Structured Interview Guide

Interview Guide

Purpose To help small and medium businesses have a better understanding of what
structured interviews are and how to use them to get the most out of their
hiring process

Scope A guide to be used to educate and inform start-up and small and medium
business hiring managers on what structured interviews are, why they
matter, and how they can incorporated into the hiring process
Contents

01 Introduction
- Why Selection Matters
- Why Structured Interviewing Matters
- Unstructured vs Structured Interviews
- Advantages of Structured Interviews

02 Before You Start

- Define Success
- Design Your Process
- Beware of Bias
- Train Your Interviewers

03 Interviewing
- Structuring the Interview
- Bonus Questions
- Best Practice Tips & Tricks
- Rubrics & Scorecards

04 After You Interview

- Wash Up
- Measuring Effectiveness
01 Introduction

Why selection matters structured interviews - which include predefined questions

Hiring is one of the most important things your company and scoring frameworks that are aligned to job requirements -
does. Your success is dependent on your people and every have been found to be one of the most predictive methods of
hire impacts the team, culture, and quality of your product / selection through extensive research in this field.
business – so it pays to give it the time and effort it deserves Unstructured interviews (without predefined questions or
and do it well (hiring mistakes can be costly!) consistent scoring methods) tend to be considerably less
accurate – and far more susceptible to bias i.e., decisions
about talent / ability to perform the job are informed by job
Why structured interviewing matters
irrelevant qualities such as gender, race, likeability, similarity,
Job interviews are the oldest form of selection – reportedly etc. – whether consciously or unconsciously!
dating back to 1800s when they were used for selection in the
As people, we all like to think that we understand others easily,
Royal Navy.
that we are ‘good judges of character’, but when it comes to
Academic research has shown that job interviews are a great hiring it’s important not to rely on your gut instincts as they are
method of selection because they can be good predictors of heavily influenced by our unconscious biases. Structured
future job performance when conducted properly. Specifically, interviews help mitigate this.
Spot the difference

Structured Interview Unstructured Interview

Candidates are asked same questions, typically in the Candidates may be asked different questions
same order

Candidates are assessed using a common rating Standardised rating scale isn’t required
scale / scoring rubric

Interviewers need a common definition / Interviewers do not need a common definition of what
understanding of what a ‘good’ answer looks like a ‘good’ answer looks like
 "Structured interviews are one of the best tools we have to identify the strongest job
candidates (i.e., predictive validity). Not only that, they avoid the pitfalls of some of the other
common methods"

Dr. Melissa Harrell, Google

Advantages of structured interviews

➔ Consistency - Structured interviews enable easier

comparison across candidates (comparing like for like)
because the questions asked and how they're scored Cognitive ability and personality
remain the across candidates. tests can be used in conjunction with
structured interviews to best predict
future performance.
➔ Candidate experience - According to research by
Google, structured interviews are perceived to be fairer Interviews are best used to add and
than unstructured interviews. On average, rejected qualify information from other
wannabe Googlers who had a structured interview were selection methods. For the most
35% happier than those who were rejected but didn't robust and predictive outcomes,
have a structured interview. combine multiple selection methods
- e.g. cognitive ability tests +
personality tests + interviews.
➔ Interviewer Experience - In the same study by Google,
interviewers reported time savings of 40 minutes per
interview on average 40 mins when using a structured
approach. They also noted feeling more prepared for
interviews.
02 Before You Start
TIP! Designing a ‘performance profile’ is a great first
step.

Try to think of this as less of a job description, and

more of a set of KPIs that you’d use to assess
performance in the first 6-12 months in the role - this
1. Define Success is about what the role will deliver, not how they’ll spend
their time, or the way they go about achieving those
objective.
For your hiring efforts to be successful, it is critical that you Your performance profile should include:
begin with a very clear idea of what success in the role
looks like. Once you’ve done this, it will be much easier to a) The purpose of the role
find the person who best fits these requirements. b) The outcomes the role is accountable for (this will
depend on the role, but try to identify 3-4 clear primary
performance objectives)
c) The competencies required to deliver those
outcomes
2. Design Your Process

Who, what, when, why, how?

Depending on the number of stages in your process and the Agree in advance who will be assessing which competencies,
number of traits and / or competencies to be assessed, the and which questions will be used. This will ensure breadth,
length and number of interviews is likely to vary. depth, and consistency across candidates. It will also prevent
overlap which is not only inefficient but also provides a poor
As a rule of thumb, try to keep interviews between 45 and 60
candidate experience if they are repeatedly asked the same
minutes in length. You should expect to cover 3-5 things
questions by multiple interviewers.
during that time depending on how deep you need to go, how
detailed the candidate’s answers are, and the level of
experience the candidate has.
3. Beware of Bias

Unconscious bias refers to the attitudes and stereotypes that Halo bias – The tendency for positive performance in one
affect our views, actions and decision making – often without area to influence ratings in another area e.g. rating someone
us even knowing! These observational errors affect all of us high in teamwork because they have good problem-solving
and can lead to unfair and ineffective outcomes – so it’s skills, regardless of how they perform on teamwork.
important we are aware of it and take steps to address it.

