Interviewer agreement in the judgement of empathy in selection interviews

The aim of this study was to examine the judgement of empathy based on real selection interviews. Sixteen interviewers conducted panel interviews of 123 applicants. The definition of empathy was based on the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI), which is comprised of four sub-scales (empathic concern, perspective taking, fantasy and personal distress). The interviewers made ratings of the interviewee by responding to four items, one for each of the IRI sub-scales. The inter-rater reliability was .47. The main coefficient over pairs was .67 for more experienced interviewers, and .40 for less experienced interviewers. In accordance with previous findings, the results showed that personal distress appeared to be ambiguous. The results support the conclusion that selection interviews can provide a user-friendly and reliable selection method in requirement and admission processes.