Structured Interviewing: A Better Way to Assess Candidates

A structured interview process is an employment assessment approach where every part of candidate evaluation is kept consistent. All applicants are asked the same questions, and their responses are evaluated against the same role-related criteria using a predefined rating system. The intention is to be fair and objective while accurately assessing the candidates’ potential job performance.

What Is a Structured Interview?

A structured interview is a recruitment tool that provides a systematic and consistent process for interviewing and assessing job candidates. With structured interviewing, interviewers typically ask all candidates the same questions tailored to a specific role, and they ask the questions in a predetermined order, in case changing the order impacts the candidates’ answers.

In addition to the interview itself, a structured interview process includes two other main components: an underlying job analysis and a standardized method for rating responses.

Job Analysis for Structured Interviewing

Ideally, a good interview structure for employers would be based on a job analysis that details the abilities and qualities needed for the position, as per Cosmin Gabriel Sofron. A job analysis is a formalized method for collecting and analyzing information about a role, capturing the activities, competencies, and context of the position to ensure that every element of the interview process is job-relevant.

Rating Candidate Responses

Structured interviewing uses a standardized rating method, such as an interview scorecard or scoring rubric, to evaluate candidate responses. These tools help reduce bias in the evaluation process and hone in on professional knowledge, job skills, interpersonal skills, and, when appropriate, the mental skills required for performing job responsibilities. 

All these elements come together to ensure that candidates receive equal opportunities to provide information and undergo an identical assessment while making it easier for interviewers to evaluate candidates and compare their skills fairly, objectively, and accurately.

Structured, Unstructured, and Semi-Structured Interviews

As much as unstructured and structured interviews seem binary, they actually exist on a spectrum with different characteristics depending on where your process lands, with semi-structured interviews landing somewhere in the middle.

What is an Unstructured Interview?

An unstructured interview is a type of job interview without a set format. This means questions and rating criteria are not determined in advance, and any aspect of the format may change from candidate to candidate.

What is Semi-Structured Interviewing? 

Semi-structured interviews are more casual and conversational than structured interviews. Some semi-structured interview questions are planned, while others are off the cuff, resulting in a loosely structured format. An example of a semi-structured interview would be preparing questions in advance but then changing the question order, interviewers, or interview methods (in-person, remote, hybrid) between candidates.

Structured vs. Unstructured Interviews: Side-by-Side Comparison

When comparing structured and unstructured interviews, structured interviews are approximately twice as effective at predicting job performance (Journal of Applied Psychology), even for jobs that are inherently unstructured. This is a big reason why structured interviewing is so effective for increasing the quality of your hires. The research shows that the more controlled and consistent the interview process is, the more accurate it is as a hiring tool, which is why structured interviewing is recommended over unstructured interviewing. 

There are several distinct differences between unstructured and structured interviews.

As you can see from the table above, a structured interview is specifically designed to be objective, valid, reliable, legally defensible, and job-focused.

The Role of Semi-Structured Interviews

Some organizations might believe they are using a structured process, but their interview process is only semi-structured. One of the benefits of semi-structured interviews is that they offer more flexibility than structured interviews, allowing organizations to collect some data points by using a semi-structured interview guide while still providing the freedom to go “off-script.”

However, the more rigidity you remove, the more you lose the benefits of structured interviewing. The interview guide exists for a reason. It sets out how things should be done to maintain consistency, prevent interviewers from asking problematic questions, reduce unintended rater bias, and keep the reliability of the candidate data intact to enable merit-based hiring.

Core Advantages of Structured Interviews

Improves Hiring Decision Accuracy, Quality of Hires

Structured interviews have been proven to be highly effective in making accurate hiring decisions. Research shows that when used as a recruitment method, structured interviews can predict job performance with a validity of between .55 and .70 on a standalone basis (CQ Net). Structured interviews also produce fully-comparable responses, meaning it’s far easier to confidently move the right candidates forward.

Why? Structured interview questions are based on a detailed job analysis. As such, everything you ask in a structured interview is directly related to the specific requirements of the job. With carefully crafted questions, you can gain a clear understanding of how the candidate has performed in similar professional situations in the past. You can also gain insights into how they would respond in hypothetical professional situations in the future.

While you may ask interview questions about soft skills such as communication and critical thinking, make sure they relate to job-specific circumstances. By doing so, you can avoid evaluating the candidate based on personal impressions or being influenced by biases.

