[MUSIC] Rapinder, thanks for coming in. >> Thanks. >> You didn't have any trouble finding us, did you? >> No, it was really straightforward, and I just took the tube. >> Yeah. >> Excellent, could you just tell me a little bit about yourself. >> Sure, my name is Repinder Nagra. I'm originally from Canada. >> Which part? >> From Toronto. Have you been? >> No, I've never been. I've been to the States, but I've never been to Canada. >> Canada's very, very different. People get it confused sometimes, but it's yeah. >> I know about the aboot sound. Yes, [LAUGH] I get that a lot. >> Everybody does that. >> Yeah, I know exactly, yeah, it's a great place. I'm from Toronto and have been living here in the UK now for almost 6six, seven years. >> Right, so you're finding this pretty warm. It is very warm right now. As actually- >> Our English winter. >> Yeah, the English winter, while in Canada right now, I hear it's minus 30. >> Really? >> Yeah, yeah, minus, it gets a lot of snow amnd January, February are the coldest months. >> Extraordinary. Do you ever get home? Do you ever go back? Yes, actually, I was there during the holidays. I like to go back during the holidays, during Christmas. >> You've got relatives over there. >> Yeah. Mom and dad, family is all over there. It's nice getting back, so take the family back so the kids can spend some time with the grandparents. >> You have kids? >> Yeah, I have two. >> Right! >> Yeah. >> How old? >> The eldest is five. >> Yeah. >> And our son is two. >> Girl, boy? >> [LAUGH] I can't remember, no, our eldest is a girl. She's five years old and our son is two. >> Right, good ages. >> Yeah, no its great, it's fantastic. >> Excellent. How do you think you're going to fit it here? >> I think I'll be a great fit for this company. I was taking a look at your website, and it just seemed- >> What did you think of the website? >> Actually, it was really easy to navigate and look around. >> Really? >> Yeah, I found it easy. >> Just be honest. >> No, I'm being very honest. >> Because we're thinking of going somewhere else. Really? I actually found it quite easy for me, I'm very tech savvy. >> Are you? Do you play football? >> Yes, I do. >> It's just you're nice and tall and we're looking for a goalkeeper. >> I would love to. I'd love to. I played ice hockey back in Canada. All star playing net, and I played here for my- >> Maybe there's a transferable skill >> I think it is, yeah. >> Is there anything you want to ask me? >> No, I don't thank you very having me. >> Not at all, thanks for coming in. >> Thank you. >> Right, Caroline, thanks for coming in. I see that you enjoy baking. >> Yes, I do. My little boy actually really loves baking like cookies and stuff like that so. >> How old is he? >> He's seven, so yeah, I kind of got into it because of him, especially chocolate chip, it's his favorite. >> Right. I remember when I was a boy, we used to live next door to this neighbor and they had an apple tree. >> Okay. >> And the apples used to fall over onto our side and I made a Somerset Apple cake. >> It was the first thing I ever baked, it was. >> That sounds nice. [LAUGH] >> Yeah, I was about seven, as well, that's right. What sort of things do you make? >> Anything really, I mean, banana cake- >> Lovely, >> Victoria sponge cake, and- >> You didn't bring any in with you, did you? >> No, if you'd have said, I would have. Next time, next time. >> All right. >> Yeah, just anything really, flapjacks are his favorite. >> Good, good, good. What's your favorite sitcom? A sitcom, I really like Catastrophe. >> Yes. Very much. >> It's really good. >> Yeah. She did Pulling didn't she? >> Yes. Yes. I didn't actually see that. But yeah. A friend of mine was telling me that she was in that as well. But, it's really good. >> Excellent. Is there anything that you would like to ask me? >> No, no, I don't think so. >> Really? [LAUGH] >> Thanks for coming in. >> Thank you. >> In this session, we're going to look at a particular type of interview, the unstructured interview, often also called the traditional interview, precisely because it is how interviews have been conducted traditionally. Now we are going to look at how this formal interview rates against the criteria for selection methods we discussed in the first session. That is how well does it predict, how much does it cost, and what is it's range, and is it fair? What are the characteristics of an unstructured or traditional interview? Not surprisingly, their central feature is that they are unstructured. Unstructured in the sense that they have no set format, no set order, and are essentially a conversation between the interviewer or interviewers and the candidate. The direction of an unstructured interview would depend on the responses of the candidate, which can set off the conversation, the interview, in directions the interviewer had not anticipated. The interviewer may have prepared a few questions, usually very predictable ones, such as why did you leave your last job? Or where do you see yourself in five years time? Are you good at delegating work? What do you know about this organization? How do you handle conflict at work? Give me a reason why I should employ you? Would it be a problem for you to relocate? What salary are you looking for? And so on, predictable questions, very often asked in very different orders and combinations to different candidates. If you go onto the Internet and search for traditional interview questions, you will find many, many sites listing these sorts of questions, and offering advice on how to answer them. This type of interview remains very widely used. At the end, the interviewer will probably think he or she has got a good picture of the candidate, and can pick the right one for the job, using intuition, maybe a few rough notes taken during the interviews. But can they? The evidence, and there is a lot of it, does it by good studies over a number of decades, suggests that this type of interview is a very poor predictor of future job performance. Traditional or unstructured interviews are very cheap and easy to set up. They require little or no preparation or expertise. Unstructured interviews can be used to recruit a wide range of jobs. To a large extent the very same questions could be made to apply to almost any vacancy. But traditional or unstructured interviews have weak predictive power. Weaker than, for example, cognitive ability tests, work samples, integrity tests, assessment center, and not least, structured interviews. Why are unstructured interviews so poor at predicting the best candidate? The biases, stereotypes and prejudices of the interviewer can influence the interpretation the interviewer places on the candidate's responses. For example, a candidate might typically state that they want to move jobs because they want a new challenge. One interviewer could interpret this as meaning that this guy gets easily bored. Another interviewer, given the same response, could see the candidate as having ambition and drive. It is entirely subjective. Interviewers often have this stereotype in their minds, maybe not even a conscious stereotype, about the characteristics of the ideal candidate in terms of age, gender, education, and background. Physical attractiveness and so on can influence decisions, and they can often choose a candidate that fits the best list stereotype. Interviewers, like all of us, differ in the extent to which we are stringent or lenient, hawks or doves, that is how harshly we judge people. If the interviewer is a hawk, he or she may reject a perfectly good candidate while a dove is likely to accept a bad one. The highly idiosyncratic subjective nature of the unstructured interview explains not only why they fall down in relation to the most important criteria for a selection method, prediction, it explains why they also can be very prone to discrimination in terms of age, gender, ethnicity, and so on. The potential for biases and discrimination can lead to legal challenges in come countries. Unstructured interviews have been challenged in the US more often than any other selection device. In the next session, we're going to look at how the interview could be improved and that essentially involves introducing structure. [MUSIC]
