Hi Nathan, I think we all struggle with this.
If your goal is to attract and hire individuals with high GPAs who will do well in courses, then I agree, this approach of no interview, or a very structured interview (I'd like to hear more of what that entails) will work. If your goal, on the other hand, is to hire individuals who are high functioning in multiple settings, I don't think GPA is the single best predictor. I think more factors need to be considered. If someone has a test for that, I would be interested. Thank you, *Amy R. Tuininga, PhD* Director, PSEG Institute for Sustainability Studies <http://www.montclair.edu/csam/pseg-sustainability-institute/> Montclair State University 1 Normal Avenue CELS 100G Montclair, NJ 07043 973.655.3667 tuinin...@mail.montclair.edu On Tue, May 16, 2017 at 4:08 PM, Morehouse, Nathan (morehonn) < moreh...@ucmail.uc.edu> wrote: > Hi all, > > > > I recently read a piece in the New York Times titled, rather revealingly, > “The Utter Uselessness of Job Interviews” (https://nyti.ms/2oNQ0im), > which highlights recent social science research on the utility, or lack > thereof, of unstructured job interviews for assessing job candidates. Over > the years, I have relied heavily on unstructured interviews for evaluating > prospective researchers wanting to join my lab group. A loosely > conversational interview struck me as friendlier, and in principle, able to > provide the flexibility to extemporaneously delve deeper into certain > topics. But this NYT piece, and the research it stems from, suggests that > such interviews are at best unhelpful in identifying the candidate with the > highest aptitude, and at worse, counterproductive. And I have to admit to > leaving many interviews feeling like I didn’t necessarily cover the ground > I needed to, or that I didn’t derive much new insight beyond what I had > gleaned from application materials. > > > > So I’m re-thinking my approach by moving instead to a much more structured > format for interviewing. I’m emailing to ask for recommendations for > questions that people have found helpful when interviewing prospective > postdocs and grad students. What questions have you used over the years > that have provoked particularly useful responses? > > > > Thanks in advance for your suggestions! > > Nate > > > > Nathan Morehouse > > _______________ > > Assistant Professor > > Department of Biological Sciences > > University of Cincinnati > > 711H Rieveschl Hall > > Cincinnati, OH 45221-0006 > > Office: (513) 556-9757 > > colorevolut...@uc.edu > > http://www.morehouselab.com > > > > "Il y a un autre monde mais il est dans celui-ci." - Paul Éluard >
