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What is an Interview? – Concept, Definition and Importance

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Definition of Interview

An interview is defined as a structured conversation in which one participant or interviewer asks questions and the other, called the interviewee, provides the answers.

The term interview is commonly associated with a one-on-one conversation between an interviewer and an interviewee. The interviewer has a diversity of aspects that he/she wants to explore and can do it with questions to which the interviewee answers, offering information to the interviewer, can be used and taken to other audiences and spaces.

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Information and its use is a common feature for many types of interviews, such as a job interview, an interview with a witness to an event, an interview with an expert, a well-known person, may have no other audience present at the time, but the answers are given to others later in the employment and research process.

In this article, there is a strong emphasis on the interview

Employers conduct different types of job interviews, such as behavioral interviews, case interviews, group interviews, telephone and video interviews, online interviews, second interviews, and even lunchtime interviews.

These are important job interviews to understand if you are looking for a job, but there are other interviews you can experience throughout your career. These job-related interviews include exit interviews, mock interviews, and informational interviews.

General Interview Concept

Throughout history, human beings have sought ways to communicate, creating the language to help identify multiple concepts or actions to transmit information between human beings.

It is in this moment when the interview is established, whose concept is based on a dialogue between two or more people with the purpose of acquiring information, the parts that compose the interview are named as the interviewer and the interviewee, the purpose is the acquisition of information for the interviewer about multiple questions towards the interviewee, with the purpose of making decisions or communicating depending on the nature of the interview.

An interview is not a casual dialogue, they contain pre-established agreements to ensure the purpose for which the interview is conducted, establishing a prior agreement of interests that lies in the acquisition of the interviewer for various purposes such as the benefits agreed to his or her counterpart in order to start the interview.

The interview is the model of conversation that has the most public character, since it represents a formality to establish a service, whether it is social communication such as the press or television, the establishment of services such as the medical interview or the selection of labour personnel whose figure represents the most effective form of acquiring convenient data for decision-making about the human resource applicant.

The interviewer must be willing and patient to achieve his or her mission as stated in the interview and must have the appropriate personal security to pose or present the questions to the interviewee.

The interviewer should speak clearly, with a reasonable or understandable argument, possessing a loud voice so that the interviewee can receive complete information during the interview.

Questions should be posed in a natural or pleasant manner so that the interviewer feels confident and can provide the desired information while seeking to be honest throughout the interview.

The questions should be precise, seeking simplicity, as well as short, so that the interviewee does not feel tired or stressed when answering.

Definition of Interview

The interviewer must have almost absolute security, so that he/she can adapt to any eventuality. It is recommended to write down the specific questions and perhaps some tentative questions so that support material can be handled to provide security for the interviewer before the interviewee.

The interviewee must agree with the interview; generally the interviewee feels the need to carry the information either to acquire publicity, facilitate a service that is going to be acquired or to get a job.

There are several types of interviews, there are biographical interviews, where a written portrait of the interviewed person is established, either for advertising or personal purposes, there are only opinion interviews that, serve at the time of capturing generally ideological points of view of the interviewed person, the journalistic interview that implies the acquisition of knowledge to feed the social communication in your company and to be able to connect a story that raises the ratings.

A more generic type of interview is that of closed questions or questionnaires

fixed, which, serve to acquire data and establish statistical curves. There are also research interviews that serve to acquire knowledge, whether for scientific or documentary research, the interpretative model that is more focused on creating a general body that contains human or deontological values.

There are other more formal interview models, such as the job interview, which involves the acquisition of specific data to determine, for example, the candidate for the most suitable position so that the options can be fully appreciated before hiring for the company or business.

There are also, the testimonial interviews that cover the acquisition of information about events that occurred of interest, this model is usually used in judicial interviews to determine details about a crime committed during a judicial investigation.

In general, there are several interview models that determine a similar basis between each one, that is, the purpose of acquiring formal or concrete knowledge for the development of any purpose, investigative interest, decision making, selection or social communication that implies informing thousands of people through the established means of formal communication.

Types of interviews

Employer organizations in businesses conduct various types of job interviews, such as behavioral interviews, case interviews, group, telephone and video interviews, online interviews, as well as second interviews and even informal interviews over a meal.

These are meaningful job interviews that allow the interviewee who is looking for a job to understand and be oriented. However, there are other interviews that you can experience throughout your career. These job-related interviews include exit interviews, mock interviews, as well as informational interviews.

Learn more about the types of interviews here

Types of interviews

Interview questions

It is always important to be prepared to effectively answer the questions that employers often ask. Several of these questions are very common, and hiring managers would expect the interviewee to be able to answer them smoothly and without hesitation.

You don’t have to memorize the answers, but you should think about what you are going to say so that you don’t get nervous and find yourself in a bind. Therefore, your answers will be stronger if you prepare in advance, know what to expect during the interview, and have an idea of what you want to focus on.

Learn more here about answering the most common interview questions

When the interviewee is properly prepared, he or she is able to answer any trick questions the interviewer may ask. Because, during a job interview, employers sometimes ask difficult questions to trip you up, not out of malice, but to get an accurate picture of your application.

Interviewers know that the interviewee has probably practiced all the traditional questions, so they try to confuse them with more difficult questions to get a better idea of background, communication skills, and performance if the job is offered.

Therefore, it is very important to keep in mind that there may not be a right or wrong answer to some of these questions and the interviewer will be more interested in seeing how the respondent responds than in what his/her answer is.

Learn more here about job interview trap questions

Preparing for interviews

When preparing for an interview, there are a number of different parts that can be done before and after the interview to ensure that you make a very good impression on your potential employer.

Taking the time to prepare for an interview in advance can help you secure a job offer. Some of these steps are researching the job and the company, practicing interview questions and answers, dressing for the interview, and following up after the interview.

Learn more about interview preparation here

In an interview there can be a variety of tricks that allow you to consider it, in a way, as an opportunity to sell your qualities to a potential employer. While this may be a bit of a strong description, to some extent it may be the truth. Interviewers criticize, assess skills, evaluate qualifications, and try to see if the interviewee is the best fit for their organization. There are some ways in which the interviewee can help ensure that the employer sees him or her as a strong candidate for the job.

If you think that interviewers are people who can be manipulated into doing what the interviewee wants, then you should ask them

want to believe that he knows them all, according to reality this is neither possible nor true. But there are some tips and tricks that can help you win over the interviewer at the job interview.

Learn more about interviewing tips here