Job interviews are one of the most valid and best accepted instruments of personnel selection. Almost every organization uses job interviews – often as the only selection tool at all. Not least due to the Covid-19 pandemic, technology-mediated job interviews have experienced an enormous upswing. Where telephone interviews, videoconference interviews or asynchronous video interviews were previously often only used to pre-select applicants or if a journey would otherwise have been too far, interviews via videoconference were suddenly the only way to introduce yourself "in person". The main advantages of technology-mediated interviews are flexibility and cost savings for the selection process. Asynchronous video interviews also offer the advantage of independence from time zones, which also opens up a larger pool of applicants. An additional point that should not be overlooked is that asynchronous video interviews are highly standardized and structured in their execution. However, these advantages are also offset by a number of disadvantages, such as the necessary availability of hardware and software. There are also many unanswered questions regarding technology-mediated interviews:
- How widespread are these interviews actually, and how are they used?
- Are technology-mediated interviews equally accepted as face-to-face interviews?
- How can their acceptance be improved?
- Are there differences in interview performance ratings between different kinds of interviews? Is this due to the applicants or the interviewers?
- By which design features is performance in asynchronous interviews influenced?
- Are there any differences in the criterion related validity between different kinds of interviews?
The aim of this talk is to provide an in-depth insight into the current state of research on technology-mediated interviews and to answer the above questions.
Prof. Dr. Johannes Basch is an IO-psychologist with a focus on digital instruments in personnel selection processes. He teaches and researches at the University of Applied Sciences Neu-Ulm (Germany). Furthermore, he works as trainer for communication and public speaking and as a consultant in management diagnostics.