Abstract
Interviews are a critical component of assessing a candidate’s fit in an organization. Students aspiring to be managers or human resource professionals will need to complete an interview to successfully gain employment and then, in turn, will be responsible for conducting interviews to effectively ascertain the capabilities and motivation of job candidates. The service-learning experience presented here offers students a competitive advantage when competing against peers for limited job openings. This article outlines a service-learning experience aimed at improving both interviewee and interviewer effectiveness. This activity is interdisciplinary and can be beneficial for students across all industries. It is particularly useful for instructors who want to add an experiential learning component to their courses and who are teaching units on human resources and interviewing.
Introduction
True learning often comes from doing. This exercise is designed to help students in undergraduate or graduate management and human resource management courses learn the processes of creating job descriptions, writing interview questions, and interviewing candidates for a position. The steps involved in creating job descriptions and interviewing a job candidate can be daunting for students who have had relatively little interviewing experience. Based on the service-learning literature and Bloom’s Taxonomy (Bloom & Krathwohl, 1956; Krathwohl, 2002), students can greatly benefit from conducting mock interviews with actual job seekers. Practicing interviews with underprepared job seekers is not only a wonderful way to give back to the community but helps students gain experience as interviewers by applying what they learned in the classroom. It also allows students to gain a deeper understanding of interviewing skills by learning from the behavior of the interviewee. The specific learning objectives are to
Describe and explain the purpose of a job description and what information it includes
Describe and explain the different types of interview questions
Describe and explain the process used to create a job description
Use the process to construct a job description
Use the job description to write job-related interview questions
Use the questions to examine and assess a candidate’s job-relevant qualifications
The service-learning experience discussed below allows students to go from conceptualization to actualization and from explicit knowledge to tacit knowledge. Based on feedback from students, this service-learning experience not only improved students’ knowledge, skills, and abilities, it also seemingly improved their confidence and self-efficacy.
Service Learning
As suggested by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), personnel selection is typically a core component of human resource management curriculum (Lockwood et al., 2016). The most commonly cited selection method is the interview (Yeung, 2011). Even though the interview method has shown to be a poor indicator of job performance (Schmidt & Hunter, 1998), applicants who do not perform well during the interview often find themselves eliminated from the applicant pool (Robbins & Judge, 2013). Consequently, it is important for management educators to teach students successful techniques to improve the interview process (Yeung, 2011). One way to accomplish this objective is to involve students in a service-learning experience.
Service learning is the “combination of academics, service, and critical reflection through the partnerships between faculty, students, and community members” (Bringle, Clayton, & Hatcher, 2013, p. 232). Research suggests that service learning can be an effective tool to help meet academic objectives (Astin & Sax, 1998) and can be used in a wide variety of classes, including those in the business disciplines. In addition to helping a student master course content, service learning fosters student development of interpersonal skills, such as communication and leadership, and increases their sense of civic responsibility (Eyler, Giles, Stenson, & Gray, 2001; Myers-Lipton, 1998). Feedback from service-learning projects suggests that students find it a meaningful addition to the traditional academic experience (Seider, Rabinowicz, & Gillmor, 2012).
The benefits of service learning also affect the local community because students are given the opportunity to apply what they have learned to real-world situations. As a result, service-learning projects can also help build relationships between the university and the community (Andrews, 2007). Inherent in these experiences are opportunities for students to learn at higher levels because educators can create learning opportunities within the experience that fulfil all levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy.
Bloom’s Taxonomy
A goal of any educator is to help students grow in their cognitive thinking processes. Bloom’s Taxonomy is a multilevel framework that identifies six increasingly complex levels of thinking designed to take learners from being able to recall facts about a concept to creating their own original work based on what they have learned (Bloom & Krathwohl, 1956). A revised version of the taxonomy was published in 2001 (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001), which included revisions to the original terminology and structure of the taxonomy. A thorough explanation of the framework is beyond the scope of this article, but a complete discussion of the revisions can be found in Anderson and Krathwohl (2001) and Krathwohl (2002).
