An interview may be defined as a systematic and scientific process used in the employee selection which helps to acquire needed information with regard to the candidate’s capabilities and his interest, aptitude and knowledge required for the job and also to provide him the requisite information about the concerned organisation through face-to-face communication, thus creating a feeling of trust and confidence in the mind of the prospective candidate.

According to Jucius Michael, “An interview is a face-to-face, oral observational and personal appraisal method”. It is used as a means of getting information from the candidate. It also includes giving information that will help the applicant make his mind about the company.

Interviews are of following types:-

1. Preliminary Interview 2. Patterned, Structured or Guided Interview 3. Unstructured or Unguided Interview 4. Depth Interview 5. Stress Interview 6. Group Interview

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7. Panel or Board Interview 8. Formal Interview 9. Informal Interview 10. One-to-One Interview 11. Video, Computer and Telephonic Interview 12. Background Information Interview 13. Exit Interview.


Types of Interviews in HRM: Preliminary Interview, Guided Interview, Unguided Interview, Depth Interview and a Few Other Types

Types of Interviews in HRM – Top 9 Types: Guided Interview, Unguided Interview, Depth Interview, Stress Interview, Group Interview, Board Interview and a Few Others

Interview means a conversation between interviewer and interviewee aimed at assessing the potentialities for a job. It is a two way communication between the candidate and the interviewer. In simple words interviewing means “deliberate active listing with a purpose to draw the other person out, to discover what he really wants to say and to give a chance to express him freely”.

Scott and others defined interview as, ”An interview is a purposeful exchange of ideas, the answering of questions and communication between two or more persons.”

An eminent author defines an interview as “a conversation with a purpose” and the purpose may be to “get information”, “to give information” and “to make a friend”.

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Bingham Moore and Gustad have defined the term interview as under:

“An interview is a conversation directed to definite purpose other than satisfaction in the conversion itself. There is give and take between the interviewer an interviewee and much of the interaction between these two is carried on by gestures, postures, facial expression and other communicative behaviour. Even the words acquire a variety of meanings and values as they are spoken with different reflections and in different context. All of these are means of communication- the spoken words, the gestures, the expressions, the reflections- contribute to the purposeful exchange of meanings which is the interview”

In other words “An interview is an attempt to secure maximum amount of information from the candidate concerning his suitability for the job under consideration”.

An interview may be defined as a systematic and scientific process used in the employee selection which helps to acquire needed information with regard to the candidate’s capabilities and his interest, aptitude and knowledge required for the job and also to provide him the requisite information about the concerned organisation through face-to-face communication, thus creating a feeling of trust and confidence in the mind of the prospective candidate.

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The interview can be classified in the following ways on different basis:

Type # 1. Patterned, Structured or Guided Interview:

This is the most common method of interview. It is a preplanned interview and more carefully designed to have a high degree of accuracy, precision and exactide. Under this type of interview a list of questions to be asked by the interviewer is prepared in advance on the basis of job specification, and to secure information from the candidate.

The questions would be asked in a particular order with very little deviation, ideal and standard answers to the set questions are also determined in advance. Therefore there is no scope for bias on the part of the interviewer. An adequate opportunity is given to the candidate to express his ideas and viewpoints.

The main purpose of this type of interview is fact-finding and not awarding a judgment. It measures personality, motivation and interest of the candidate, because this information cannot be secured from elsewhere. This type of interview is useful in selection of semi-skilled employees. It is also called as directed or standardised interview. It assists in proper evaluation of the personality, attitude and motivation of the candidate. It guards against faulty conclusion, due to bias.

Type # 2. Unstructured or Unguided Interview:

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It is an unstructured and non-planned interview. Therefore it is called as “non-directed interview” also. It is designed to let the interviewee speak his mind freely. The idea is to give candidate complete freedom to sell himself without the encumbrances of the interviewer’s questions. It is not directed by pre-determined list of questions.

It is very flexible in nature, candidate feels very comfortable and free. Full freedom is given to him to discuss and express his points of view and ideas. The basic objectives of this type of interview are to find out the feeling, desire or problems of the candidate.

The interviewers look for trait of character and nature of his (candidate’s) aspiration and his strength and weakness, manifest or potential. For conducting such type of interview, interviewer must be highly skilled and competent. This type of interview is more often used in situation other than hiring such a counselling, processing of grievances and exit interviews.

Type # 3. Depth Interview:

The object of this interview is to examine intensively the candidates’ background and thinking and to go into considerable details on particular subject of an important nature and of social interest of the candidate. It is semi structured in nature and questions are used in key areas, which have been studied in advance by the interviewer.

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The typical subjects are discussed in such type of interview. The interviewer, as well, provides instructional information about his organisation, the nature of work, pay, opportunities for advancement and demands likely to be made on the employee. The capability of performance of the candidate in the specific area of work can be well-judged by asking relevant questions by the specialist interviewers.