Perception bias – The tendency for assumptions and

Common biases that you can expect to show up during an stereotypes about certain groups to influence our ratings e.g.
interview are: ‘women make better nurses’ and ‘men make better
technologists’.

Affinity bias – The tendency to favour people we perceive to

be similar to ourselves and to rate them more or less Confirmation bias – The tendency to seek out evidence that
favourably as a result e.g. rating someone highly because they confirms our initial view e.g. rating someone highly in an
share our interests and hobbies. interview because they made a good first impression on us.
Managing bias

Educate yourself. Slow down decision making.

We all have biases! One of the best things we can do to help Adding friction to the decision-making process can help to
mitigate the adverse impact of our biases is to recognise this prevent us from jumping to misguided conclusions. You can
truth. Project Implicit is a great resource provided by Harvard do this by refraining from making a judgement until after the
University that can help us understand where our biases interview is over. When you have gathered all the relevant
might lie – so we are better equipped to deal with them when information and reviewed your notes, you will be in a much
they show up. better position to make a more informed and reliable decision.

Use structured interviews. Challenge your gut instinct.

The use of consistent, job-relevant questions and If you find yourself in a situation where you have a strong
standardised scoring criteria helps to minimise the potential initial reaction to a candidate, try and consciously look for
impact of biases. contradictory information in the subsequent interview. For
example, if you find yourself immediately impressed by the
candidate, look for reasons why they’re not right for the role.
This helps balance your confirmation bias which will be
focused on finding evidence to prove that your initial reaction
was right.
 At a minimum, ensure everyone interviewing candidates is
fully briefed on:
4. Train Your Interviewers
● The purpose and importance of the role
● The characteristics and competencies that have
It is important that everyone in your company who will
been identified as important
be interviewing candidates undertakes some kind of
● The existence of unconscious biases and how their
training. Effective interviewing is a learned skill and
impact can be reduced
training interviewers to a common standard is an
● What the interview process looks like – and what
important part of conducting a robust selection process.
their role in it is
● The pre-set questions and scoring rubric they need
to use in the interview
● How to take effective notes
03 Interviewing

Step 1: Build rapport Step 3: Closing

Make them feel at ease, tell them what to expect, try and Allow them to ask you questions (they’ll be assessing you and
calm any nerves – you want them to be able to put their the company too!) – it is important time is factored into the
best foot forward in the interview, so do your best to help interview for this.
them settle in.
If there’s time and / or you feel it’s required, revisit selling the
Taking some time to sell them the role can be a good way to role and the company to the candidate.
ease them in - show them how passionate you are about the
Finally, be clear on next steps and timelines.
company and get them excited about the opportunity.

Step 2: Structured interview to assess target traits and

competencies
Ask the pre-selected questions. Get curious. Probe deeper,
take notes. Complete your scorecard or scoring rubric.
Good probes to help you dive deeper … Red flags to watch out for …

When did this happen? Complacency - it’s hard to get examples of them
taking initiative or going the extra mile.
What was the outcome?
Blame – they fail to take responsibility, struggle to
What exactly was your role?
think of anything they’ve ever done wrong, or
Who else was on the team? What role did they blame previous employers / teams /
play? circumstances for everything that hasn’t worked
out the way they wanted or planned it to.
What was the biggest challenge you faced?
Lack of learning – they can’t clearly articulate
How did you overcome the problem?
how they see things differently or what they’ve
What do you wish you had done differently? learned from their successes, failures, and
What did you learn? experiences to date.

What did you enjoy about this experience? Their best work was done in a very different
context or environment (i.e. leadership, culture,
What did you not enjoy about this experience? nature of work, etc.)
How do you feel about the situation now?
Bonus Questions

The majority of the interview should be dedicated to

assessing whether or not a candidate has the capability to
perform the job well. However, high performance requires
more than ability to do the work required. Motivation and
being a good fit for the environment are also crucial success
factors. Here are some questions you can build into your
interview to assess for motivation and culture alignment.
 Red Flags
Motivation (Person – Job Fit)

● The role you’re hiring for requires a significant

Is the candidate going to be motivated to perform in this
amount of work that the candidate has admitted
role?
would be undesirable and / or unfulfilling.
The performance of even the most skilled and ● The role you’re hiring for would not offer the
experienced candidates can be undermined by a lack of candidate the opportunity to achieve their short-term
motivation. The following questions can be used to career goals.
help you get a better sense of whether the candidate is
likely to be motivated in the role you’re interviewing
them for:

