The Career Portfolio Workbook

may even start looking forward to job interviews. And most certainly

you will get results.

We call this “the portfolio advantage.”

WHY EMPLOYERS CONDUCT JOB INTERVIEWS

A job interview is a conversation between a person who has applied for

a job and another person (or committee) who, on behalf of the employ-

ing organization, directs this conversation in a way that is intended to

assess the merits of the applicant’s candidacy for the job. As a result of

a job interview, a candidate may be offered a job, denied a job, invited

back for further interviews, or told that his or her name will be kept on

file should an appropriate position open up in the future.

The hiring organization’s goals normally include the following:

Assessing how well the candidate’s qualifications match the job re-

quirements

Assessing the likelihood that the candidate will be a well-motivated,

successful performer within the organization

Assessing the candidate’s potential for growth and advancement

within the organization

Determining if the candidate is likely to be a good fit for the culture

of the organization

Assessing the likelihood that the candidate will remain with the or-

ganization long enough for the organization to get a reasonable re-

turn on its investment in the person

Hiring the best person available for the job on mutually acceptable

terms

Conducting the interviewing process in a manner that enhances the

reputation of the organization

The people who conduct job interviews are typically employees of

the hiring organization, though in some cases consultants or board

members conduct job interviews on behalf of the organization. The job

applicant may be someone from within the organization who is apply-

ing for a transfer or promotion or someone “from outside”who is not af-

filiated with the organization.

The timing of an interview usually gives a good indication as to

whether it is meant to be used for “screening”or “selecting”candi-

dates.

Early job interviews are often used for “screening”candidates. The

screening interview is used to weed out unqualified candidates as well

as applicants who are considered overqualified or overpriced. These in-

terviews are often performed by outside consultants, such as head-

hunters, or by professional interviewers from within the organization.

The goal of the screening interview is to quickly assess whether or not

an applicant for a particular job is sufficiently promising to justify

being interviewed in greater depth at a later time.

80 Part I: Building, Using, and Maintaining Your Career Portfolio

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