Students: Career Planning: Interviewing: Step 1

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STEP 1 | STEP 2  | STEP 3 | STEP 4

Understanding the different types of interviews
Screening or Patterned Interview -
Such interviews are highly structured, systematic and are designed to serve as a stable yardstick against which applicants can be measured. They are designed to overcome problems of inconsistency. Essentially, the identical questions are asked of all applicants, and then the individual responses are directly compared with each other. This type of interview is used to weed out the more obviously qualified candidates. Many on-campus & first interviews follow this format.

Non-Directive or Free Association Interview -
Typically employs open-ended type questions such as "Tell me about yourself." This allows the applicant to express himself/herself in his/her own unique way--offers greater exposure to an applicant's personality and attitudes. Many campus interviews will at least appear to follow this format.

Stress Interview -
The purpose of this method is to measure the applicant's ability to handle stressful situations. Stress interviews may be used to weed out individuals who react defensively or who are easily injured. Stress interviews are seldomly used on-campus. However, stress questions and/or techniques are often utilized in various interviews.

Group and/or Area Interview -
Group interviews are often used for higher-level business and academic positions. Typically a "search committee" composed of personnel representatives, managers, and often psychologists will examine an applicant. Each interviewer will often be assigned a particular area of the applicant's background to hone in on, e.g. experience, education, work style, etc. This approach can be exhausting for the applicant, especially when the interviewing is structured on a one-on-one basis, or takes several hours or days.

Behavioral Interview -
This type of interview is designed to elicit actual information from candidates that will demonstrate their effectiveness as long-term employees, and facilitate the matching of organizational and applicant needs. The goal of behavioral questions is to have the candidate recall and describe situations where critical thinking and success factors were demonstrated. A sample behavioral question might be: "Describe the situation which best demonstrates your ability to get things done through others". Through the behavioral questions, the interviewer is seeking REAL ANSWERS, that is:
Relevant information
Experience
Action taken
Leadership demonstrated

As in any type of interview, it is important to take the time to think about the questions being asked of you. For more information and sample behavioral interview questions, go to: Quintessential Careers