Type # 4. Stress Interview:

Under this type of interview the strain is put on the candidate deliberately. It is designed to test the candidate and his conduct and behaviour by putting him under conditions of stress and strain, Usually the interviewer in such a stress circumstances asks questions rapidly, criticizes the interviewee’s answers, interrupts him frequently, too many questions are asked at a time by many interviewers, makes negative remarks, tries to put him in an awkward situation, and carefully watches the interviewee’s emotional stability and balance.

The purpose of the interview is to find out how the candidate behaves in a stress situation and see whether he loses his temper, gets confused or frightened. This type of interview does not necessarily reveal how a candidate will behave in real stressful life situations involved on job.

Type # 5. Group Interview:

It is also called as Discussion Interview. In this type of interview, groups rather than individuals are interviewed. A group of candidates (interviewees) is given certain problem and is asked to come to specific decision within a given time. The interviewer sits over there and watches the interviewees.

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The candidates enter into group discussion. The interviewer observes as to who has assumed leadership and the process by which leadership is exercised and how it is accepted by the other members of the group. Group interview is generally conducted in a situation where leadership ability is to be observed.

Group interview is resorted to for selecting management personnel. The object of this interview is, to see how well individuals perform on the particular task or in a particular situation. It is designed to save time, labour and cost and to see how the candidates react to and against each other.

Type # 6. Panel or Board Interview:

In panel or board interview, candidate is screened by a group of interviewers who are specialists in their respective fields. This type of interview is just opposite to “Group Interview.” A candidate is interviewed by a number of interviewers, and the questions are asked by them in serial or in random order.

The interviewee is required to answer and to have dialogue with many interviewers at a time. This may cause pressure on the candidate. This is not a good practice. This type of interview pools the collective judgement and wisdom of the panel of interviewers in the assessment of the candidate. The members of panel of board jointly evaluate the performance of the candidate.

Type # 7. Formal Interview:

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Formal interview may be held in the employment department by the employment officer in a more formal atmosphere with the help of pre-planned questions and schedule, with predetermined procedures and practices. It may also be called as “planned Interview”.

Type # 8. Informal Interview:

It is an oral interview that may take place anywhere. Usually when staff is required urgently on some specific job, this type of interview is conducted. Informal interview is not at all pre-planned and scheduled. Informally the questions are asked to the candidates.

Type # 9. Exit Interview:

The exit interview is generally conducted at the time when an employee is leaving the business organisation. The objective behind this interview is to know the opinion, view and feelings of the outgoing employee regarding his job and organisation, and later on to develop/improve such policies in the light of deficiency so discovered.


Types of Interviews in HRM – Different Types of Interviews Depending on the Purpose of the Organisation

According to Jucious Michael, “An interview is a face to face oral observational and personal appraisal method.”

According to Scott and others, “An interview is a purposeful exchange of ideas, answering of questions and communication between two or more persons.”

Thus, interview is a tool of selection by which an effort is made to collect complete information about a candidate, his knowledge, personality, interest, communication skills, etc. However, interview can be used for other purposes also such as for making discipline, problem solving, appraisal and counselling.

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Interview is a face to face contact between interviewer and interviewee where interviewee is allowed to speak freely so that interviewers can draw useful information about person through his thoughts and speaking. This useful information is regarding his education, experience, training, family background, communication skills etc.

Types of Interview:

Various kinds of interviews are conducted depending on the purpose of the organisation. Different interviews are different due to attitude of interviewer, questions asked, structure of interview, etc.

Interviews are of following types:

1. Preliminary Interview:

This interview is conducted as the first step of selection process. Its purpose is to eliminate totally unsuitable candidates in the very beginning of selection process.

2. Patterned or Structured Interview:

This is most common interview. In this, every aspect of questionnaire is decided in advance such as questions to be asked, sequence of questions, time to be allotted to it, etc. At the time of interview, there is no or little deviation in this planning. The scores of candidates are compared with a standard score to determine the selection.

3. Non Directive Interview:

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This is also known as free or unorganised interview. This interview is unstructured and unplanned. In this interview, interviewee is allowed to express himself; he is free to talk about the subject selected by interviewer. Candidate is encouraged to tell about himself, his likes, dislikes, choices, family background, upbringing, expectations, etc.

The purpose of this interview is to check the inner qualities of a person.

4. Depth or Action Interview:

This interview studies the interviewee deeply, his beliefs, values, home life, experience, aptitude, hobbies, interests, etc. The idea of this interview is to get a complete picture about the interviewee.

5. Group Discussion Interview:

Groups are interviewed in this interview, not the individuals. A situation is given to the teams for group discussion without telling the traits which would be tested.

