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Have you ever heard of someone being selected for a job solely because they gave a good interview yet they have shown themselves seriously incompetent in similar work in the past? This is a regular occurrence these days, and I am remembering instances where highly ranked British police officers whose judgement has brought about a serious result (the death of De Menezes) and the investigation was ongoing, yet the highly ranked officer who led the group who tailed and then shot this later proved innocent man, was given promotion to an even higher ranking job, based solely on her interview performance. The ongoing investigation did not venture into the decision whatsoever. Surely this is madness?

An interview should be but one part of a longer process to find the right person. Anyone who has already been known to have uncertainties as their competence and abilities should be rejected. But somehow, the idea of ensuring that everyone has a fair chance at a job, things like this are ignored. Any complaints given against someone are ignored. People who have little or no experience but can lie brilliantly are accepted. In my eyes this suggests that the madhouse now is ruled by the inmates!

But perhaps I have misunderstood the purpose of an interview? It is rare that you have an interview before you have been given information about someone so there should be some predetermined positives which need to be confirmed and predetermined negatives which need to be explored and the either accepted or dismissed. That is where an interview can be a boon. An interview is also a place where the prospective candidates for the job and assess for themselves whether or not they want the job - something that seems to have been forgotten by many interviewees! I remember once going to an interview which took place at the end of the working day. One of the interviewers came into the meeting with me and his attitude and response to being called to oversee the interview left me in no doubt that he felt the whole thing was a waste of time. I don't know why he came to this conclusion but it suggested to me that the company did not put much thought into preparations for job interviews, or in ensuring its staff were diplomatic and careful about their speech when dealing with non-members of the company!

Some people don't have the experience in the first place, so an interview and any references may prove helpful to an interviewer assess the possibilities of the potential worker. But all of this

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