Interviews, employment

Use of an interview to select employees is common place. As such hundreds of studies have been conducted on various aspects of the employment interview process. It is now well established that using a structured employment interview process improves criterion-related validity (Schmidt and Hunter 1998). Furthermore, a number of very good papers have been published on the process of developing a structured employment interview (e.g., Barclay 2001 Campion et al. 1997 HuflFcutt 2011 Levashina et al. 2014). The research evidence is clear that developing and using a highly stractured interview process can help provide a valid and reliable measure of a job applicant s ability to perform a job. However, like all selection measures, an interview is more suited to the measurement of some competencies than others. 

While an interview can measure arange of safety-related dimensions (see Chap. 3, Tables 3.3 and 3.4 for questions that can be used to measure an applicant s experience and expectations, respectively, in an employment interview), they are not particularly well suited to the measurement of aspects of safety such as safety motivation, participation, and compliance. The key problem is the possibility that the applicant will respond in a socially desirable way, and their response may have little relationship to their future on-the-job behavior. Rather than questioning job applicants directly about their safety attitudes (e.g., asking questions like Should safety have a high priority ), a structured interview can make use of either situational or behavioral questions to gain a perspective on the applicant s safety attimdes. Both situational and behavioral questions are based on scenarios or critical incidents which come directly from the job which the individual is being recruited for. The primary difference is that when using the behavioral format, the individual is asked what they have done in the described simation in the past, while in the situational format the applicant is asked what they would do in the particular situation. 

Flanagan (1954) developed the procedure known as the critical incident technique. This relatively simple process involves interviewing job incumbents and asking for descriptions of critical incidents in their job, and also asking what they did in the particular simation. Critical incident information could also be obtained by supervisors keeping a record of simations they have observed, and employees responses to the simation. Thus, a critical incident represents a specific job simation and a particularly effective response to that simation. The critical incident technique can easily be applied to gather safety-specific examples. A sample of employees would be asked to describe a simation which had a safety aspect and then to describe how the safety issue was handled or resolved. Of course it is necessary to ensure that the response to the simation is indeed the correct response in that it is what the organization would want an employee to do when the particular safety simation occurred. Once a number of these critical incidents have been identified, they can be formed into employment interview questions. The job applicant is presented with the question (or scenario) and is assessed on their description of how they would (or have) handle or responded to the simation, and in particular how 

A stmctured employment interview could also be used to measure knowledge which is required to work in a safe manner. Obviously this knowledge will be idiosyncratic to the job in question. The job-relevant knowledge which an applicant has is often inferred based on their work and education history. While there should, for example, be a relationship between education and what an applicant s knows, it is not always wise to make this assumption. Furthermore, employees are going to expect (assume) that new employees do have the knowledge necessary to perform their job in safe manner. 

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The way the interview is conducted depends on the practices of the individual department. You may be asked a few questions similar to those you would be asked at a normal employment interview Why do... 

You have three goals during an employment interview. First, you must determine if the available job is right for you. Second, if the job appears right, you must convince the interviewer that you are the person the organization needs. Third, you must determine if there is an opportunity to have a job created that will utilize your unique skills. 

Borchardt, J. K. Sizing up your future boss Ask the right questions during an employment interview, Today s Chemist at Work, September, 25-30 (1998). 

It s one thing to know what you want from a job, but it s another to match your expectations with an employer s. Do your education, training, and work experience match the requirements for a particular job The only way fo know is fo do your research, to network, and to go on employment interviews. 

Valenzi, E., and Andrews, I. R. (1973), Individual Differences in the Decision Processes of Employment Interviews, Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 58, pp. 49-53. 

The employee selection literature is well developed in the area of structured employment interview development (see Hufifcutt 2011 Levashina et al. 2014 for useful reviews and guidelines). The addition of a set of experience-related questions into a stmctured employment interview will provide a much more comprehensive profile of an applicant s experience and also allow for vastly more accurate predictions of their experience-related risk potential. Furthermore, it will give an indication of how long it may take for the individual, if employed, to become an experienced operator an indicator of the extent of supervision and training which might be needed to ensure the new employee s safety. 

Table 3.3 Experience-related questions for use in an employment interview...

The primary method which could be used to assess job applicant s safety expectations is a number of questions presented in an employment interview. Table 3.4 shows questions which could be used. It is also possible to use other questions, such as What is the safety risk level associated with the job you are applying for and Will it be necessary for you to be vigilant about safety in the job you are applying for However, such questions are very open to socially desirable responses. In contrast, the questions shown in Table 3.4 should provide a more objective measure of factors which should positively influence realistic safety expectations. Each question will generate a numeric response which can be totaled. A larger overall score should be indicative of a higher probability that the individual will have realistic safety expectations. Recruiters would also be advised to note when an... 

Levashina, J., Hartwell, C. J., Morgenson, F. P., Campion, M. A. (2014). The structured employment interview Narrative and quantitative review of the research literature. Personnel Psychology, 67(1), 241-293. 

Huffcutt, A. I. (2011). An empirical review of the employment interview construct literature. International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 79(1), 62-81. 

National driver register Employment interview Physical examination Reference check Acceptance interview Driving skills... 

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