The Benefit of Structured Interviews

Unstructured interview practices happen at nearly every company.....

Scenario: Senior team member/interviewer with minimal interview experience or training. They sway others with their negative opinions. Their feedback is usually heavily biased, and they use statements such as;

"I think/feel...."

"I did not get the right vibe."

"Not a culture fit."

"Great guy, they would fit in."

"They aren't used to how we work."

They rarely document their interview questions or the candidate's responses, offering limited data points to back up their decision. Because this interviewer is considered a leader, the team gives little to no feedback, often letting them derail the hiring process while grumbling about the issues to everyone but them. Ultimately, this interviewer's behavior wreaks havoc on the rest of the team and the hiring manager, often blocking the best candidates from being hired.

When interviewing job candidates, a trained interviewer knows your goal is to make sure that they have the right skills, qualifications, and experience to get the job done.

Structured interviews are the best way to guarantee that and candidates receive similar questions and ratings for each competency, skill, or ability. Using a combination of competency and behavioral interview questions will help your hiring team make the right hiring decisions, increasing your company's chances of achieving organizational goals and objectives, along with a greater rate of success and job satisfaction for candidates you hire.

Creating a structured interview starts with the following steps;

1. Conduct a deep dive job analysis. Identify the job characteristics (i.e., job tasks, duties, and responsibilities) and the competencies/knowledge, skills, abilities required to perform the job successfully. …

2. Determine the competencies to be assessed by the interview. Consider which competencies are measured most effectively with an interview. …

3. Choose the interview format and develop the questions. Determine which competencies will be assessed by behavioral interview questions or situational interview questions. Work with subject matter experts to develop a list of questions for each. …

4. Develop rating scales to evaluate candidates. Determine the proficiency scale and develop accompanying proficiency level examples.

5. Create interview probes: Draft specific probes for each question. …

6. Pilot-test the interview questions: Check for clarity and appropriateness with persons similar to the anticipated candidates.

7. Create the interviewer's guide: Prepare a guide that includes a question booklet and a rating form for each interviewer.…

8. Conduct an interviewer training course: Be sure to cover awareness of biases, competency definitions, job information, rating forms and process, and a checklist of dos and dont's.

8. Document the process: Document all stages of the interview development.

With structured interviews and proper training, companies can make job interviews as objective as possible and improve the overall candidate experience, enable unified hiring decisions that align with the expectations of the role, and focus more on the candidate's abilities, knowledge, and experience.