The Relationships Between Candidate Personality,Self-Presentation Strategies,and Interviewer Assessments in Selection Interviews: An Empirical Study

Abstract

Evidence suggests that selection interviewers make judgments about candidates' personalities on the basis of how they behave in interviews. The study reported here examined the relationship between the intended interview strategies of 110 students applying for university places and their scores on personality measures. Data were also collected on the impact of these self-presentation strategies on interviewers' ratings. The results indicate that interview experience is a factor in shaping candidates' behavior, and that although interviewers are influenced by self-presentation strategies, the latter do not necessarily reflect personality in a consistent way. The implications of these findings for how the selection interview should be conceptualized are discussed.

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