Personnel selection procedures such as assessment centers, structured interviews, and personality inventories are useful predictors of candidates' job performance. In addition to existing explanations for their criterion-related validity, we suggest that candidates' ability to identify the criteria used to evaluate their performance during a selection procedure contributes to the criterionrelated validity of these procedures. Conceptually, the ability to identify criteria can be framed in the broader literature on peoples' ability to read situational cues. We draw on both theory and empirical research to outline the potential this ability has to account for selection results and job performance outcomes. Finally, implications for future research are presented.

Purpose This study aimed at shedding light on why situational interviews (SIs) predict job performance. We examined an explanation based upon the importance of interviewees' Ability to Identify Criteria (ATIC, i.e., to read the targeted interview dimensions) for SI performance. Design/Methodology/Approach Data were obtained from 97 interviewees who participated in a mock interview to train for future applications. This approach enabled us to conduct the SIs under standardized conditions, to assess interviewees' ATIC, and at the same time, to collect job performance data from interviewee's current supervisors. Findings We found that interviewees' ATIC scores were not only positively related to their interview performance, but also predicted job performance as rated by their supervisors. Furthermore, controlling for interviewees' ATIC significantly lowered the relationship between performance in the SI and job performance. Implications Better understanding of the mechanisms that underlie the criterion-related validity of SIs is crucial for theoretical progress and improving personnel selection procedures. This study highlights the relevance of interviewees' ATIC for predicting job performance. It also underscores the importance of constructing interviews to enable candidates to show their criterion-relevant abilities. Originality/Value This study shows that interviewees' ATIC contributes to a better understanding of why the SI predicts job performance.

PurposeThe present study examined two theoretical explanations for why situational interviews predict work-related performance, namely (a) that they are measures of interviewees’ behavioral intentions or (b) that they are measures of interviewees’ ability to correctly decipher situational demands.Design/Methodology/ApproachWe tested these explanations with 101 students, who participated in a 2-day selection simulation.FindingsIn line with the first explanation, there was considerable similarity between what participants said they would do and their actual behavior in corresponding work-related situations. However, the underlying postulated mechanism was not supported by the data. In line with the second explanation, participants’ ability to correctly decipher situational demands was related to performance in both the interview and work-related situations. Furthermore, the relationship between the interview and performance in the work-related situations was partially explained by this ability to decipher situational demands.ImplicationsAssessing interviewees’ ability to identify criteria might be of additional value for making selection decisions, particularly for jobs where it is essential to assess situational demands.Originality/ValueThe present study made an effort to open the ‘black box’ of situational interview validity by examining two explanations for their validity. The results provided only moderate support for the first explanation. However, the second explanation was fully supported by these results.

The self-presentation tactics of candidates during job interviews and on personality inventories have been a focal topic in selection research. Guided by the cross-situational theory of Marcus (2009), the current study examined self-presentation across these two selection devices. Specifically, we examined whether candidates who use impression management (IM) tactics during an interview show more faking on a personality inventory, and whether the relation to job performance is similar for both forms of self-presentation.Data were collected in a simulated selection process with an interview under applicant conditions and a personality inventory that was administered under applicant conditions and thereafter for research purposes. Because all participants were employed, we were also able to collect job performance ratings from their supervisors. Candidates who used IM in the interview also showed more faking in a personality inventory. Importantly, faking was positively related to supervisors' job performance ratings, but IM was unrelated. Hence, this study gives rise to arguments for a more balanced view of self-presentation.

Insight into assessors' initial impressions has the potential to advance knowledge on how assessors form dimension-based judgments and on possible biases in these ratings. Therefore, this study draws on dual process theory to build and test a model that integrates assessors' dimension ratings (i.e., systematic, slow, deliberate processing mode) with their initial impressions (i.e., intuitive, fast, automatic processing mode). Data collection started with an AC where assessors provided ratings of assessees, and an online survey of assessees' supervisors who rated their job performance. In addition, two other rater pools provided initial impressions of these assessees by evaluating extracted 2-min video clips of their AC performance. Initial impressions from both of these samples were positively related to assessors' dimension ratings, which supports assumptions from dual process theory and might explain why assessors' dimensional ratings are often undifferentiated. Initial impressions did not appear to open up the doors for biases and stereotypes based upon appearance and perceptions of liking. Instead, assessors picked up information that assessees transmitted about their personality (i.e., Conscientiousness and Emotional Stability). Implications for further research on initial impressions and AC dimension ratings are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).