​The Different Types Of Interviews And Their Characteristics

The interview It is a qualitative information collection technique in which two individuals participate (although more can participate). This is not considered an informal conversation, since has an intention, an objective For an interview to take place, at least one interviewer and one interviewee must participate, with an agreement on the part of both. The first is who will obtain information about the other person.

The word interview derives from Latin, specifically the term is composed of inter (between and videre (vista) meaning “to see.” Therefore, it refers to observing in the middle, that is, hitting the target. This term first appeared in French as “entrevoir” and later in Spanish. But beyond nominalisms, the truth is that there is no single concept of interview, but several. That is why we talk about types of interviews, each with its different uses and strengths and weaknesses.

Different types of interview

The interview It has different areas of application and that is why there are different types of interviews depending on what it is used for : job interview, clinical interview, cognitive interview, journalistic interview, etc.

On the other hand, the classifications used are varied: according to the content, the participants, the procedure… Below you can see a list explained about the different types of interview

1. According to the number of participants

There are many ways to distinguish different types of interviews from each other, and taking the number of participants as a reference is one of these criteria.

1.1. Individual interview

The individual interview It is the most used and is also called personal interview.

When a person is looking for a job and meets face to face with the interviewer, when a psychologist receives his patient to learn first-hand the reason for his behavior or when a personal trainer receives his client to find out his degree of motivation for training sports, the individual interview is used.

1.2. Group interview

The group interview It is usually used in the workplace, as it allows us to assess different skills of job applicants.

In this type of interview, different interviewees and an interviewer participate (although sometimes they may receive help from another member of the company). In addition to the information that the individual can provide verbally, the group interview allows us to observe the interaction between the different candidates, thus providing relevant information for their hiring. This is very important, because in most work contexts in an organization you have to coordinate with others and sometimes even the task itself is group in nature.

There are rare cases in which working involves going to a cubicle every day of the week and not speaking to anyone else in the company during this period, and small mistakes in this type of situation can have serious consequences. Thus, An interview that is more similar to the real work context provides more valuable information

In clinical terms, this type of interview is called family interview. However, in this area it is distinguished by having objectives set in the relationships between the people involved (as a form of psychological intervention), while in other contexts of psychology this objective does not have to occur. In fact, sometimes it is used simply as a way to save time and resources, almost as if they were individual interviews that take place at the same time and place.

1.3. panel interview

The panel interview It is also a group interview used in the workplace. On this occasion, and unlike the type of interview mentioned above, there are several interviewers who interview a candidate.

Each interviewer will evaluate the candidate according to their own criteria and, once the interview is over, criteria will be unified and a common decision will be made as to whether the interviewee is a suitable candidate for the position.

Of course, one of the main advantages of this type of interview is that it is possible to contrast different points of view in a single session, so you have a more considered view of the candidates. For example, it is possible that the interview involves both the Human Resources technician and one or more department heads those whose work processes depend on the vacancy that is going to be filled.

This allows us to have points of view from people specialized in the different aspects of the work that must be taken into account: soft skills and aspects of personality according to the organizational psychologist, technical knowledge according to the department head, etc.

2. According to the procedure

Beyond the number of participants, also we can categorize the types of interviews according to their format that is, the way in which the interviewer communicates with the interviewee and asks him one type of question or another.

2.1. Structured interview

This type of interview, structured interview , follows a series of fixed questions that have been prepared in advance and the same questions are applied to all interviewees. This type of interview emphasizes the need to create a context that is as similar as possible between the different interviews carried out, in order to better compare the results obtained without non-relevant variables contaminating the conclusions.

In the case of job interviews, scoring systems are usually used to evaluate candidates. This greatly facilitates the unification of criteria and the assessment of the interviewee.

2.2. Unstructured interview

The unstructured interview is also called free interview. In it you work with open questions, without a pre-established order, acquiring the characteristics of conversation and allowing spontaneity. That makes this one of the types of interviews that most closely resembles an informal conversation, although it still has a clear method and objectives.

