Test Your Interviewing Knowledge

  1. Interviewing is the most common method used to evaluate applicants’ skills and abilities.

  2. The more interviews conducted with an applicant, the more accurate the hiring decision.

  3. In traditional, unstructured interviews, most hiring decisions are made within the first two minutes.

  4. The process of all interviewers coming together and reaching consensus on a candidate’s final ratings through a structured discussion is the most accurate way to make a hiring decision.

  5. Extensive note taking does not contribute to making an accurate evaluation of a candidate’s skills and abilities.

  6. Making ratings during the interview is an accurate and efficient method of scoring the interview.

  7. A person’s looks, (good looking vs. plain), significantly affects how they are evaluated in most interviews.

  8. When it comes right down to it, there is no replacement for “gut feeling” in the interview.

  9. Most interviewers prefer rating scales that use behavioral descriptors.

  10. In general, a person who is successful in one company will be successful in other companies. That is, high performance traits transfer across companies.

  11. Only past behavior questions significantly predict job performance.

  12. In almost all positions, six competencies (factors) or less account for 95% of job performance.

  13. Each job is unique and therefore requires a unique interview guide with job specific competencies and questions.

  14. Structured interviews decrease the time and expense to hire people.

  15. Structured interviews double an interviewers ability to choose the best candidate.

  16. Valid evaluation tools such as inventories of critical thinking, decision making, leadership, personality, job fit, and problem solving add little to a solid interview program.

  17. Some competencies such as attention to detail, analysis, written communication, ability to learn, technical knowledge and critical thinking are difficult to interview for but can easily be evaluated using other evaluation tools.

  18. In general, the more time spent evaluating a candidate, the more likely you will get an accurate read on skills and abilities.

  19. For an assessment instrument to be published, it must meet basic standards set by the EEOC.

  20. No test or assessment inventory is valid.

  21. Five evaluation instruments that purport to measure the same skills and abilities can vary by as much as 1000% in their actual effectiveness.

  22. You are more likely to have a lawsuit if you use any type of testing.

  23. Computer-based assessment can increase the power to select the best candidate by 50% over using just an interview.

  24. Phone interviews are less predictive than face-to-face interviews.

  25. Assessing and interviewing remotely, (e.g., video interviewing/ internet assessment) provides less predictive candidate information.

  26. After a screening interview, high potential candidates would rather take two days of vacation and visit a prospective employer than take no vacation and participate in a remote assessment after work.

  27. To ensure the personal touch, most companies prefer to spend 50% more money and expend 50% more resources to fly candidates to their site than to conduct remote assessments.

  28. Most companies never review the most important characteristics of the evaluation instruments they choose (i.e., psychometric properties).

  29. The internet and computers have changed candidate evaluation forever.

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Which Golf Tournaments are the Best Tests of Player Ability?
This paper examines the concept of golf tournament validity. Applying psychometric testing theory to golf tournaments, it examines the tournament results from the entire 2004 PGA season. The study also measured the difficulty and discrimination of the tournaments, and explored the interaction between validity, difficulty, and discrimination.