Running head: THE SOCIAL SITUATION IN EMPLOYMENT INTERVIEWS 1 Beyond validity: Shedding light on the social situation in employment interviews

For a long time, interview research mainly focused on ways to improve the psychometric properties of employment interviews. Thus, a large body of research has been accumulated concerning ways to improve the reliability and validity of interviews (Campion, 2009). However, even structured interviews are not verbally administered selection tests but represent a very specific social interaction for both the interviewee and the interviewer (Anderson, 1992). Accordingly, recent definitions of employment interviews do not only capture the issue of determining " the qualifications of a given individual for a particular open position " (Huffcutt & Youngcourt, 2007, p. 182) but also see the " interpersonal interaction and communication between the interviewer and interviewee " (Levashina et al., in press, p. 6) as a cornerstone of the interview. In line with this, over recent years research has given more weight to aspects related to the social situation, variables that influence the perception of this situation, and ways how the two parties involved try to handle it. A better understanding of the social situation in employment interviews and of effects related to it is important because this situation influences the behavior of both interviewers and interviewees. For example, the way interviewers present themselves and their organization may influence applicants' intentions towards the company, such as their willingness to accept a job offer or to recommend the company to others. Similarly, the way how interviewees try to present themselves in a favorable way may affect evaluations of their interview performance and, as a consequence, also the prediction of future job performance on the basis of these evaluations. The potential effect on the criterion-related validity of interview ratings is also a reason for attempts to detect and reduce self-presentation behavior in the interview. However, to date only limited evidence is available on whether it is possible Running head: THE SOCIAL SITUATION IN EMPLOYMENT INTERVIEWS 3 to detect the different kinds of self-presentation behavior that can be used in interviews and whether this behavior is in fact harmful for interview validity. The aim of the present chapter is to give an overview of research that sheds light on this specific situation that has a social interaction at its core background. We will then consider the interviewees' perspective and will review research that deals with the question what interviewees do to influence the interview situation. Thus, we will discuss the role of interviewees' perception of the situation …