Because you rate each candidate’s responses according to a set system, you can accurately and reliably distinguish between regular employees and high performers. This makes the structured interview extremely attractive for employers.

Increases Efficiency with a Repeatable Process

Research shows that a structured interview administered by a single interviewer yields the same level of validity in predicting job performance as three or four unstructured interviews (Journal of Applied Psychology). This demonstrates how taking the time to create a structured interview process ultimately saves time and increases your chances of finding the right candidate.

Structured interviewing helps interviewers to feel more prepared and confident during conversations with candidates. With a standardized set of questions and rating system, it’s easier to evaluate the candidates’ responses more objectively and systematically. 

Structured interviewing also allows you to do a better quality assessment in less time, making the recruitment process more efficient and streamlined—especially when combined with video interviewing, an applicant tracking system (ATS), and interview intelligence. 

Reduces the Impact of Bias

Structured interviews use standardization, which makes them an effective tool for mitigating bias and discrimination in the hiring process (SHRM). Before the interview process begins, you develop a series of questions based on an analysis of the job requirements. You also create a rating system that clearly defines which responses are unacceptable, acceptable, and outstanding.

By using a consistent set of questions for each candidate, you can focus on those factors that relate directly to job performance—not on irrelevant or discriminatory criteria. Those steps ensure you evaluate each candidate based on the same set of objective criteria, which goes a long way in reducing bias and promoting fairness.

The use of a predetermined rating system requires you to evaluate each candidate's responses objectively. Consequently, you can make informed hiring decisions based on the merits of their skills, qualities, and experience.

If you are hiring remotely or using video interviews as part of your structured interview process, you can greatly enlarge and diversify the talent pool.

Provide Legal Advantages and Defensibility

Structured interviews provide a powerful tool for organizations to demonstrate their commitment to fair and ethical hiring practices.

Structured interviews should be meticulously documented, preferably using video recordings, as well as notes you take yourself or generated using an AI interview note-taking tool. This documentation can provide valuable proof in favor of the employer in the event a candidate files an employment discrimination complaint. By documenting the interview process, you can show you adhered to all applicable state and federal employment laws.

Disadvantages of Structured Interviews

Requires an Initial Investment of Time and Resources

Developing and implementing structured interview processes requires time, energy, and resources upfront. It is an investment, but one that will pay off dividends in the long run.

Everyone Needs to Follow the Process

Consistency is key with structured interviews. In order to get the full benefit, your entire hiring team needs to stick to the process.

Requires Maintenance

Structured interview processes require oversight to protect your investment and continually improve outcomes.

Additional Benefits of Using Structured Interviews

Beyond the core advantages of structured interviewing, a structured interview process provides broad benefits to recruiters, employers, and candidates alike. 

A Better Candidate Experience

Candidate experience often improves when interviewees participate in a structured, competency-focused interview where they understand that it’s designed to give them an equal opportunity to succeed. 

Taking the time to explain the structured interview process, why your company uses it, and then asking questions that are within the framework instills confidence that they are being treated fairly and professionally.

The Ability to Use and Apply Interview Intelligence

Structured interviews provide the consistency necessary for you to study, test and improve the hiring process itself. Interview intelligence uses artificial intelligence, machine learning, or powerful automation to streamline, assess and enhance hiring processes. 

Structured interviewing can be done with or without HR software involved in the process, but interview intelligence is really only possible if you’re using a hiring platform that enables it.

Here are some ways interview intelligence can help improve every step of the hiring process, from planning to interviewer analysis and real-time coaching.

Note: With a semi-structured or unstructured interview process, there isn’t a valid way to derive useful information about what’s working and what isn’t, even with a hiring solution in place. The structured interview process provides the uniformity necessary to collect quality data and make meaningful improvements.

Deeper Insights Into Candidates

To hire the best candidate for the job, you need sufficient insight into their qualifications. A structured interview process lets you evaluate qualities that are challenging to measure using other methods.

For instance, it’s common practice to use psychometric tests to evaluate cognitive ability, strategic thinking, and other skills. However, they provide little to no insight into competencies such as interpersonal skills, leadership potential, and communication skills.

In the structured interview, you ask candidates about past job-related experiences and how they would respond in a hypothetical professional situation. This allows you to make a more in-depth, comprehensive evaluation of their abilities and preparedness for the job.