Interviewer locates those in the interview. Team which take the lead in the group discussion, who speak well, who clarify issues, who have the knowledge and who summarise.

Through this analysis, the interviewer can form the opinion about group members and base his selection decision on the assumption that candidates will perform in the same way in the organisation as they did in group discussion.

6. Panel or Board Interview:

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When one person is interviewed by several persons at the same time, it is called as panel interview. Interviewers may ask questions turn wise or randomly or as the situation demands. Generally, all candidates are asked same questions so that answers can be compared. Panel interviews are also known as committee interviews.

7. Stress Interview:

This interview is conducted to test how a person performs under stress. Stress is created at the time of interview by the interviewer. To create stress, interviewer asks rapid questions, criticises the answers of interviewee, annoys him, disturbs him, argues with him and puts him in awkward situation.

The result of interview tells about the performance of candidate whether he remains calm or loses temper or gets confused.

Judicial use of stress interview may be helpful for interviewer in selection.


Types of Interviews in HRM – 4 Important Types: Group Interview, Panel Interview, One-to-One Interview and Video, Computer and Telephonic Interview

The interview, along with the application blank, has proved to be an almost universal selection tool. However, the value of the interview to selection has been the subject of considerable debate, with most of the evidence stacking up against the interview as an effective predictive tool. Research has shown that the reliability and validity of interviews as an effective selection are generally low.

Interviews can follow the under-mentioned scenarios:

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1. The Group Interview

2. The Panel Interview

3. One-on-one interview

4. Video, Computer and Telephonic Interview

1. The Group Interview:

In the group interview, a number of candidates are interviewed at once. The candidates are allowed to discuss job-related matters among themselves while one or more observers evaluate their performance. This type of interview is usually thought most suitable for the selection of executives.

2. The Panel Interview:

In the panel interviews, one candidate appears before a panel or two or more interviewers. One of the panelists acts as a chairperson, but each of the members participates in the questioning and discussion. The panel interview allows the interviewers to coordinate their efforts and follow up on each other’s questions.

3. One-to-One Interview:

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In one-on-one interview, the candidate meets privately with a single interviewer. Generally, a candidate will pass through a series of such interviews, first with a member of the HR department, then the manager in whose department there is a job opening, and finally with the manager’s superior.

4. Video, Computer and Telephonic Interview:

In the age of information technology, organizations are also conducting interviews with the assistance of video, computer and telephone.


Types of Interviews in HRM – 6 Main Types: Unstructured Interview, Structured Interview, Stress Interview, Depth Interview, Panel Interview and Group Interview

There are a number of types of interview techniques are available but the choice of technique is depends  on the nature and importance of the position to be filled within an organization.

Broadly, interview types that are generally used are fall in six categories:

Type # 1. Unstructured Interview:

It is also called Non-Directive interview in which there is no specific format. The interviewer asks questions as they come in mind. Generally, the candidate is encouraged to express himself on a variety of subjects. The positive point of this approach is the freedom the interviewer has to adopt both to changing situations and a variety of candidates but the negative point is that in the maintenance of job relatedness and obtaining comparable data on various applicants.

Type # 2. Structured Interview:

It is also called Directive interview in which the interviewer uses a predetermined approach. In this approach the set of questions are job related and would be asked in a particular order from all candidates so that the comparison among candidates can be made more easily. This approach improve the reliability of the interview process.

Sometimes the candidates wants to discuss something else then he is swiftly guided back to the prepared questions. The problem associated with this type of interview is that the whole process is mechanical and restricts the freedom of interviewers.

Type # 3. Stress Interview:

In this type of interview, the interviewers try to assess whether a candidate would be able to cope with stress on the job or not. The purpose is to find out how a candidate behaves in a stress situation whether he loses his temper and gets confused. The method used to induce stress, range from frequent interruptions, criticism of candidate’s opinion and to keeping silent for an extended period of time.

It is a high risk approach, therefore, the stress inducing must be done carefully by skilled and trained interviewers and discontinued after sometime so that the candidate gets a chance to recover from the stress.

Type # 4. Depth Interview:

The purpose of this approach is to get total or detail information of the candidate in order to develop a comprehensive profile based on in depth understanding of his personality. It is best suited for executive positions rather than blue or white collar workers. The idea behind this approach is to get true picture of candidate by intensively examining his background and thinking so that a correct evaluation and decision may be made. This approach is time consuming.

Type # 5. Panel Interview:

In this type of approach, a candidate is interviewed by a number of interviewers in different disciplines. Questions may be asked in turn. This type of interview is done usually for supervisor and managerial positions. This approach helps to co-ordinate the collective judgement and wisdom of members of the panel. The negative side of this approach is that the candidate feel more stressed than other approaches.

