Types of job interview
When preparing for a job interview, you must be aware that there are various types of interview. Do not make the mistake of thinking that all job interviews are the same. There are many different styles, according to the number of participants in the interview room or the technique used by the interviewer to find out the candidate’s strengths and weaknesses.
Types of job interview according to their structure
Structured job interview
The structured interview is a fixed format job interview in which all the questions are pre-determined beforehand and asked in the same order to each candidate. This technique does not allow for a free-flowing conversation but does make for an efficient selection process.
The structure job interview allows the interviewer to choose candidates based on their specific qualifications, as opposed to other factors such as personality or interaction skills.
The structured interview is occasionally used by human resources professionals because it facilitates a well-structured, rigorous way to assess a candidate. However, it is not the most common interview style because candidates can fully prepare the answers and recite them whilst sat in front of the interviewer. Also, this style doesn’t permit the interviewer to stop and return to an aspect or answer that catches his/her attention. Lastly, the structure job interview is not a good way for an employer to gauge what kind of person the candidate it – at the end of the day, employers look for people they would like to teach.
Semistructured job interview
In this type of job interview the question guide from the structured interview is combined with open questions that cannot be pre-prepared.
It is one of the most common types of interviews because it not only includes some of the most typical questions asked in job interviews but also focusses more closely on certain aspects of your CV or things that have caught the interviewers attention.
Free interview
In the free job interview there is no specific question guide to prepare yourself. Having said this, the themes that the interviewer touches upon are quite predictable. If you have a well-researched, confident knowledge of yourself and the company, then you have nothing to worry about. Read our advice about job interview question themes to learn more.
Competency-based job interview
Competency-based job interviews focus on the past experience of a candidate and the actions, reasons and decisions that he/she has taken is certain situations.
Competency-based job interviews are becoming increasingly common, since they allow the interviewer to get to know the range of a candidate’s skill-set. Furthermore, they allow an employer to learn how a candidate would fare under the pressures of a professional working environment.
Bare in mind that not all businesses are looking for the same competencies, since this depends on the type of candidate the company are looking for and the requirements of the vacant job position.
Types of job interview based on the number of participants
Personal Interview
The personal job interview is the most common type of interview. Here, the person looking for a job and a representative of the company, generally a professional from the Human Resources department, participate in the interview.
The primary aim of a personal interview is to understand what the candidate is like, what are his/her motivations, his/her previous experience. In many selection processes, the personal interview is the first. If a candidate is successful at this first-round personal interview then it is possible that they will next partake in a panel interview or another type of selection test.
Panel Interview
In this type of job interview the candidate is interviewed by various people during one interview.
Group Interview
In the group interview several candidates and interviewers are involved.
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