Structured interviews are designed to assess candidates’ abilities, skills, and competencies in the context of specific job requirements. Developing questions that are relevant to the role ensures a standardized evaluation and supports better hiring decisions.

Leveling the playing field through structured interview questions reduces unconscious bias and promotes fair and insightful assessments. Providing a timeline and backup plans for technical glitches, maintaining clear communication with candidates, and flexible scheduling contribute to a more effective process.

Start with a Job Analysis

A structured interview process helps reduce recruitment bias and make your interview process more legally defensible. They also provide a better experience for candidates, who will have clear expectations of your decision-making timeline.

Conducting a job analysis is an essential first step to creating structured interviews. It involves evaluating the job’s tasks, roles, and responsibilities to create a valid job description. You can then use this information to develop your interview questions.

Create a Job Description

A job description helps candidates understand the role they would be taking on if they were hired for it. It also serves as a reference point for the new hire throughout their employment with you.

Your job description must be written in clear and concise terms. It should include both the day-to-day and “big picture” responsibilities.

Develop a List of Qualifications

During structured interviews, interviewers ask pre-determined questions correlated to crucial competencies from the job description and evaluate candidates’ answers using a standard rating system. This process reduces bias and is more defensible in a discrimination lawsuit.

A well-crafted summary of qualifications helps you stand out and make a good impression on the interviewer. Make sure you can quantify your accomplishments so they’re easier to assess and compare.

Create a List of Skills

Creating and using structured interviews can take time and effort. Ensure your staff is fully engaged with the process from the beginning so it can be a successful part of your hiring program.

Start by identifying the hard and soft skills necessary for the job you’re screening candidates for. You can then create a list of interview questions to screen for those skills.

Create a List of Personal Qualities

A structured interview is a hiring process that uses standardized questions and evaluations. It helps eliminate unconscious bias and makes it easier to compare candidates.

Structured interviews require more planning. However, they can reduce interviewer stress and save time for both candidates and managers. They are also more reliable than unstructured interviews. They also provide consistent feedback for all candidates. It can be a great benefit to teams that work with many candidates.

Create a List of Personal Attributes

A structured interview offers candidates a fairer interview experience that reduces hiring bias. It also helps recruiters stay within equal opportunity guidelines and avoid discrimination in the workplace.

Perseverance is a personal attribute that employers value in their employees. It’s not always about being positive; it’s about keeping going when things get tough.

Maturity is another personal attribute employers look for in their employees. Maturity is about being sensitive to other people’s needs.

Create a List of Personal Requirements

A structured interview is an organized and systematic method for evaluating candidates. Its framework limits judgment to job-related criteria and is more defensible in court than in unstructured interviews. It reduces biases such as self-fulfilling prophecies, similar-to-me stereotypes, halo and horn effects, and more.

Structured interviews also eliminate confirmation bias by ensuring all candidates are asked the same questions and evaluated using the same rubric. It allows hiring teams to make more data-driven decisions and optimizes interview time.

Create a List of Personal Experiences

Structured interviews provide a consistent interview experience for candidates and help reduce bias. They also allow interviewers to predict job performance more accurately.

Unstructured interviews can lead to interviewers asking questions that are not job-related, which increases the risk of hiring bias and discrimination. Structured interview questions should be pre-determined and assess only the characteristics identified in the job analysis. It will ensure fairness for all applicants.

Create a List of Personal Skills

Personal skills allow you to perform work tasks efficiently and effectively. These include time management, self-motivation, and communication. Other essential personal skills for a job include critical thinking and creativity.

Structured interviews help to reduce bias and are more legally defensible than unstructured interviews. They also ensure that all candidates are treated fairly and consistently. It helps to overcome typical biases like a self-fulfilling prophecy, stereotyping, halo and horns, and contrast effects.

Create a List of Personal Abilities

Many people enjoy crafting as a hobby. They may have family join them, or it may be their time to relax and find a creative outlet. Making crafting a priority for your life, physically and mentally, is essential.

Standardized interview processes can reduce hiring bias through planning, consistency, and scoring. They also allow candidates to showcase their abilities fairly and equitably.