Why visual and vocal interview cues can affect interviewers' judgments and predict job performance

Using videotaped interviews with 60 managers in utility companies, the authors found that a composite of vocal interview cues (pitch, pitch variability, speech rate, pauses, and amplitude variability) correlated with supervisory ratings of job performance (r = .18, p < .05). Using videotaped interviews with 110 managers in a news-publishing company, the authors found that the same composite of vocal cues correlated with performance ratings (r = .20, p < .05) and with interviewers' judgments (r = .20, p < .05) and that a composite of visual cues (physical attractiveness, smiling, gaze, hand movement, and body orientation) correlated with performance ratings (r = .14, p < .07) and with interviewers' judgments (r = .21, p < .05). Results of tests of mediation effects indicate that personal reactions such as liking, trust, and attributed credibility toward interviewees explain relationships (a) between job performance and vocal cues and (b) between interviewers' judgments and both visual and vocal cues.