HR Research
The Structured Interview
Every year, a new fashion trend comes along, and we feel compelled to adhere to it: skinny jeans out, baggy jeans in; neutrals out, neon colors in. While in clothing, fads and fashion might be acceptable, in people decisions and HR practices they are not. Especially when it comes to the all-important decision of whom to hire: we as HR professionals should be using solid, validated methods and tools instead of falling prey to out gut feelings or the latest hype.
Since we talk about selection, interviews are not a trend that seems to go away – everyone uses them. So, how do we make interviews more effective, reliable, and valid? Well, the answer might be boring, but we know it works: structure!
A structured interview has to tick three boxes:
- Questions are prepared beforehand, ensuring they are specific and related to the job;
- Interviewers ask the same questions, in the same order, for all candidates for a job. No improvisation and no feeling creative.
- Interviewers rate all candidates’ answers on the same scales and using the same criteria
Boring as it might be, it is not always easy to prepare and conduct a true structured interview. We at Beam come to your support with a downloadable tool that you can use as a guide throughout the preparation, interviewing, and rating phases.
1. Prepare the questions
A good interview starts way before you meet the candidate. We have prepared a checklist for you to follow to ensure you’re prepared and ready to run the interviews. You might not follow all the steps for every interview process (for example, training interviewers on how to use a structured interview guide might be only needed once, with refreshers every once in a while). However, it’s useful to check the list every time you select for a new role, to ensure you’re ready to hit the ground.
2. Create your structured interview guide
Writing down the questions you’re going to ask, as well as the follow up questions to use to get more information out of the candidates, are the last key step before inviting candidates to the interview. Don’t forget to also define the rating criteria that you’ll be looking at to evaluate the answers you hear.
In the structured interview tool, we’ve prepared an example of how the guide looks like for two commonly assessed skills/traits – decision making and conscientiousness. You can take these two examples and use them as they are in your interview process. We have also provided you with your own template to fill out as needed.
3. Putting scores together
The final step is rating candidates’ answers – do this after the interview or while a colleague is handling the conversation, otherwise your attentional resources will not be fully dedicated to the
evaluation process, and bias might creep in. We’ve included in our tool a section designed to help you put everything together and select the candidate you want – find both an example and a template to use for your own needs.
Using structured interviews might seem onerous and slow, but once you try it out for a couple of roles, you’ll get used to it and it will come naturally to prepare it and be aligned. For any doubts or questions about hwo to use structured interviews – we’re here for you. Don’t hesitate to get in touch!
