My experience conducting research interviews is pretty limited. In fact, I don't recall ever conducting one aside from interviewing candidates for job positions. When I am interviewing, I am researching how well the interviewee will fit with the company. The interview not only gives me an avenue to research what skills they possess based on previous work and life experiences, but also how they conduct themselves during the interview such as body language, how well they communicate, and their clarity and articulation in speech.
Typically in this situation the candidates are nervous so I have found that the best types of questions to ask are primary, secondary, and closed-ended. I am typically looking for very specific answers or responses and therefore, if I were to use open-ended questions, the topic may stray too much from the information that I am looking for. However, by asking secondary questions I have discovered that I oftentimes will find out valuable information about the interviewee's personal life that may also impact the position I am interviewing for. When conducting these interviews, I definitely stay away from leading questions. The answers are typically very short and don't give an accurate representation of the candidate as it is easy to anticipate what the interviewer is wanting to hear and give the assumed response.
I think that is a perfect example of what to do for a research interview! Not only do you first have to write out what you are looking for in a candidate, but then you have to ask specific questions that pertain to the position. I also agree that you have to use open-ended questions to get a good idea of the person you are potentially hiring. Questions that you have had to research beforehand. If you find they have met all your researched requirements then you have found someone who could be a great employee and have successfully done a research interview.
ReplyDeleteFunny enough, I had not considered interviewing candidates for a job opening. I was a store manager for Blockbuster Video and as such did interviews often. I opened a store in Antelope that required me to hire all the employees at once. While I was looking for specific information from the candidates, I wanted to let them talk as much as possible, so I would frequently ask open-ended questions. I feel that the interviewer should mostly ask questions and encourage the interviewee to keep speaking (and maybe keep the candidate on topic ;-) The more they talk, the more comfortable they are and the more likely they are to be themselves. It's true, some people get nervous and uptight for interviews. If the interviewee is being themselves, you get a better idea of who they are and how they would fit in that particular position.
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