GMAT Essays (AWA)

From GMATPrep:

The statement was something like "Traditional question answer interviews are used to interview job candidates for jobs, but the person should actually perform the tasks required for the job"

Essay: Most companies today use the same hiring process - they scan resumes, select a handful of seemingly qualified candidates and call them in for some interviews. These interviews consist usually of question and answer sessions that focus on the candidate s interpersonal skills, work experience, and technical skills. Employers think they can learn enough about the candidate in a few hours or a day to make a decision on whether this person will succeed in the position. However, it is important to put this process in context to really understand the effectiveness. Hiring competent employees is a key factor in building any business and similarly weeding out and replacing incompetent ones is extremely expensive. As hiring competent employees is a difficult yet extremely important process, it is crucial to examine the hiring process itself. I firmly believe that companies are built on the brains and backs of their employees and thus to ensure success, one must spend the time, money and effort to hire the best of the best. I support the statement above and will detail two reasons for doing so.

Firstly, the candidate, in all likelihood, had prepared well for the interview. He comes well dressed, well rehearsed and well prepared to make a good first impression. I am not arguing that he maliciously intends to be deceptive, however it is important to realize that the candidate is putting his best foot forward and many employers will set their expecations and judgement based on this first impression. In some situations, they may overlook other faults such as lack of technical skill in favor of good sense of humor, that will then cause problems later. In my personal experience, people make a special effort to make a great first impression in job interviews. I frequently interview people at my company and I have often found that candidates have a good idea of the kinds of questions asked and hence they have done some preparation in advance and can give cookie cutter responses to some of the questions we ask in the hope of unearthing the relatively unknown traits. For example, asking a candidate about his weakness will almost always lead to the answer that he is too passionate or too focused on his work!

Secondly, it is impossible to judge some skills such as work ethic in a few interviews. The employers can use references or ask the candidate for some examples during the interview, however to really get an accurate picture the employer must actually observe the candidate performing some of the tasks over a period of time. For example, the candidate may be extremely well dressed and articulate in the interviews, however his real work may be sloppy, unfocused or lack detail. It is not possible for the employer to foresee this change without actually evaluating some of the candidate s work. Moreover, the employer may not just be making a decision in hiring an unsuited candidate, but he may also be letting an excellent one slip through. Everyone has good days and bad days, and it is important to not let a single day or a few hours of interviews influence major decisions.
As anecdotal evidence, I offer my own company as an example. We have an excellent internship process through which we find and hire most of our new employees. Interns work on well scoped projects for 3 to 6 months and we use thatreal worleir work as the evaluation guide. Moreover it offers the other team members to interact with the candidate over a longer period of time and make a better decision about whether he is a good fit or not. Of course, this process involves a lot of time, money and effort on the company's part. However in the long term it is a huge benefit for everyone involved as unsuitable candidates are filtered out and well suited ones are not easily dismissed.

In conclusion, question-and-answer interviews give an employer a limited and sometimes false view of the candidate. Hence employers should try, as much as possible, to observe the candidate as they perform the actual tasks over a period of time.

Awesome! Definitely as close as it can be to 6. Well addressed and nicely articulated.