Type # 6. Group Interview:

In this type of approach, groups rather than individuals are interviewed. A topic of discussion is assigned to the group of applicants and their performance is evaluated by the observers. The basic objective of this approach is to, observe how well individuals perform on a particular task or in a particular situation in a limited time period.


Types of Interviews in HRM Different Forms of Interview Depending on the Purpose of Interview Programme of an Enterprise

According to Jucius Michael, “An interview is a face-to-face, oral observational and personal appraisal method”. It is used as a means of getting information from the candidate. It also includes giving information that will help the applicant make his mind about the company.

Interviewing the candidates is an important aspect of selection procedure. The final selection of an applicant is partly based on the performance of the candidate in different tests and partly on his performance in the final interview. In the interview, the candidate has to appear before the interviewer or a group of interviewers. The candidates overall is judged in the interview. The interview may last for ten to twenty minutes or even more. Various questions are asked from the candidate in order to judge his ability, knowledge, capacity and so on.

Interviewing technique is used in all companies and in the case of all categories of staff to be recruited.

Importance of Interviewing:

For the selection of right type of people, employment interview is very important.

The advantage of employment interview is as follow:

1. The employer can assess the personality traits of the candidate as there is a face-to face contact between the employer and the candidate.

2. The candidate can seek more information about the employer and the job. This creates better understanding in the mind of the candidate.

3. Candidate’s communication skills, his way of thinking can be judged in the interview.

4. Interview is very important where the candidate has not to go through employment tests. The information contained in the application form can be checked during the interview.

5. Many companies do not follow the elaborate selection procedure as it is costly and time consuming. They can rely on interview if it is properly planned and administered.

Depending on the purpose, the interview programme of an enterprise may take any one or more than one of the following forms:

1. Preliminary Interview:

This interview is conducted to see the worth of a candidate which is of few minutes duration. It must be conducted very carefully by some expert as many desirable applicants may be eliminated at the outset.

2. Stress Interview:

In this type of interview, stress environment is created in an interview hall. The applicant is intentionally put under stress by interrupting him at various points, criticising his view points and sometimes keeping silence after he has finished speaking. It requires the interviewer to be tactful as well as skilful. It is used for higher posts.

3. Background Information Interview:

This type of interview is conducted to get the background information or we can say that when the history of the applicant has to be known in terms of his experience, education, health, insurance, likes dislikes etc. It is more or less like the preliminary interview.

4. Discussion Interview:

It is a non-directive interview conducted informally by the interviewers by giving an opportunity to the interviewer to speak his mind freely.

5. Group Interview:

It is an interview of certain applicants in a group. Reaction of the applicants with each other can be seen by the interviewers. It is used where it is essential to know how the candidates behave in groups.

6. Non-Directed Interview:

The direct and specific questions are not asked by the interviewer in this type of interview. An atmosphere is created in which the candidate is free to talk, on the subject selected by the interviewer. Here, the interviewer is basically a passive listener as he avoids making value judgements interrupting the candidates and revealing his personal opinion.

7. Patterned or Structured Interview:

In this type of interview, series of questions are phrased in advance which put light on the strategic parts of the applicants background. Answers to these questions are compared with a critical score and used in determining one who is to be selected. In this interview process, these standard questions are asked as they are written; the order may be varied but not the phrasing of the questions.


Types of Interviews in HRM – 5 Main Forms

Employment interviews may be of the following forms:

Type # 1. Preliminary Interview:

This type of interview is conducted to find out the worth of a candidate. It should be conducted very carefully by some expert to avoid desirable applicants being eliminated at the outset.

Type # 2. Background Information Interview:

This type of interview is conducted to get the background information about the candidate. It is useful when the history of the applicant has to be known in terms of his experience, education, health, insurance, likes, dislikes, etc. It is more or less like the preliminary interview.

Type # 3. Patterned or Structured Interview:

In this type of interview, series of questions are phrased in advances which are related to the strategic parts of the applicant’s background. Answers to these questions are compared with critical scores and used in determining one who is to be selected. In this interview, the standard questions are asked as they are written; the order may be varied but not the phrasing of the questions.

Type # 4. Unstructured or Non-Directed Interview:

In this type of interview, direct and specific questions are not asked by the interviewer. An atmosphere is created in which the candidate is free to talk on the subject selected by the interviewer. Here, the interviewer is basically a passive listener as he avoids making value judgements, interrupting the candidate, or sharing his personal opinion.

Type # 5. Stress Interview:

In this type of interview, stress environment is created in the interview room. The applicant is intentionally put under stress by interrupting him at various points, criticising his viewpoints and sometimes keeping silence after he has finished speaking. It requires the interviewer to be tactful as well as skillful. Stress interview is generally used for testing the candidates for higher level posts.