A cross-modal comparison of telephone and face-to-face selection interviews in graduate recruitment

Although there has been an increase in the use of telephone interviews for graduate recruitment by companies in the UK, there is little evidence attes ting to their equivalence with traditional face-to-face selection interview s. A total of 70 candidates applying to a multinational oil corporation rec eived both face-to-face and telephone interviews as the first stage of the 1996 graduate recruitment milkround. Group A (N = 41) received an initial f ace-to-face interview followed by a telephone interview and group B (N = 29 ) a telephone interview followed by a face-to-face interview. Findings indi cate that candidates received significantly lower ratings when interviewed by telephone than when interviewed face-to-face (p < 0.001). A significant interaction was also found (p < 0.05) with candidates who received face-to- face interviews following telephone interviews demonstrating improved perfo rmance in their face-to-face interviews. The practical implications of thes e findings for companies wishing to use telephone interviews are discussed.