<p>Trailing through various episodes of job interviews, Jessy encountered two contrasting realms of hiring landscapes. Once, she attended an online interview with Stanford Graduate Business School. Although the interview started with a positive gesture from the panel members, Jessy could not control the palpitations.</p>.<p>The panel paused the conversation for a while and initiated casual dialogues with Jessy. After a while, they resumed the conversation, and she was conversing with the panel as if they were no longer strange people. As they concluded, the panel left the impression that Jessy was one of the best candidates that they had interviewed.</p>.<p>A few days later, destiny reserved a contrasting experience that shattered her confidence. She attended an interview with an Indian employer that started with a cold tone. She could feel the panel’s sceptical glance piercing through her confidence, and they were closed to any cordial dialogue. Amid sarcastic, investigative, and pedantic questions, Jessy was completely cornered. It made her doubt her abilities, confidence, and self-worth.</p>.<p>A McKinsey report from February 2025 says moments matter more than just the candidates’ resumes, as the purpose of a job interview is not an act of investigation but an opportunity to create a moment of trust and pride in each other. Hiring practices of Western countries are influenced by the paradigm of human experience that shapes the outcome of job interviews.</p>.<p>However, these job interviews have remained transactional and investigative in India-based organisations. Let us explore the lived experiences of a passionate candidate named Jessy.</p>.<p><strong>The tendency of such hiring practices is reflected in the following questions:</strong></p>.<p>Are job interviews meant for terrorising the candidates, wherein the panel proves their dominance/erudition?</p>.<p>Do these negative or positive impressions influence organisational brands</p>.<p>Does every individual have the right to humane treatment during job interviews, irrespective of their job roles? </p>.<p>Do interviewers and interviewees both undergo cognitive stress during the interview? </p>.<p>The above questions have been rooted in multiple paradigms of knowledge and practice. It is essential to explore each dimension of a job interview and apply effective strategies to make the job interview mutually beneficial. According to cognitive psychologists, most of the candidates are influenced by affective forecasting, wherein they start living the predictive experiences of the future (Kaplan, Reed & Le, 2020).</p>.<p>Besides, the interviewers’ sarcastic remarks or gestures have the potential to trigger the candidates’ mirror neurons that replicate the emotions of the interviewers. This may lead to sabotaging the candidates’ confidence and losing the best talents (Deloitte Insights, 2023).</p>.<p>In addition, the positive psychologists opine that the micro moments created during the job interviews play a critical role in understanding the candidates’ suitability for the job roles. The quality of these micro moments is determined by the interviewers’ approach or attitude (Harvard Business Review, 2017). </p>.Welcome to your job interview. Your interviewer is AI.<p>Besides, the job interviews are the opportunities wherein the best narratives of an organisation are advocated through these brand messengers. If these job interviews are strategically designed and implemented with utmost human sensitivity, the organisations may not regret the best talents lost in the procedural investigations or assessments.</p>.<p>The scientific reports infer that 63% of the candidates drop out due to poor interview experience (Talent Board, 2023), and 83% of the candidates change their minds about the role or company due to the interview experience. Shockingly, a report published by Robert Walters (2022) suggests that 40% of companies lose the best talent pool, and the majority of the candidates (around 70%) decline job offers due to a negative experience during the job interview. </p>.<p>The following practices, aligned with a centred approach and emotional engagement, can be a panacea for growing concerns in talent acquisition. </p>.<p>Behaviour codes: Refining the interviewers’ behaviour or mindset by establishing clear behaviour codes based on emotional intelligence. These codes act as a guideline for interviewers to mind their gestures.</p>.<p>Pre-interview protocols: HR must be mindful of the candidates’ psychological conditions before they attend the interview. The updates on the panel of interviewers and stress reduction mechanisms will help the candidates to give their best in the interview.</p>.<p>Creating micro-moments: This is all about creating value-added conversations between the interviewer and the candidate that can ease the tension between them. Besides, these micro-moments optimise the brand performance of the organisation, and these candidates become live carriers of the brand.</p>.<p>Building narratives: According to psychologists, the human mind is hardwired to narrative styles, and we have a natural inclination to narrate stories. The interview conversations should encourage narratives that can stimulate hidden or unconscious motives or values of the candidate.</p>.<p>Empathy: Empathy is a powerful emotional anchor that can resolve critical behavioural or affective concerns during the interview. Therefore, integrating empathy into every phase of the interview is very crucial. Besides, the empathetic approach enables the candidates to establish a psychological connection with the organisation.</p>.<p>Feedback mechanism: Although a few Indian organisations share interview feedback or updates with candidates, it is rare for Indian organisations to seek candidates’ feedback about the interview. The candidates’ feedback will not only help the organisations to improve their interview standards but also create a reverberating impression of the brand.</p>.<p>A job interview is no longer a monopolised event dictated solely by an employer. It is metaphorically a courtship contest where the prospective employee and employer meet and evaluate the viability of their contractual relationship. The best hospitality practices during hiring can attract top candidates to your talent pool.</p>.<p>(The author is a professor of behavioural science in a Bengaluru-based college)</p>
