Letters: Interview call

Apropos the column "Not your usual group interview" (Worm's Eye View, May 30), the curriculum vitae-focussed interviewing process is probably one more addition to the search for a selection tool that delivers the right type of candidate for a required job. Whether this method is a gimmick or a good selection technique would depend on its reliability (consistency in judgement) and validity (measuring what it aims to measure). Generally, interviewing scores low on them because of the subjective human assessment involved in the process, including errors such as the halo effect, stereotyping, constant and contrast error, misinterpretation of body language of the candidate and so on. Then there is the issue of whether this type of interview would really assess the competences organisations look for in a candidate.

Moreover, the way an interview is conducted also makes a difference. The technique in question would also require some expert opinion to evaluate the response of the interviewee in a stress situation.

One hears of another type of "extreme" interview in which quick and smart thinking are tested - rather than knowledge and awareness. So, if the question is "Where was Magna Carta signed?" the answer is "on the bottom of the last page".

The redeeming side is that awareness about interviewer mistakes and their avoidance, the choice of the right tool of selection and the effective process of interviewing can be learnt by a short-term training programme. But how many experienced interviewers would undergo this when one of them says proudly, "I can judge a person's suitability simply by looking at the way he enters the interview room?"

Y G Chouksey Pune

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