Which of the following traits is most likely to be assessed accurately during an interview?

The best way to assess personality is by, well, using an assessment. But if you want to (also) assess a candidate's personality using an interview, here's the science on how to do it properly. 

Research by Professor Levashina and colleagues summarizes the best practices for how to accurately assess personality using an interview.

The personality traits that are best assessed by an interview

Research has found that people are more accurate when judging someone else's personality on more observable traits such as how extraverted or hardworking that person is. Research on personality and interviews has found this to be true: Extraversion and Conscientiousness show the highest correlations between self-rated personality and interview ratings.

• Conscientiousness (r = .12)
• Extraversion (r = .08)
• Openness to Experience (r = .03)
• Agreeableness (r = .01)
• Emotional Stability (r = .01)

The researchers conclude, however, "the correlations of structured interview ratings with self-report measures of personality factors are generally rather low."

The question type that best assesses personality

So what can you do to increase your accuracy when assessing personality during an interview? By asking the right questions, of course.

There are two main types of interview questions: situational questions ("What would you do if...") and past-behavior questions ("Tell me about a time when you..."). Research has found that:

• situational questions seem to measure general job knowledge
• past-behavior questions seem to measure past experience and some personality traits 

If you want to assess personality, you need to ask questions that are designed to measure the on-the-job behaviors related to a specific personality trait. For example, asking the candidate to, “Tell me about a time when you had a work-related disagreement with a colleague. How did you resolve it?” to measure Agreeableness. Or measuring Conscientiousness by asking the candidates how they set goals or meet deadlines.

The interview structure that best assesses personality

Evidence from thousands of interviews tell us that a structured interview is more reliable, valid, and less discriminatory than an unstructured interview. So what's an unstructured vs. a structured interview?

An unstructured interview is the typical job interview: Tell me about yourself, What's your biggest weakness, Which superhero would you be? etc.

A structured interview asks questions specifically designed to assess job-related knowledge and skills, asks the same questions to all candidates, rates every answer to each question using a quantitative rating scale, and generally involves training the interviewer on how to do this properly.

Why does a structured interview lead to better hiring? Simply, structured interviews reduce error: it both reduces interviewer bias and it reduces the ability of candidates to fake their answers during an interview.

The takeaways

The best way to measure personality with an interview uses the same principles of measuring personality with an assessment: carefully designing the best job-related questions to ask, systematically collecting the data, and then using quantitative ratings to make your hiring decisions. Best practices recommend using a psychometric assessment to measure candidates' personality and then using a structured interview to verify and expand on those personality ratings. 

So why don't more people do this? It's a lot more work! But if you're not putting in the effort to make the best hiring decisions you can, you're probably dooming yourself to a 50% hiring failure rate. 

Ideal builds recruitment automation software that talent acquisition loves. Ideal’s AI can instantly screen and shortlist new candidates, uncover strong past candidates who are a great fit for a new role, and initiate candidate contact. Companies use Ideal to sift through the resume noise and instantly identify who to interview, all within their existing ATS. Learn more at www.ideal.com. 

Chapter 7

Employee selection

Multiple choice questions

1. In their selection processes, employers are giving increasing emphasis to:

a. computer-based skills.

*b. behavioural and attitudinal characteristics.

c. assessment centres.

d. unstructured interviews.

General Feedback:

Page 252. Learning Objective 1. Factual. Many organisations are focussing on job applicants'

cultural fit and thus on attitudes and behaviours in their selection decisions believing that job

skills are more trainable.

2. Selection criteria should:

a. include all the performance indicators identified in recruitment.

b. correspond closely to how a job is performed now and in the future.

*c. be consistent with the organisation's strategic direction and culture.

d. reflect the standard of applicants from which a choice is to be made.

General Feedback:

Page 252. Learning Objective 1. Factual. An organisation's success depends on it having the right

people in the right place at the right time. The strategic business objectives and culture should

determine the people selected.

3. Which of the following is not one of the major research findings about interviewing?

a. Interviewees who play hard to get are rated more highly.

b. Unfavourable information outweighs favourable information.

c. Interviewers' post-interview ratings are highly related to their pre-interview impressions.

*d. Interviewers are less likely to change their initial opinion of the applicant from positive to

negative than from negative to positive.

General Feedback:

Page 267. Learning Objective 5. Factual. Research has shown that interviewers are more likely

to change their initial opinion from positive to negative.

What qualities are assessed in the interview?

What are the 3 main characteristics for interview answers?

What are 3 things that employers look for while they are interviewing?

What are the traits required for winning the interview faces?