Identification and meta-analytic assessment of psychological constructs measured in employment interviews.

Abstract

There has been a growing interest in understanding what constructs are assessed in the employment interview and the properties of those assessments. To address these issues, the authors developed a comprehensive taxonomy of 7 types of constructs that the interview could assess. Analysis of 338 ratings from 47 actual interview studies indicated that basic personality and applied social skills were the most frequently rated constructs in this taxonomy, followed by mental capability and job knowledge and skills. Further analysis suggested that high- and low-structure interviews tend to focus on different constructs. Taking both frequency and validity results into consideration, the findings suggest that at least part of the reason why structured interviews tend to have higher validity is because they focus more on constructs that have a stronger relationship with job performance. Limitations and directions for future research are discussed.

Exploring Methods for Developing Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scales for Evaluating Structured Interview Performance

“…Leadership has also been identified as a construct frequently evaluated in the employment interview; specific leadership skills assessed during interviews include motivating and coaching others, meeting demanding goals and developing people professionally, and delegating tasks to foster team dynamics and solve problems (Huffcutt et al, 2001). Hiring future leaders is critical to organizational success, because without solid leadership, businesses that would otherwise succeed may fail.…”

“…As most job types require individuals to work with coworkers, clients, and business partners, employers consider teamwork and interpersonal skills vital for most jobs today (Morgeson, Reider, & Campion, 2005), and as such, these skills are the most frequently evaluated social skills in the employment interview (Huffcutt et al, 2001). Today's business environment is characterized by fast-paced innovation and global competition, leading to the development of a team culture where workers are held accountable not only for simply performing a function, but also for contributing to broader organizational success.…”

“…It is not surprising that communication has been consistently identified as a key 21st-century skill for students and workers across a variety of frameworks (Carnevale, Smith, & Strohl, 2013;Casner-Lotto & Barrington, 2006;Finegold & Notabartolo, 2010;National Research Council, 2011). Huffcutt et al (2001) conceptualized communication as "the ability to express (and receive) ideas and information clearly, accurately, and convincingly" (p. 900), and the National Research Council (2011) identified components of communication that are more "other" focused, such as listening and interpreting information. Thus, we define effective communication as not only expressing ideas effectively and accurately, but also as listening to the ideas and information provided by others.…”

“…For the purposes of our assessment tool, we treated persuasion and negotiation skills as a single construct because of their similarity (cf. Huffcutt et al, 2001). Many social skills frameworks use a broad definition of negotiation and persuasion that focuses not only on influencing others and achieving individual goals but also maintaining harmony and trust, both within and between organizations (Carnevale, Gainer, & Meltzer, 1990).…”

“…Interest in noncognitive skills has greatly expanded over the past two decades, despite significant concerns about the adequacy of their measurement (Duckworth & Yeager, 2015). Structured interviews are viable measures of noncognitive skills (Huffcutt et al, 2001) and tend to exhibit respectable psychometric characteristics, suggesting they could be used on a wide scale to assess these constructs.We first describe the development of 12 interview questions to capture the four applied social skills reviewed. Next, the gathering and preparation of data from AMT respondents are detailed.…”