The levels of learning in the revised taxonomy, beginning at the lowest level, are remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating. The activity described here is designed to take students through all the levels of the framework. The first level, remembering, requires learners to recognize and recall information about a topic. Understanding requires learners to interpret, classify, or compare material. Once these are mastered, students can apply what they have learned by implementing those concepts or using a procedure to practice what they learned. Analyzing, the fourth level, includes looking at the concept at a micro-level. Learners must break down the topic into different parts and understand how those parts are related to each other and the whole. The next level, evaluating, requires learners to make decisions based on what they learned. Creating is the last level that involves synthesizing all of the information to construct or design something new (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001). It is imperative that educators consider all of these levels when designing learning activities. The design and scope of assignments and activities will determine the levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy fulfilled and, in turn, the level of learning achieved.
Teaching Activity
This teaching exercise is intended to help students gain a greater understanding of the interviewing process and improve their capabilities as an interviewer and interviewee.
Step 1: Preliminary Planning for Service-Learning Experience
Instructors interested in facilitating a service-learning experience should begin by contacting an employment agency, such as the Urban League or Goodwill, that conducts workshops and job-training interventions with underprepared job seekers. These organizations appreciate volunteers and are usually thrilled to have students involved. Instructors can arrange a date for students to present an interviewing workshop and ask the agency for a list of jobs their job seekers are pursuing.
Step 2: Preservice Learning Applied Classroom Activity and Homework Assignment
According to Bloom’s Taxonomy, before learners can apply a concept, they must remember information about it and be able to demonstrate understanding. Essential to the success of the service-learning exercise is an understanding of the foundational knowledge related to job descriptions and interviewing. To learn how to evaluate candidate qualifications via interview questions, students must comprehend essential job functions, job specifications, and competencies. To do this, students should first learn what a job description is, what it includes, and the steps involved. They must also be familiar with the different types of interview questions (e.g., situational). After they have demonstrated learning on these concepts, the instructor must construct an assignment similar to the one used in this exercise (shown in Appendix A and Appendix B) that requires students to apply the steps to create a job description. (Appendix A contains an assignment with teaching notes, and Appendix B contains a student copy of the assignment to use in class or as homework.)
Students should complete the assignment before the service-learning experience. It should require them to gather information about their positions from multiple sources. You could require them, for example, to interview a person who currently holds a similar position, gather information from O*Net (more details included in Appendix A), search the Internet for similar job descriptions, and/or interview a manager who supervises a similar position. Then, using the information they gathered, have students write job descriptions that include all necessary information.
After completing the job descriptions, have students write structured interview questions related to essential job functions as well as the knowledge, skills, and abilities outlined in their descriptions. Construct an assignment or use the one shown in Appendix C and Appendix D. (Appendix C contains an assignment with teaching notes, and Appendix D contains a student copy.) You should have students write some of the questions in situational interview question format and behavioral description interview format.
Step 3: Prepare Students to Conduct Mock Interviews With Workshop Participants
The next step for instructors is to conduct a workshop on interviewing best practices to educate students about optimal interviewing practices and interviewee conduct. The workshop should focus on the first two levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy—remembering and understanding. During this session, students should learn about how to manage a candidate interview, and how to run the job skills workshop and give feedback to workshop participants during and after the mock interviews. It is also important to discuss desirable interviewing behavior including dress, body language, eye contact, and how to answer questions (e.g., staying on point and avoiding long-winded answers) so student trainers/interviewers can give meaningful feedback to workshop participants. To further progress learning, give students an opportunity to practice for their upcoming mock interviews during this pretraining meeting. Consequently, this step will also fulfil the “apply” level of Bloom’s Taxonomy.
