Are Your Interview Practices Sound?
When
interviewing job applicants, do you use standardized practices, or are your
interview protocols as varied as the candidates? A study in the Canadian Journal of Administrative
Sciences (2007; 24 [1], 30–44) has discovered that many human
resources (HR) professionals may not be offering applicants interview equality.
As your personal training business or group exercise department grows, being a
savvy interviewer may come in handy.
The study included more than
300 Canadian HR professionals and sought to learn whether interview questions
were based on the structure set forth by the Canadian Human Rights Tribunals
(CHRT). Participants were asked to complete a survey that measured adherence to
six components of the Tribunals’ structure: “use of job analysis, standardized
administration, use of behavioral questions, training, note-taking and use of
interview panels.”
Overall, researchers noticed little interview
uniformity, leading them to believe that applicants might not be treated
equally. The authors noted that “standardizing the interview process is
strongly recommended by employment interview scholars and highly favored by
Human Rights Tribunals” and stated that improvements were called for among HR
professionals. The researchers also observed that, in instances where
standardization was high, applicant grievances relating to unfair interview
practices were low. The bottom line: maintain uniformity in questioning,
note-taking and use of a job description based on a job analysis.
