What You Should Know Before Attending a Job Interview

What You Should Know Before Attending a Job Interview

Job interviews are often the last step of the recruiting process, and they are used to determine whether applicants are the greatest fit for the position. Interviews are often preceded by an examination of submitted resumes, with a limited number of applicants who seem to be the most desirable being chosen for an interview (shortlisting).

Typically, a firm trying to fill a single post may interview a small number of people - potentially as many as 10 in certain cases, depending on the volume of applications received. While job interviews are widely regarded as one of the most useful tools for evaluating potential employees, they also require a significant investment of time and resources on the part of the employer, and they have been shown to be notoriously unreliable in terms of identifying the most qualified candidate for the position.

There may be multiple rounds of job interviews in situations where there are many candidates or where the position is particularly challenging or desirable; earlier rounds of job interviews will typically be shorter and less in-depth because they involve fewer members of the employer's team and are therefore less challenging or desirable. Among the most prevalent first interview formats is the phone interview, which is a job interview that takes place over the phone. In particular, this is frequent when applicants do not reside in close proximity to the company, and it has the benefit of keeping expenses low for all parties involved.

Following the completion of all job interviews, the employer will normally pick the best qualified applicant and begin the process of negotiating a job offer with him or her.

A typical job interview consists of a single applicant meeting with between one and three representatives from the firm; the prospective supervisor of the employee is generally present throughout the interview process. The interview procedure is conducted in person. A specialist human resources professional will often be present on a bigger interview panel. The meeting may take as little as 15 minutes, and most job interviews are completed in less than two hours. The majority of the job interview will consist of the interviewers asking the applicant questions about their background, personality, work style, and other variables that are relevant to the position. At the conclusion of the interview, the applicant will often be given the opportunity to ask any questions they may have. The main goal is to determine whether or not the applicant is a good fit for the position, while the candidate will also be evaluating the company's culture and the needs of the position on offer.

Less well-paid and less skilled occupations tend to have less challenging job interviews than more prominent ones; for example, a lawyer's job interview will be far more rigorous than that of a shop cashier's.

Generally speaking, most job interviews are formal in nature; in fact, the bigger the company, the more formal and organized the interview will likely be. Candidates often dress a little more formally than they would be expected to wear to work; for example, a suit is suitable for a white-collar job interview, while jeans are fine for a plumber interview.

Aside from that, several professions have specialized sorts of job interviews. For example, for performing artists, an audition is held during which the focus is put on the candidate's ability to perform on stage.

Psychometric testing may also be utilized in employment interviews, according to certain sources.

Many nations, including the majority of North America, Western Europe, and Australasia, have employment equality laws in place that prohibit discrimination on the basis of a variety of factors, including race, gender, age, and marital status, among others. In most cases, asking questions regarding these protected areas during a job interview is deemed discriminatory, and it is regarded an unlawful hiring practice under the law. Questions such as "Are you ready to travel/relocate?" or "Are you willing to work from home?" that touch on these topics are appropriate. It is still possible to ask questions such as "When did you graduate from high school?" (which may be influenced by marital status) or "When did you graduate from college?" (which may be influenced by age).

There is already available research that calls into doubt the effectiveness of Job Interviews as a method for choosing new personnel. Where the goal of a job interview is ostensibly to pick a candidate who would perform well in the job position, alternative techniques of selection provide more predictive power and, in many cases, are less expensive than traditional methods of selection. Furthermore, since most interviews are conducted in an unstructured manner, they frequently have little predictive value for future employee performance in the long run.