Understanding the Different Types of Interviews

From WetFeet.com

You will probably encounter a variety of approaches to interviewing, and many interviewers will use more than one approach in a single interview. In general, you can expect to be asked about items on your résumé that may be unclear or that the interviewer is particularly interested in. This type of questioning, along with questions about your career goals and expectations of your employer, fall under the category we call clarification interviewing. A few interviewers will ask only these kinds of questions--indicating, perhaps, inexperience, lack of interest in learning much about you, or fear of turning you off with more challenging questions.

Usually, however, you will also be asked doubt-resolving questions, which might address why you left your last job, what you see as your greatest weaknesses, and why the job appeals to you.

Many interviewers will limit themselves to just clarification and doubt-resolving questions—but some will not.

Interviewers may also use techniques designed to determine how you would operate on the job --such as questioning you about how you have responded to certain types of situations in the past (behavioral interviewing), or how you think you would respond to a given hypothetical situation or set of facts (hypothetical situations and case analysis interviewing); putting you into a simulated or real on-the-job situation (audition interviewing); making you uncomfortable to test your reaction to pressure (stress interviewing); or having a psychologist delve into your past experiences, motivations, and influences (psychological interviewing).

Types of Interview Approaches:

• Clarification. Aim is to achieve greater understanding of what you claim in your résumé as your education, experience, or accomplishments, as well as your goals and expectations of your manager or the company.

• Doubt-Resolving. Aim is to resolve possible concerns or doubts about your judgment, veracity, behavior, or achievements.

• Behavioral. Aim is to test whether you have encountered challenges similar to those anticipated and how you handled them.

• Hypothetical. Aim is to test whether your thinking and judgment are likely to be appropriate for the on-the-job challenges you might be expected to encounter.

• Case Analysis. Aim is to test whether you can comprehend a complex set of facts, create a framework for analyzing them, and arrive at logical and useful conclusions.

• Auditioning. Aim is to witness your actual performance in a simulated or real on-the-job situation.

• Stress. Aim is to test your reactions to pressure in order to see whether you keep your cool or lose it.

• Psychological. Aim is to try to determine the major influences on your reasoning and your emotions, in order to predict of how you might perform under a variety of circumstances or management approaches.

If possible, try to determine beforehand what type of interview that you will be given. This will allow you to best prepare and land the offer.