Different Forms and Types of Interviews
So, you’ve been invited to attend an interview! Congratulations
- the employer has obviously liked the look of you so far via your
CV or application form - and now wants to meet you and find out
more about you! You’ve done a good job on paper of matching
your skills and knowledge to the employer’s requirements and
now is your chance to verbally impress!
Interview Types
-
One-to-one (you and the interviewer)
-
Panel interview (two or more interviewers)
-
Group interview (groups of candidates and two or more interviewers)
-
Telephone interview
-
Technical interview (one or more interviewers)
One-to-One
This type of interview can last from 20 minutes to an hour or more.
The interviewer may be trained and experienced in recruitment interviewing
techniques or may be doing their first one ever – and perhaps
feeling a little nervous about it. Your interviewer may be the Personnel
Manager, your departmental Manager or the Chief Executive. You may
know in advance who it will be and you may not.
This type of interview normally has various phases:
- Setting you at your ease with small-talk (How was your journey?
etc.)
- Detailed exploration/core of the interview (probing some of
your
- responses on your CV or application form; asking additional
questions)
- Your chance to ask them questions
- Bringing it to a close (they thank you for attending and usually
explain
- what happens next and within what timescale)
Your interviewer may ask straightforward questions designed to
help you relax and give the best of yourself, or may take an aggressive
stance to see how you respond under pressure. Alternatively, he/she
may throw seemingly bizarre questions at you such as: “What
flower would you like to be - and why”. Such questions are
designed to test your ability to ‘think on your feet’
and sometimes, to test your creative thinking and even sense of
humour.
Panel Interviews
Expect anything from two to four or more interviewers. Each one
will be there for a specific purpose, perhaps representing different
departments or different management functions. They may all be sitting
behind a row of desks, a long table or may be seated in an informal
style i.e. semi-circle, with you facing them. Expect also to feel
more comfortable with some panel members than others - some may
be smiling and easy-going, others more brusque or aggressive. As
in the one-to-one interview, some will be trained recruitment interviewers,
some won’t.
The phases of the interview will normally mirror those in the one-to-one,
with different members asking questions in the second core phase,
probably in line with their own interests/responsibilities in the
organisation.
Group Interviews
These are a common occurrence in Assessment Centres (see Step 5),
but may also occur in other interview situations. For example, you
might undergo two interviews on the same day, one with a group of
candidates (competitors for the job) with a subsequent one-to-one
interview. Evaluation of your performance in both settings would
determine whether or not you got the job. Putting candidates together
for a group interview gives the interviewers a chance to assess
skills such as: sociability, leadership, sense of humour, personality
and teamwork . . . and, of course, to compare candidates against
each other. Types of questions asked will differ from one-to-one
or panel interviews in that they will focus on issues/hypothetical
problems for the group to discuss, whilst the interviewers observe
and make notes of responses and interactions.
Telephone Interviews
Not as common as any of the above types of interview and not as
easy to prepare for, in that you may get very little warning of
one occurring. Some telephone interviews result from you having
made a conventional paper application whilst others follow on from
you responding to a previous ‘automated data-collecting’,
i.e. a pre-recorded ‘question and yes/no answer’ telephone
‘interview’ which may have lasted only a few minutes and
which would have been computer-scored afterwards.
The live telephone interview may last from 30-40 minutes and should
be at a pre-arranged time – this may well be during an evening
or at the weekend. The obvious drawbacks are: not being able to
see your interviewer, not being able to gauge their reactions to
your answers and having to convey all your skills, knowledge and
personality over the telephone.
Technical Interviews
Expect one of these if you’re applying for a technical position.
One or more interviewer on the panel may interview you. Don’t
be surprised if you’re asked fairly detailed technical questions
and/or shown a piece of equipment and asked to explain the workings
of it. If the job is relevant to your degree course, expect in-depth,
knowledge-based questions based on any part of your degree and probably
around your specialist project or thesis. Other general questions
will of course accompany the technical kind.
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