Personality judgment and the utility of the unstructured employment interview

Abstract

This study examined 2 different personnel selection interview techniques - the structured and the unstructured employment interview - to determine which method would lead to the most accurate assessment of the applicant's job-related personality traits. It was hypothesized that the unstructured method would allow for the applicant's personality characteristics to more readily manifest themselves as the applicant's behavior would be less scripted, thus leading to a more accurate personality assessment. Participants in this study conducted mock job interviews using either the structured or the unstructured method, while their behavior was coded by an independent rater. Self-ratings of job-related personality traits from the California Q-set (Bem & Funder, 1978; Block, 1978) were obtained from the applicant, and ratings of the applicant's personality were obtained from the interviewer and a peer of the applicant. Self-interviewer and peer-interviewer agreement correlations were then used as the criteria for accuracy. It was found that the average self-interviewer and peer-interviewer agreement correlation were significantly greater when the interviewer implemented the unstructured interview method, thus supporting the hypothesis. A prominent behavioral difference between the 2 interview formats was found and is discussed as a variable that mediates the effect of interview structure on personality judgment.