Employment Interview Ethics: From the 1950s to Today

Introduction

The job interview is one of the most important steps in acquiring employment. Over the years, different aspects of the job interview have changed, yet many fundamentals have remained the same. The purpose of this discussion is to examine how employment interviews have changed ethically from the 1950s to the present day.

Employment Interview Ethics

Anyone who has ever applied for a job knows just how important an interview is in determining whether they are offered a position with a company or organization (Ilkka, 1995). In fact, some research suggests that once an interview begins, an interviewer determines very quickly whether the individual will be hired. According to Kulik (2004):

"Interviewers make up their minds about an applicant's suitability very quickly. In one often-cited study, a researcher concluded that interviewers made their decisions within the first 3 to 4 minutes of the job interview! That 3- to 4-minute estimate is probably extreme, but recent research finds that interviewers express confidence that they have made a final decision 15 to 16 minutes into the interview" (Kulik, 2004, p. 71).

Employment interview ethics involves the ethical behavior of both the organization (the interviewer) and the individual seeking the job (the interviewee). It encompasses various aspects of the interview process, including pre-employment screening and the manner in which interviewees present information such as job experience. In either case, employment interviews have changed ethically from the 1950s to the present.

The 1950s and 1960s: Discrimination and Limited Oversight

Throughout the history of employment interviews, ethics have been emphasized. Employers have always wanted to know whether a potential employee was trustworthy and capable of performing the job in an ethical manner. During the 1950s and 1960s, significant changes were occurring in the workforce, influenced in large part by the civil rights movement and the women's liberation movement.

As it pertains to the civil rights movement, certain social changes occurred that had a direct impact on employment interview ethics. The women's liberation movement similarly resulted in an increasing number of women entering the job market. In many ways, these two movements had a profound effect on employment interview ethics; however, their full effects were not realized immediately.

For the most part, during the 1950s and 1960s, employment interview ethics were not as prominent an issue as they are today (Buzzanell, 1999). It was a different type of society, and information about prospective employees was not as accessible as it is now. As it pertained to women and minorities, there was a great deal of discrimination in pre-employment screening, but for the most part such discrimination was legal until the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Until that time — and for some time after its passage — there were certain workplaces where women and minorities were not permitted to work, meaning the interview would not even have taken place.

At places where women and minorities could obtain jobs, employers could be quite cruel during the interviewing process (Woodzicka & LaFrance, 2005). This cruelty manifested in women being subjected to sexual harassment and sexism, and minorities being subjected to racism. These attitudes were perpetuated by society at large, and organizations often had policies that allowed such unethical behavior to continue throughout the 1950s and much of the 1960s. The passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964 made some of these practices illegal; however, it took considerable time and the adoption of additional laws before organizations changed the manner in which minorities and women were treated during job interviews.

For applicants who were neither minorities nor women, job interviews during the 1950s and 1960s varied considerably depending on the position being sought, much as they do today. For the most part, applicants were made aware of available positions and told when to appear for an interview. Individuals who had completed college were often guided toward certain positions, as colleges maintained relationships with particular organizations and employers. If an applicant needed to demonstrate that they could perform certain tasks, this was done during or before the interview. In many cases, a person seeking employment might have been offered the job on the same day.

Because the nature of the world was quite different in the 1950s and 1960s, ethics and the job interview were not as closely intertwined as they are today. Interviewers neither had the technology nor felt the need to investigate the personal lives of applicants. In some cases a criminal record check was performed, but people were generally more trusting of one another, and the ethical issues that now arise during job interviews were not as prevalent at that time.

Overall, during the 1950s and 1960s, many organizations were unethical before and during the interview process because they discriminated against women and minorities, making the interviewing process unfair to significant segments of the population. On the other hand, applicants outside of these groups were often treated fairly, and both interviewers and interviewees tended to maintain certain ethical standards regarding fairness and honesty.

Conclusion

The purpose of this discussion was to examine how employment interviews have changed ethically since the 1950s until today. The research found that during the 1950s and 1960s, there was much less emphasis placed on ethics in the employment interviewing process compared with the emphasis placed on interviewing ethics in the current organizational environment. During those decades, there was a great deal of unethical behavior in the interviewing process as it pertained to women and minorities. However, there also appears to have been less deception on the part of both employers and employees during that period.