Introduction

The in-person interview is a common step in the hiring process.  In fact for many contact centers, it is the only job candidate evaluation conducted.  In the June 2009 issue of Fast Company, Dan and Chip Heath, authors of Made to Stick, wrote a column titled, “Why It May Be Wiser to Hire People Without Meeting Them.”  The article made some excellent points about the effectiveness of interviews for evaluating job candidates.  The article also raises some important points for contact center hiring managers to understand and consider.  With technology enabling additional methods to evaluate job candidates and the home agent model creating more virtual hiring processes, does the interview add value as a pre-hire tool?  If it does, what is the right role for the interview?

Types of Interviews

The interview can take multiple forms.  Before we discount the interview’s effectiveness entirely, we should briefly understand the types of interviews being used in contact centers today.  The interview is a selection process designed to predict future job performance on the basis of applicants’ oral responses to oral questions (McDaniel, Whetzel, Schmidt, & Maurer, 1994).

Interview Forms

Situational and Structured Behavioral Interview forms

 

Benefits and Challenges with Interviews

Now that we have introduced some common forms of interviews, we can review standard benefits and challenges associated with the interview process. 

Benefits and challenges in interviews

Does the interview add value?

If structured correctly, the interview can provide value.  Choice of interview format is the critical first decision.  Research and practical results suggest that the structured behavioral interview is the right interview form to use.  In addition, interviewers must receive consistent, constant training on interview administration.  And, interviewers must undergo frequent quality assurance testing to make sure that the variance between interviewers is controlled.

In addition, including the interview, via phone or in-person, adds an ideal opportunity for candidate engagement.  Technology is allowing significant improvements to the hiring process.  From removing cost, speeding processes, and improving overall hiring results, the gains from technology cannot be disputed.  However, recruiting is still a contact sport.  Candidates expect some type of personal interaction.  Technology also allows disgruntled job candidates to post comments about negative experiences, blast unfriendly hiring processes, and quickly join forces against some companies.  The interview, by allowing interaction with the job candidate, creates an opportunity to diffuse some of those issues and engage the candidate.


Alternatives to Interviews that Generate Greater Value

While the interview does provide value, research suggests that other types of assessments offer better predictive power.  For the contact center hiring manager, that means screening out candidates who have a higher risk of attrition and poor job performance.  Before we address the role of the interview, it is important to understand some of the alternatives to the interview.

alternatives to interviews

What is the right role for the interview then?  Given that the interview has reduced predictive power compared to other assessment options and that the interview does allow some key benefits with candidate engagement, the structured behavioral interview should be retained but moved to the end of the hiring process.  Hiring workflow should be designed to use lower cost and higher validity options (like the alternatives mentioned above) upfront and then finalize hiring decisions using interviews.  The goal of this process is to generate a lower cost but more predictive hiring model that reduces the chance of a bad hiring decision.  The model to the right provides an example of two hiring workflows:

Traditional vs. Data Driven Hiring Process
In the traditional interview model, the recruiters will need to interview 100 candidates that have successfully completed the application process.  In the technology led model, the recruiters will only need to interview 56 candidates.  Assuming that each interview is 60 minutes for preparation, discussion, and review, this saves $66,000 in opportunity cost (60 minutes x 44 candidates x $25/hour). 

In addition, the recruiters are interviewing a more qualified candidate pool.  And, because the candidate pool is better qualified because of the alternative assessments being used, the on boarding pass rate and show rate are also higher.  The net result is a better hiring yield at a lower cost.

In Summary

Using well developed assessments that are properly validated in your operating environment might be the most significant competitive advantage your company will acquire.  While your competitors are hiring the best interviewees, you’ll be discovering the true stars and placing them into jobs that will maximize their engagement and performance.

References
Arvey, R. D., & Campion, J. E. (1982). The employment interview: A summary and review of recent research. Personnel Psychology, 35(2), 281–322.

Hunter, J. E., & Hunter, R. F. (1984). Validity and utility of alternative predictors of job performance. Psychological Bulletin, 96(1), 72–98.

McDaniel, M. A., Whetzel, D. L., Schmidt, F. L., & Maurer, S. D. (1994). The validity of employment interviews: A comprehensive review and meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 79(4), 599–616.

Motowidlo, S. J., Carter, G. W., Dunnette, M. D., Tippins, N., Werner, S., Burnett, J. R., & Vaughn, M. J. (1992). Studies of the structured behavioral interview. Journal of Applied Psychology, 77(5), 571–587.

Schmidt, F. L., & Hunter, J. E. (1998). The validity and utility of selection methods in personnel psychology: Practical and theoretical implications of 85 years of research findings. Psychological Bulletin, 124, 262–274.

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