subject: Case Appraisal Method Of Applications [print this page] The case interview plays an important role in daily business life. On both sides of the table, high risks are involved. An organization may be seriously compromised by a low or high level appointment, or it may benefit from getting the right employees. On the other side a candidate's plans may be realized, or ruined.
In most interviews it is the interviewee who is most under pressure. He is the one being evaluated and facing possible, or even probable, rejection. Interviewers are typically more relaxed and complacent. It is even quite enjoyable to be in the powerful position of making or breaking another person's plans. However, the disastrous consequences of some wrong decisions may cause them to pause for thought.
As in other fields of endeavour such as teaching or parenting much has been left up to experience in the past. Mothers often re-enact the methods of their own mothers when bringing up children. Asked to sit on an interview panel an employee might react as he did when he sat on the other side of the table as an applicant. MBA and business schools have done well to break this mould of haphazard repetition by investigating new interview techniques.
In this new class of interview techniques candidates are asked enter into discussions about what they would do under a set of hypothetical conditions. For example, a banker might be asked to perform calculations pertaining to a banking situation, or a teacher may be asked to teach a class and then discuss some of the situations that arose.
The information garnered from such a procedure should yield valuable opportunities for analysis. How a candidate responded instinctively in an emergency situation will be an indication of his temperament and emotional capacity.
There is no one prescription for any interview for a position. Rather there are various classes of interview technique. Each will vary according to the specifications of the position at stake, and to particular requirements. For example, positions in sales divisions will be different to administrative ones. So too will the daily conditions under which people work.
An approximation to the case review job interview method is illustrated in the popular TV series, 'The Apprentice'. Here candidates are given a series of challenges in which they engage together while assessors look on. In the end one person has to give a final decision as to who is the best candidates is. As the series shows a procedure devised by human beings will seldom be perfect, but it may at least represent an advance on what has gone on before.
