource Management in the Public Sector: Policies and Practices. New York: M.E. Sharpe, 2011. Print. Jenkins, Richard. Racism and Recruitment: Managers, Organizations and Equal Opportunity in the Labour Market. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010. Print. Lussier, Robert N. Management Fundamentals: Concept Applications and Skills Development. Manson: South-Western, 2011. Print. Yeung, Rob. Successful Interviewing and Recruitment. London: Kogan Page Publishers, 2008. Print.