1. What type of work or tasks are you not Action

interested in doing?
2. What kinds of tasks do you find particularly
Consider whether there’s a way to shape the role to better
unrewarding or unfulfilling?
suit the needs of the candidate, or find someone else who’s
3. What are your career goals for the next couple
a better fit.
of years?
 Red Flags
Culture Fit / Culture Add (Person – Organisation Fit)

● The working style of the candidate is not aligned to

Is the candidate going to thrive within our company?
the ways of working in your organisation.
As with motivation, even the best candidates on paper ● The preferred organisational culture is not aligned
won’t reach their potential if they’re in an environment to your organisational culture.
that doesn’t bring out the best in them. You also don’t
want to risk disrupting teams with new hires who aren’t
team players. Any new hire should be a net positive
contributor to your company.
Action
1. What are your work values? What does an ideal
work environment look like to you? Weigh up the risks of bringing a person into the team who
2. What matters most to you when it comes to may not be set up to perform their best and / or may also
company culture? be a disruptive presence. You should seek to alleviate any
3. What do you need from an employer, manager, concerns here through further questioning and probing of
and team in order to do your best work? the candidate.
Best Practice Tips & Tricks

Pay attention. Take notes.

It should go without saying but turn off your phone, email and Good notes stick to the facts, are free of judgement, and are
slack notifications and give the candidate your undivided comprehensive enough that they could be used later in a
attention. Candidates can tell when an interviewer isn’t wash-up as evidence to support ratings or hiring
engaged, and it can impact their performance. If you’re paying recommendations.
attention. you’re also less likely to miss important details and
information in the candidate’s responses.

Probe, probe, probe.

Keep an eye on the time.
When interviewing, it is important to get curious. You need to
As an interviewer, it’s your responsibility to make sure the dig deeper to get as much clarity and information as you can
interview runs to time. You need to leave enough time at the in order to make the best possible assessment of the
end for the candidate to ask you questions (in most cases, if candidate.
you run over, this is what gets cut). This might translate to a
poor candidate experience as well as a potential missed
opportunity for you to sell the role and company to them.
Rubrics & Scorecards

Scoring rubrics or scorecards are an important part of The simplest scoring rubrics might be comprised solely of the
structured interviewing. They provide scoring criteria and questions to be asked, a pass / fail box, and a space for notes.
guidelines that help to ensure that across interviews (and More detailed rubrics have more scoring options (e.g., ratings
interviewers!) candidates are being assessed in the same way across a 5-point scale), with explicit criteria to guide scoring at
and are held to a common understanding of what ‘good’ looks each level.
like. These can be time consuming to develop and tend to only be
There are many different ways to build a scoring rubric and required in larger organisations where many people in the
the right approach will vary from company to company. same role need to be hired, and there are lots of different
people involved in the interview process.
Simple Rubric - Option One

1 = Below Bar 2 = At Bar 3 = Above Bar

Unsatisfactory; below the Satisfactory; aligned with Strong; above expectations for the
expectations for the role and / or expectations for the role and / or role and / or the typical
the typical performance of those the typical performance of those performance of those currently in
currently in the role. currently in the role. the role.
Simple Rubric - Option Two

1 = Very Poor 2 = Below Average 3 = Average 4 = Good 5 = Very Strong

Not hireable; not Competent but no Person meets basic Candidate meets the Person exceeds the
motivated, willing or evidence of being in expectations in terms bar across the board bar across the board;
able to do the job. the top 10% or of ability, motivation, and has 1 or 2 clear their level of
willingness to go and willingness but is strengths that set contribution and value
above and beyond; not exceptional. them apart from other is expected to far
may meet the bar in applicants or mean exceed the
some areas but not you expect them to be expectations set out in
others. able to exceed the the performance
performance bar laid profile; this person is
out for this role. expected to be a
game-changing hire;
they have a track
record of success and
a number of clear
indicators that they
are exceptional talent.
04 After the Interview

Wash Up
The hiring lead should gather individual feedback, Here, all interviewers come together and review the
evidence and scorecards from all interviewers. This evidence with a view to reaching a unanimous decision
should be done prior to any communication between the on whether or not to hire the candidate on the grounds of
interviewers about the candidate to prevent biasing all the available evidence. It is a good idea for everyone’s
decisions. feedback to be circulated to the whole group prior to the
wash up to help the meeting run more efficiently.
If the feedback / hiring decision is unanimous then a
wash-up meeting may not be required. Often, it is.
Measuring Effectiveness General Metrics Efficiency Effectiveness
Metrics Metrics
Like any other critical process in your business, you
should seek to identify a core set of KPIs that you use
to monitor the effectiveness of your recruitment and Number of Time to hire Quality of hire
interview process over time. applicants (manager
Cost per hire satisfaction,
Here are some common metrics that you may wish to Number of quality performance
consider tracking in your own company. applicants data, etc.)

Offer acceptance % of hiring

rate mistakes

New hire turnover

rate