This technique consists of asking questions according to the answers that arise during the interview.

23. Mixed interview

The mixed interview either yesemistructured It is a mixture of the previous two. Therefore, the interviewer alternates structured questions and spontaneous questions.

This type of interview is more complete than the structured and unstructured ones since, having the benefits of both, it allows you to compare the different candidates and also allows you to delve deeper into their specific characteristics.

3. Depending on the mode (or channel)

We can also classify the types of interviews according to the type of channel in which communication between interviewer and interviewee is established.

3.1. Face to face interview

The face to face interview is the face-to-face interview. Both actors in the interview are facing each other. This means that non-verbal communication is taken into account.

3.2. Telephone interview

The telephone interview It is used in personnel selection, as it is used as a filter within the recruitment process if there is a high volume of candidates.

Through this, a personnel selection expert can discard a candidate if he considers that he is not suitable for the position, since it is usually assessed whether he meets the requirements of the job being offered. It also allows us to know his concerns and his level of motivation.

3.3. Online interview

Although it is increasingly used in clinical or educational settings, online interview It is characteristic of personnel selection processes when there are many candidates for a job offer. It is common in large companies and is also usually used when the candidate is not in the same location.

Currently, there are programs that conduct interviews in which a candidate is recorded from their home after asking them a series of questions. There is no interviewer, but the questions appear in text format and, later, the candidate’s response is recorded. The response is stored and sent to the selection staff who is responsible for carrying out the assessment.

3.4. By email

This type of interview is common in the journalistic field. In the email interviews A series of questions are sent by email and the interviewee returns them with their answer. In this way, in addition to those psychological variables to be taken into account, the specific skills that will be used in the job are checked.

However, it is also true that this type of interview can simply be a cheap version of the selection process, in those contexts in which it is decided not to dedicate practically any resources or time to this phase.

4. Other types of interview

The types of interviews we have seen so far can be characterized relatively simply. But there is another category of interviews whose particularities lie in somewhat more complex aspects and that have more specific objectives. We explain them below.

4.1. Interview by competencies

This type of competency interview is also known as behavioral interview and is used by Human Resources experts to find out if the person interviewed is the right person for the position they are applying for. The recruiter focuses on obtaining behavioral examples from the applicant’s personal, academic and professional life, after previously knowing the needs of both the position and the company.

This means that this type of interview has a component that brings it closer to tests of competencies and skills, although it is not usually presented as an exam for which one must prepare specifically.

The behavioral interview born from the concept of competition, very popular in the business and organizational field Thanks to the competency-based interview, it is possible to evaluate whether the motivation, knowledge, abilities or values ​​of the person interviewed fit the needs of the company. There is a lot of prior work in this type of interview, since first of all it is necessary to define the skills that the position and the company require.

Currently, a type of competency-based interview called critical incident interviewwhich is based on a series of open questions that expect the person being interviewed to describe in the most detail what they said, thought, felt and did on certain occasions, since in this way it is possible to know if the candidate has the skills required.

To know more about the competency-based interview you should read this article: “How to face a competency-based interview: 4 keys to getting the job”

4.2. Stress provocation interview

The tension elicitation interview It is used in job interviews, especially for managers. The objective is to create tension or stressful situations to assess the candidate’s ability to solve problems, in addition to knowing their degree of tolerance for frustration or their ability to manage stress.

However, it must be taken into account that the type of situations that produce stress are very different: perhaps, the tension caused by the job to be performed is well managed by the candidate, but the stressful situation applied to the interview, being novel, it is not.

On the other hand, it cannot be overlooked that this type of interview means going through an unpleasant experience ; In fact, that degree of discomfort is the reason for the interview, and without it it would make no sense. This has ethical connotations that are worth assessing and that also include considering how this fits with the values, work philosophy and business culture of the organization.

4.3. Motivational interview

The motivational interview It is a style of directive interaction, focused on the client and aimed at helping people and stimulating them to compare the advantages and disadvantages of certain situations, in order to provoke positive changes in their behavior.