Cultural Issues at France Telecom

The paper is a literature rivew on Interview as a selection tool.

It compares the views of two authors and finally gives a conclusion by bringing in views of a third author.

Author 1 (Gareth Roberts)

Roberts, to start with, cites Interviews as the most commonly used selection tool. He adds that while being the most frequently used tool and very heavily relied upon for making decisions, it can at the same time also be the least effective and most ill-used selection tool. The writer uses CPID studies and other similar studies around the world to point out this fact and further states that interviews appeal equally both to candidates as well as recruiters for uniquely being a natural, easy two way process which can be used without much training and they lend themselves as a tool for information exchange, screening out less relevant applicants as well as a valuable selection tool.

Roberts classifies interviews into two forms, Unstructured and Structured, in terms of how formal the setting is and how much preparation goes into it.

Unstructured interviews, he states, usually have a more informal setting as they follow a natural process of dialogue where the candidate is allowed to talk freely in response to questions which may comprise of set of interviewer’s favourite questions and some other questions which may be based on the application form and the CV covering areas of personal history, work experience, and future aspirations and goals. Unstructured interview is not so much about asking a formalised set of questions but drawing inferences by listening to the candidate.

He moves onto Structured interviews, which he says are more effective but comparatively less frequently used owing to the need of interviewers being trained to some degree and also the preparation which goes into it. They are of two types, Situational and Behavioural.

The main difference, as per the writer, between the two is the time period to which the questions refer. Whilst in situational hypothetical future job based role plays are required from the candidates, behavioural works on the premise that the best indicator of future is past and the questions are based on past experience often aimed at seeing if the candidate has exhibited competencies in his past life which are required for the job and for this reason Roberts, citing researches done on this subject, gives more credibility to the latter but adds that both these structured types are much more effective than the unstructured one.

Situational interviews are shown to be rather realistic in nature where potential work related scenarios are presented to the candidate who then, is required to use his skills and knowledge to come up with an answer which will give a fair assessment of his planning and organising capabilities vis-à-vis the role. It further gains on