Steven M. Ralston

The Trouble with Applicant Impression Management

Impression management or self-presentation refers to the behaviors used by individuals to control the impressions they make on others. This perspective views much of social behavior as being something like an advertising campaign that individuals conduct on their own behalf, in the course of which they seek to highlight their virtues and minimize their deficiencies. There can be few, if any, situations that bring such behaviors into sharper focus than the selection interview. (Fletcher, “Impression” 269)

Inviting Meaningful Applicant Performances in Employment Interviews

Current approaches to employment interviewing have yet to achieve their full potential in matching people with jobs and promoting positive, long-term employer/employee relations. Although untrained and trained interviewers have sought to discover the true personalities, motives, and values of applicants, some interviewing methods used in pursuit of this goal may invite applicant perform ances of limited relevance and uncertain meaning. Interviewers can dramatically improve the value of the interview by helping interviewees give their best perform ances of job-relevant interpersonal and technical skills, practicing conscious trans parency, and making the interview a mutually controlled dialogue more typical of those on the job.

Applicant communication satisfaction, intent to accept second interview offers, and recruiter communication style

Abstract As attention to the recruitment function of campus employment screening interviews increases, the impact of recruiter communication on applicant decisions has come under scrutiny. Unfortunately, the extant research on applicants’ reactions to recruiters is inconclusive because of conceptual and methodological shortcomings. The present investigation addresses the problem by examining the extent to which applicants’ satisfaction with the communication that takes place during interviews predicts their intent to accept second interview offers, and by studying the influence of recruiter communication style on applicant satisfaction. Using the modified Interpersonal Communication Satisfaction Inventory and the Communicator Style Measure, data gathered from students and recruiters participating in interviews showed that communication satisfaction significantly predicts intent to accept second interview offers, and that recruiter communication style is a moderate predictor of applicant communication sati...

Overcoming managerial bias in employment interviewing

Abstract The efficacy of using the employment interview to predict employee effectiveness and retention has been subject to intense scrutiny. Yet research has failed to provide conclusive evidence that the employment interview significantly aids in the matching of employers with applicants. Studies reveal that employment interviewing has significant shortcomings and that modest reforms of the process are of limited value. Thus, a thorough reexamination of the fundamental premises which underlie interviewing research and practice is warranted. The most important premise which merits reconsideration is the belief that interviews should be considered primarily as an instrument of managerial interests. We argue in this paper that the conduct of employment interviews should weigh equally the interests of all parties involved. In so doing, participants can meet the ethical obligation to balance the interests of all parties, while at the same time enhancing the practical utility of the interaction. The present e...

Ethics and teaching employment interviewing

As teachers and advisors, virtually all communication faculty counsel students preparing for job interviews. The advice we give students regarding this critical interaction says much about our ethics of professional and personal communication. In this essay, we explore the ethical implications of recommendations about how to communicate during employment interviews. We first summarize accepted principles of ethical communication and show how they apply to employment interviewing. We then identify kinds of interviewing advice that appear to depart from these standards. Next, we consider possible justifications for these departures and conclude they are not warranted. Finally, we propose ways to teach interviewing that are consistent with ethical communication standards.

The "Veil of Ignorance": Exploring Ethical Issues in the Employment Interview

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST are well recognized in public relations, advertising, and other business arenas in which people who have different interests and beliefs may be suspicious of one another and accuse others of unethical communication (e.g., Kienzler, 1997). But students may need to leam how such conflicts also play out in day-to-day professional interactions. This article briefly describes one exercise to help students explore the ethical implications of the employment interview. The exercise derives from Rawls ( 1971 ); it is based on the premise that people often adopt standards for ethical communication consistent with satisfying their own interests, and thus these standards can vary greatly. To demonstrate this point, Rawls developed

Examining Ethical Standards for Business Communication

In his book on business ethics, Michalos (1995) observes that &dquo;The trouble with business [communication] ethics is that many people think the phrase is an oxymoron. They hear it, giggle, and say things like, ’You mean like military intelligence, eh?&dquo;’ The fact that some people believe success in business invariably means cutting ethical corners indicates that we must do more to close the gap between general ethical standards for communication and ethical standards for busi-

Teaching Interviewees Employment Interviewing Skills: A Test of Two Alternatives.

Instructors of business and technical communication courses continually search for ways to improve their classroom and professional training exercises. Toward that end, this investigation examines two methods of conducting an employment interviewing training exercise for interviewees. Specifically, instructor-facilitated and peer-facilitated interviewing exercises are compared. Data collected from interviewing classes show that students preferred the instructor-facilitated over the peer-facilitated training exercise. Advantages and disadvantages of the instructor-facilitated exercise are discussed, and suggestions for further examination are offered.