There are many reasons why a structured interview is important for both the hiring manager and the business. In this article, we explore them alongside best practices
Ok, what exactly is a structured interview?
A structured interview is a method of assessing the competency of candidates for a particular role, using a consistent, standardised approach. To achieve this, the same pre-set questions are asked of all candidates, focused on the knowledge, skills, and characteristics required for the job, with the answers scored against the same benchmarks and criteria.
The benefits of this approach are multiple:
Helps screen candidates more efficiently to find top talent
Minimises erroneous hires which come at a significant cost to an organisations (some studies point to 200% of the hire's salary)
Removes unconscious bias and discriminations
Streamlines interview time for both candidate and hiring manager
Ensures fairness and consistency towards interview candidates
Positions hiring decisions towards a data driven approach rather than emotional hiring
Are you sold yet? Then read on!
A structured interview positions hiring decisions towards a data driven approach rather than emotional hiring
How to prepare a structured interview
The first thing you need to do is compile your structured interview kit. This is your standardised template that will be applied to every candidate consistently. Follow these steps:
Interview format: Flesh out the timeframe, phases of the interview and sequence, as well as roles and responsibilities of each interviewer if there are more than one. This needs to be communicated upfront to the candidates
Informational fields: Create fields for the candidate's name, you name and title, dates, a brief summary of the role and interviewer and a candidate introduction
Analyse role requirements: Determine skills required for the role and the responsibilities and duties expected of the candidate. Your findings here will inform the questions you ask. It is useful to categorise those into core and secondary attributes. An example here is communication skills, but in the context of the role. For instance, the type and level of communication skills needed for a Marketing Director significantly differ to those of a Software Engineer
Develop your questions: Based on the attributes you identified in the previous set, draft a set of questions, including follow up questions, that elicit candidate responses focused on those attributes. Don't forget to keep the number of questions proportional to the available time. Some typical question categories include situational, behavioural and probing questions that utilise the STARR format. More categories with examples can be found in our FAQ for coaches section. There are questions categories that must be avoided in order to ensure the legality of the interview. These categories include discriminatory questions based on religion, political preferences, sexual orientation and so forth. Pretty self explanatory...
Skills test: You may also wish to include a skills test. This is very common in technical interviews and can take many formats from a worksheet, to a coding problem on a PC or lab environment. Be as creative as you like but always keep in mind the level of the role being applied for and identified attributes required
Scoring: The final step is to create a scoring system to assess responses. The criteria used may be quantitative or qualitative in nature or a combination. It's completely up to you. The format is also determined by you but typically, it's either a prescriptive feedback form or a scorecard. Common scoring levels are from 1-(Poor) to 5-(Excellent) but feel free to be as detailed or creative as you like. We give scoring examples and a sample scorecard in our FAQ Scorecard section
Feedback surveys: You can use feedback surveys to ask candidates about their experience. This while allow you to gather insights into how fair, welcoming and effective the interview was and gauge sentiment. The benefits of a survey is to determine if your interviews are effective, provide a positive experience and help you adjust for future interviews accordingly
Providing great feedback
Keep the following in mind when providing feedback to candidates:
Past behavior is our strongest predictor for future performance
Provide facts based feedback captured during the interview
We are only measuring what we set out to measure during the preparation phase
Give constructive feedback that empowers the candidate to develop
Focus on specific feedback that relates to the job attributes as identified previously
Conducting a structured interview
So we are set to go. While preparation is key, we must also ensure we maintain a certain etiquette while in the interview itself. This is important to ensure we draw the best out of candidates during what is typically an anxious time for most:
Put candidates at ease. Lead with your intro and allow them to follow up with theirs
Remain friendly, respectful and considerate at all times
Every candidate is treated consistently and in the same way from start to finish
Follow the pre-set interview format by asking the same questions of every candidate as designed in the previous steps
Write verbatim notes during the interview
Keep gathering evidence (facts) from the candidate throughout the interview but do not write down your assessment. Remember to only evaluate pre determined attributes
Provide ample time for the candidate to ask questions of their own
The close
Be prepared for questions you may be asked yourself. These may be centred around benefits of the role, team/company culture, more detail around the role, company or team vision and personal questions ( i.e What do you love about your job?) Conclude the interview with courtesy and don't forget to give a decision timeline or outline next steps
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Simon Fotakis is professional in the technology sector with 13 years of hiring experience, having been interview trained in some of the world's largest retail organisations
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