Effects of previewing the application on interview process and outcomes.

Abstract

In order to examine the effects of previewing paper credentials on interviewers' gathering and recall of information and the reliability and accuracy of their assessments, 25 student interviewers interviewed and evaluated two student applicants. Interviewers either previewed an application before interviewing each applicant or interviewed without a preview. A control group previewed an application without interviewing. Previewing the application was found to increase the amount of correct nonapplication information gathered. Interviewers who did not preview the applications, however, made more reliable evaluations of the applicants' fit to the job and performance in the interview. Interviewers in the preview group also had higher variability on measures of information gathering No effects of the application preview were found on the differential accuracy with which interviewers estimated the self-descriptions of the interviewees on two personality scales.