Enhanced Interview Compliance

Interview compliance is a framework that ensures all interviews adhere to proven methods and procedures, maximize effectiveness and fairness, and remain responsive to legal, ethical, and social values.

Structured interviewing goes hand in hand with interview compliance. The highly documented and rigorous format provides evidence of fair and ethical hiring practices, enabling legal defensibility and corporate responsibility.

Using Interview Panels to Mitigate Bias

Our brains can process 11 million bits of information a second, but our conscious minds can only handle 40 to 50 bits a second (National Public Radio). This is why our brains occasionally take cognitive shortcuts that can lead to unconscious or implicit bias.

In the context of job interviews, bias refers to a preference or tendency that impacts objectivity and impartiality in decision-making. It can stem from organizational culture or individual beliefs and values.

Bias in the interview process can negatively impact the evaluation of candidates. One effective strategy to minimize bias in the interview process is to establish a diverse panel of interviewers who understand equity and diversity and bring a range of perspectives and experiences to the table. Incorporating a panel interview step into a structured interview process can help mitigate individual biases interviewers may have, resulting in a more comprehensive evaluation of candidates.

When selecting panelists, consider factors such as age, gender, race, ethnicity, cognitive diversity, seniority or tenure within the organization, education, training, and other relevant characteristics.

How to Conduct a Structured Interview Checklist

Before the Interview

During the Interview

After the Interview

Checkout How to Conduct a Structured Interview for more details.

Structured Interview Example Questions

The U.S. Office of Personnel Management defines a structured interview as a “standardized assessment method designed to evaluate candidates’ job-related skills by systematically asking how they have responded in past experiences and how they would behave in hypothetical situations.”

In structured interviews, a few questions might be closed-ended to collect information about the job seeker, but most interview questions will be open-ended. Combine competency-based, behavioral, and situational questions to get a well-rounded overview of a candidate’s skills.

Competency-Based Questions

Competency-based interview questions assess candidates’ strengths and weaknesses to determine how they align with the required competencies for the role. These questions shift the conversation away from a candidate’s qualifications and experiences and toward their performance in various situations. Answers are typically rated based on the thinking that led them to the behaviors they exhibited and the decisions they made. These questions require candidates to narrate past experiences relevant to the job.

Competency-Based Question Examples

If you were looking for someone who demonstrates they can overcome obstacles, you could ask something like, “Describe a time where you were pushed to stretch your energy during a customer meeting,” or “Tell me about a time you failed at something in your work life.”

Behavioral Questions

Use behavioral questions to gather information about the candidate’s past behavior. Behavioral questions probe past experiences, knowledge, and abilities, while competency-based interview questions assess specific traits and behaviors.

Behavioral Question Examples

For example, let’s say you’re writing a behavioral question for a customer service role. The question could be, “Can you describe a time when you went above and beyond to help a customer?” The candidate’s answer will give you insight into their customer service skills and will likely indicate how they’ll behave in the future.

Situational Questions

While behavioral questions ask for examples of past experiences, situational questions explore how candidates will respond to situations they may face in the future. These questions give insight into the candidate’s intentions, which are closely tied to their future behavior.

Situational Question Example

For instance, if you’re interviewing a candidate for a managerial role, you could ask, “How would you handle a team member who constantly misses deadlines?” The candidate’s answer will show their problem-solving abilities and interpersonal skills.

By taking this approach to formulate questions, you can gain deep insights into the candidate’s competencies, experience, and anticipated behavior.

Best Practices for Structured Interviewing

To get the most value from structured interviews:

• Begin by conducting a job analysis to identify the essential competencies and skills required for the role.
• Ask each candidate the same questions, in the same order, to ensure consistency.
• Use a scoring rubric or interview scorecard to evaluate responses objectively and consistently.
• Minimize small talk until after scoring to avoid bias and keep the process focused.
• Involve diverse interview panels to reduce individual bias and offer multiple perspectives.
• Document the process to demonstrate fairness and support legal defensibility.

Leveraging HR Technology in Structured Interviews

A structured interview process is even more effective when paired with the right tools. Use an applicant tracking system (ATS) to manage interview logistics and documentation. Video interviewing platforms can standardize the candidate experience, whether live or pre-recorded. Built-in interview guides and scorecards help keep interviewers on track and compliant, especially when integrated directly into the interview platform. AI interview notes and summaries can speed up admin tasks and ensure that hiring managers don't miss anything important in an interview.