Evaluating Interpersonal Skills in the Job Interview

Successful interviewing, defined as selecting the appropriate person for a specific position, is comparatively easy for some structured positions, such as typist or mechanic. Valid instruments to measure the key aptitudes to perform successfully in these positions are readily available and are commonly used. Even candidates for some technical positions, such as engineers or accountants, can be evaluated for critical traits like intelligence and subject. However, positions requiring a defined set of interpersonal skills, such as sales or middle, executive-level, and general management, are much more difficult to successfully recruit. Evaluating Interpersonal Skills in the Job Interview provides that much needed assistance to the interviewer. In this research-based book, Weitzul utilizes the results of thousands of interviews to devise a system to validly measure a candidate's interpersonal skills and thereby evaluate a candidate's suitability for a given position.

Initially, a series of interpersonal traits are listed and defined, which provide a basis for perceiving and analyzing people in an interview. The interviewer is taught to read the whole person and interpret the candidate's behavior in terms of a set of interpersonal skills. The material includes sample responses to a series of application and interviewing questions. In this way, a given candidate's responses can be compared directly to the responses of other individuals with known interpersonal skills. The book also discusses methods to facilitate the interview process, maintain the conversational flow, and politely enable the candidates to reveal themselves. Evaluating Interpersonal Skills in the Job Interview can be effectively utilized by anyone who interviews for line, staff, and sales positions.

James B. Weitzul, PhD, is a partner in the consulting firm of Banks & Weitzul, Inc. During his professional career he has worked for the Rand Corporation and Rohrer Hibler and Replogle. He is a frequent contributor to business journals in areas of Managerial Psychology and serves on the board of directors of corporations. He is currently working on his second book.