<p>Trailing through various episodes of job interviews, Jessy encountered two contrasting realms of hiring landscapes. Once, she attended an online interview with Stanford Graduate Business School. Although the interview started with a positive gesture from the panel members, Jessy could not control the palpitations.</p>.<p>The panel paused the conversation for a while and initiated casual dialogues with Jessy. After a while, they resumed the conversation, and she was conversing with the panel as if they were no longer strange people. As they concluded, the panel left the impression that Jessy was one of the best candidates that they had interviewed.</p>.<p>A few days later, destiny reserved a contrasting experience that shattered her confidence. She attended an interview with an Indian employer that started with a cold tone. She could feel the panel’s sceptical glance piercing through her confidence, and they were closed to any cordial dialogue. Amid sarcastic, investigative, and pedantic questions, Jessy was completely cornered. It made her doubt her abilities, confidence, and self-worth.</p>.<p>A McKinsey report from February 2025 says moments matter more than just the candidates’ resumes, as the purpose of a job interview is not an act of investigation but an opportunity to create a moment of trust and pride in each other. Hiring practices of Western countries are influenced by the paradigm of human experience that shapes the outcome of job interviews.</p>.<p>However, these job interviews have remained transactional and investigative in India-based organisations. Let us explore the lived experiences of a passionate candidate named Jessy.</p>.<p><strong>The tendency of such hiring practices is reflected in the following questions:</strong></p>.<p>Are job interviews meant for terrorising the candidates, wherein the panel proves their dominance/erudition?</p>.<p>Do these negative or positive impressions influence organisational brands</p>.<p>Does every individual have the right to humane treatment during job interviews, irrespective of their job roles? </p>.<p>Do interviewers and interviewees both undergo cognitive stress during the interview? </p>.<p>The above questions have been rooted in multiple paradigms of knowledge and practice. It is essential to explore each dimension of a job interview and apply effective strategies to make the job interview mutually beneficial. According to cognitive psychologists, most of the candidates are influenced by affective forecasting, wherein they start living the predictive experiences of the future (Kaplan, Reed & Le, 2020).</p>.<p>Besides, the interviewers’ sarcastic remarks or gestures have the potential to trigger the candidates’ mirror neurons that replicate the emotions of the interviewers. This may lead to sabotaging the candidates’ confidence and losing the best talents (Deloitte Insights, 2023).</p>.<p>In addition, the positive psychologists opine that the micro moments created during the job interviews play a critical role in understanding the candidates’ suitability for the job roles. The quality of these micro moments is determined by the interviewers’ approach or attitude (Harvard Business Review, 2017). </p>.Welcome to your job interview. Your interviewer is AI.<p>Besides, the job interviews are the opportunities wherein the best narratives of an organisation are advocated through these brand messengers. If these job interviews are strategically designed and implemented with utmost human sensitivity, the organisations may not regret the best talents lost in the procedural investigations or assessments.</p>.<p>The scientific reports infer that 63% of the candidates drop out due to poor interview experience (Talent Board, 2023), and 83% of the candidates change their minds about the role or company due to the interview experience. Shockingly, a report published by Robert Walters (2022) suggests that 40% of companies lose the best talent pool, and the majority of the candidates (around 70%) decline job offers due to a negative experience during the job interview. </p>.<p>The following practices, aligned with a centred approach and emotional engagement, can be a panacea for growing concerns in talent acquisition. </p>.<p>Behaviour codes: Refining the interviewers’ behaviour or mindset by establishing clear behaviour codes based on emotional intelligence. These codes act as a guideline for interviewers to mind their gestures.</p>.<p>Pre-interview protocols: HR must be mindful of the candidates’ psychological conditions before they attend the interview. The updates on the panel of interviewers and stress reduction mechanisms will help the candidates to give their best in the interview.</p>.<p>Creating micro-moments: This is all about creating value-added conversations between the interviewer and the candidate that can ease the tension between them. Besides, these micro-moments optimise the brand performance of the organisation, and these candidates become live carriers of the brand.</p>.<p>Building narratives: According to psychologists, the human mind is hardwired to narrative styles, and we have a natural inclination to narrate stories. The interview conversations should encourage narratives that can stimulate hidden or unconscious motives or values of the candidate.</p>.<p>Empathy: Empathy is a powerful emotional anchor that can resolve critical behavioural or affective concerns during the interview. Therefore, integrating empathy into every phase of the interview is very crucial. Besides, the empathetic approach enables the candidates to establish a psychological connection with the organisation.</p>.<p>Feedback mechanism: Although a few Indian organisations share interview feedback or updates with candidates, it is rare for Indian organisations to seek candidates’ feedback about the interview. The candidates’ feedback will not only help the organisations to improve their interview standards but also create a reverberating impression of the brand.</p>.<p>A job interview is no longer a monopolised event dictated solely by an employer. It is metaphorically a courtship contest where the prospective employee and employer meet and evaluate the viability of their contractual relationship. The best hospitality practices during hiring can attract top candidates to your talent pool.</p>.<p>(The author is a professor of behavioural science in a Bengaluru-based college)</p>