Professionals in leadership roles are responsible for structuring interviews in an effective manner so that they can select suitable candidates for the job profile. A well-structured interview can be more effective than traditional interviews. Pre-structuring interviews can help recruiters to make a reasonable comparison between candidates. In this article, we explore a step-by-step guide on how to create an effective interview structure and learn what makes an interview more structured.
How to create an effective interview structure
The following steps can help you understand how to create an effective interview structure:
1. Perform job analysis
Analysing the job and what skills are important for the tasks related to it can help interviewers to make a list of required skills and abilities. Performing job analysis can help during the hiring process and also while training newly recruited employees. There are different ways of job analysis which include interviewing, observing and questioning employees. It requires collecting information about the nature of the job, qualities and qualifications required for it. This also includes physical and mental capabilities and efforts to perform the job.
2. Define requirements
Once the list of skills and requirements are ready, you can be more specific and get into details which makes it easier to compare every candidate’s answer. For example, defining requirements can help you understand how communication skills can be effectively used for a specific job. You can identify skills that are essential for the job role and create questions accordingly for the interview. There are some common characteristics and skills that are essential for different roles:
- Project management and planning skills
- Problem-solving skills
- Networking skills
- Leadership skills
- Written and verbal communication skills
- Computer skills
- Time management skills
3. Develop lead and probing questions
Many interviewers lead questions to understand the mental abilities of candidates and how well they can manage the work. It is important to do a detailed job analysis before developing leading and probing questions otherwise it may lead to a poorly structured interview process. You can gain an in-depth knowledge of the job for which candidates are applying. Lead and probing questions can be framed in such a way that it reflects each candidate’s own characteristics and mental abilities. These questions can help to understand the consequences of specific situations and how candidates respond to them.
4. Determine scoring scale
The scoring scale makes the interview process much fairer and helps to consistently select better candidates for the respective vacancies. You can use the following grading system to divide candidates into three levels:
- Low: These candidates can handle situations involving a little or low degree of tension under the guidance of seniors.
- Moderate: These candidates can handle situations that involve a moderate or average level of tension and require minimum guidance.
- Excellent: These candidates can handle situations with extreme levels of tension without taking any help from others. They can also guide other employees in such situations.
5. Conduct the interview
Hiring managers can prepare a guide to understand each step carefully before beginning the interviewing process. There are a few points to keep in mind that can help you while interviewing candidates:
- Think well before making a decision: Keep making important and relevant notes about a candidate’s skills and abilities while interviewing. Before making a decision about hiring, take your time and refer to the notes you have.
- Focus on skills that are related to the job: Find what skills are important to perform the job duties and ask relevant questions. Ask candidates the questions related to these skills and evaluate if they are demonstrating the required skills well.
Importance of using an interview structure
A structured interview includes a series of questions related to job competencies. This process can be more reliable and valid than unplanned interviews. The pre-planning makes these interviews more efficient as it includes questions that depend on the job description and what the company is looking for in their new recruits. The unstructured interviewing process may hold back a company’s hiring process as it predicts a lower percentage of an employee’s performance. It can be difficult to predict exactly how well a candidate can perform but using a structured interview pattern can help you evaluate which candidate can be the best option for the job.
Here are some more benefits of using an interview structure:
- Help interviewers make quick decisions: Using a well-structured interview format can help interviewers stay focused and learn more about the candidate. It helps them interview and hire candidates faster than unstructured interviews.
- Provide fair chances to each candidate: During structured interviews, interviewers ask the same questions to every candidate and observe their response. Asking the same questions provides equal opportunity to all candidates to show their skills and potential.
- Help interviewers understand the job role: Preparing interview structures involves reviewing the job description and identifying essential requirements. This can help interviewers understand the job role and prepare questions accordingly.
- Encourage interviewers to timely conduct the interview: Structured interviews inspire hiring managers to prepare interview questions and format beforehand. It helps them stay within time limits and conduct interviews with good time management.
- Provide fewer errors: Structured interviews have fewer errors in comparison to unstructured ones. Hiring managers prepare questions and format in advance which provides more effectiveness and consistency during the interview.
Tips for using an interview structure
As structured interviews are more effective, human resources employees and related professionals can benefit from learning how to conduct these interviews. Here are tips that can help you use interview structure in an efficient way during the hiring process:
Record interviews
Recording Interviews can help in understanding more thoroughly the ideas and intentions behind a candidate’s answers. It can be a consistent and easy way to capture details and accuracy which you can further use for making future interviews better. If you have some specific issues every time you interview candidates, recording and transcribing your interview sessions can help in solving those issues completely.
Prioritise questions
Research what questions can help you know most about a candidate’s personality. After making the list of questions, try to prioritise questions depending on their importance. Planning the order of the questions in a logical way can also increase the efficiency of the interview and make it more professional.
Focus on relevant questions
Focussing on relevant questions can help you in determining the experience and expertise of candidates in particular areas. Adjust the tone and language according to the candidate’s response to these types of questions. You can create a list of 10 or more questions depending on the allotted time for each interview.
Start with warm-up questions
Make candidates feel comfortable so that they can converse and answer honestly and naturally. Warm-up questions can build up a positive and comfortable environment during the beginning of the interview. You can ask candidates about their educational background and skills.
Provide clear indications about timings
Make sure to end the interview on a certain note. Have a clearer discussion with the candidates about what can happen next and what procedures they have to follow. Give them a clear timeframe for when they can expect to hear from the company.
Avoid asking offensive questions
Avoid asking questions that focus on age, gender, religion and disability. Try to build a good rapport with a friendly attitude and allow candidates to express their true potential. You can use small nods, smiling, verbal acknowledgements and other positive body signals to make candidates feel more comfortable.
Use listening and observational skills
Keep making eye contact with the candidates and try to ease them by starting with easy questions. Bring some tricky questions where you can expect more than a single solution from a candidate’s side. You can also use your observational skills to identify a candidate’s potential.
Allow candidates to speak while closing the interview
Sometimes there may be more information for you to know that can help you in making your decision. Allow candidates to address those points on their own before closing the interview. You can also ask candidates if they have any questions regarding the interview.
