Structured Interviews (2024)

FAQs

Structured Interviews? ›

A structured interview is an assessment method designed to measure job-related competencies of candidates by systematically inquiring about their behavior in past experiences and/or their proposed behavior in hypothetical situations.

A structured interview “feels” like an interview, with the interviewer spending most of the time asking the questions and the candidate answering them. An unstructured interview flows more like an everyday conversation, with both parties speaking or listening according to how the conversation unfolds.

A structured question is any question you ask in an interview that you've preplanned and standardized. For example, if you conduct five interviews and the first question you ask each one is, "Do you believe the world is round, yes or no?" you have asked them a structured question.

Research has shown Structured Interviews are better at predicting actual job performance when multiple candidates are interviewed (Levashina et al., 2013) “A major finding in interview research … is that interviewer judgments based on structured interviews are more predictive of job performance than those from ...

Structured questions can also be used alongside unstructured questions (open questions) to illicit a little bit more information from a respondent, or to create contingency questions (one response leads to a new, specific question). For example, the structured question could be 'Have you ever owned an android phone? '.

Structured interviews offer the same questions and the same blueprint for responses for all interviewees. Unstructured interviews allow respondents to go into detail. It is easier to compare data collected during a structured interview because it uses standardized questions and responses.

A structured interview is an assessment method designed to measure job-related competencies of candidates by systematically inquiring about their behavior in past experiences and/or their proposed behavior in hypothetical situations.

Structured interviews are often closed-ended. They can be dichotomous, which means asking participants to answer “yes” or “no” to each question, or multiple-choice. While open-ended structured interviews do exist, they are less common.

It may seem a little confining, but there are great benefits to the structured approach. A standardized interview process levels the playing field so you can evaluate each candidate on exactly the same traits, increasing the odds you'll pick the closest match to your ideal-candidate profile.

Why would you use structured interview? ›

Conducting a structured interview is an excellent way to evaluate job candidates and find the best employees. Asking set questions in a structured interview format helps you collect useful information from each interviewee that you can easily compare with other candidates' responses.

Due to their carefully predetermined nature, structured interviews are thought to be more credible than other types of interviews. All participants are presented with the same (closed-ended or multiple-choice) questions in the same order, which makes it easier to compare the answers.

Structured interviews are best used when: You already have a very clear understanding of your topic. Perhaps significant research has already been conducted, or you have done some prior research yourself, but you already possess a baseline for designing strong structured questions.

In most cases, the interview raters are interested in what you have accomplished, and how your background and experiences have prepared you for this position. As such, when responding to the interview questions, focus on the specific things that you have done, even in cases where you worked as part of a group/team.

All interviews, whether structured or unstructured, should begin with brief introductions. The interviewer can provide their name, position within the company and perhaps even explain their role in the hiring process.

Unstructured interview, also called non-directive interview, refers to an interview concept without any set format in which questions are nor predetermined so the lack of structure enables the interviewer to ask questions which come to his/her mind on the spot.

Structured data is data that fits neatly into data tables and includes discrete data types such as numbers, short text, and dates. Unstructured data doesn't fit neatly into a data table because its size or nature: for example, audio and video files and large text documents.

Structured questions are those that have a predefined format, answer, or scale. They are often used to measure specific skills, knowledge, or traits, and to compare candidates or respondents objectively. Unstructured questions are those that are open-ended, flexible, or creative.

The intention of an unstructured interview is to expose the researcher to unanticipated themes and to help him or her to develop a better understanding of the interviewees' social reality from the interviewees' perspectives.