Step 4: Have Students Conduct a Job Skills Workshop
Conducting “real-world” interviews is an imperative step in the learning process. As such, instructors should allow students to take charge of the workshop. During this workshop, students should have an opportunity to apply their skills, analyze the interview as it progresses, and evaluate their performance and the performance of the interviewee. In turn, students will progress to the “create” level of Bloom’s Taxonomy because they will often create new questions and provide new feedback to address each particular situation.
During the interview training session, students should first give a presentation to workshop participants about “effective interviewing practices,” “how to prepare for interviews,” and “what not to do” during an interview. This portion usually lasts 20 to 30 minutes and can include demonstrations, role modeling, and a mini “interview fashion show” to provide workshop participants with examples for how to (or not to) dress. Students should then split up workshop participants and conduct mock interviews, allowing at least 30 to 40 minutes for each mock interview. When possible, match students with participants based on the participant’s desired job and the job the student researched. If this is not possible, students can share interview questions and/or compile a master list of general and job-specific interview questions.
Step 5: Postservice Learning Debriefing
After the service-learning workshop, instructors should debrief students about their experience. In accordance with Bloom’s Taxonomy, this step will give students the chance to evaluate their performances and the performances of the interviewees. Furthermore, this process will enable students to create and construct better strategies for future interviewing exchanges which fulfils the highest level of Bloom’s Taxonomy. This debrief will allow students to discuss what they did well as an interviewer and what they could have done better. Ask them why they would have (or would not have) hired their interviewee. Discuss how the interviewees’ actions and answers influenced students’ perceptions of their own interviewing behaviors and what they could improve to get a job post graduation.
This is also a good time to discuss civic responsibility and personal growth. Instructors should have students reflect on their experience so they can better understand the benefits of this activity beyond simply improving their knowledge of workplace interviewing. Instructors should ask whether students thought the experience influenced their interpersonal skills, interviewing self-efficacy, and sense of civic responsibility. Instructors will find that students feel a great sense of pride in giving back to the community and will ask to participate in more events that are similar in nature.
Discussion
Service-learning projects are wonderful undertakings for students and the community, but the immense benefits our students realized came with growing pains we hope to help others avoid. For example, it is important to communicate expectations to the participating agency/organization clearly. Make sure the participating agency/organization understands that the workshop is being conducted by students still perfecting their skills. While those students are supervised by the instructor, the participating agency/organization should not expect consultant-level work. Also, be aware of several potential logistical issues that could arise based on the selected partner organization. Many organizations are short-staffed and rely on volunteers; so make sure to follow-up with the organization on a regular basis to confirm dates and times. If not, you might be the only people there. Visit the workshop location before the workshop to check on technology and room setup. This will help you better prepare students and clarify any issues or concerns with the organization.
The tips discussed above provide a brief description of potential issues to be cognizant of during the service-learning experience. We have included (Appendix E) a more comprehensive list of tips and tricks to help avoid some common pitfalls associated with service-learning projects. The main goal is to help future instructors avoid making the same mistakes we did.
Conclusion
The value of service-learning experiences is well-documented (i.e., Astin & Sax, 1998; Seider et al., 2012). When executed effectively, these experiences should allow students to complete all levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy. Using Bloom’s Taxonomy helps instructors organize objectives, design valid assessments, and create high-quality instruction (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001). Students gain valuable knowledge and improve their interviewing skills as well as enjoy the opportunity to apply what they learned outside the classroom and to have an impact in the community. This project also adds a real-world level of pressure that is nearly impossible to duplicate in the classroom. Students seem to take these activities more seriously and put more time and effort into these projects as opposed to more traditional classroom interview role-play scenarios. The real-world aspect of the project appears to increase their motivation to succeed because the outcome affects more than just their grade in the course. The goal of this article is to provide instructors with enough information to begin their own service-learning opportunity.
Footnotes
Appendix A
Appendix B
Appendix C
Appendix D
Appendix E
Tips for Starting a Service-Learning Project
Appendix F
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.