As much as possible, organizations should strive to create a structured interview process that is standard, equitable, and efficient. In addition to making better hiring decisions, a structured interview process improves the candidate experience by making the process discernibly fairer and more transparent.
In 180 Engineering’s 2019 State of Talent Recruitment Survey, we learned that only 36% of engineering-based organizations have a well-defined, structured interviewing process. We believe that companies would benefit from creating a more systematic approach to interviewing and the following six tips will help.
Avoid comparing candidates to each other or to current employees. Instead, strive to compare candidates to the established ideal as reflected in your rubric.
Structured Interview Process Creation Tips
Tip #1 Establish position requirements. Before posting the job, determine what is required for this position, such as technical skills, role-related knowledge, soft skills, and a level of general cognitive ability. Your company and team culture and how these characteristics relate to this position must also be determined.
Tip # 3 Bank of Interview Questions. Develop a list of questions relevant to the role, work to validate your questions against the role requirements, and ask the questions consistently across all interviews. Ask both behavioral and hypothetical questions. Behavioral questions will focus on how the candidate responded to a given situation in the past. Hypothetical questions ask how they would approach challenges in your workplace. The goal is not to trick the candidate with brain teasers or crazy scenarios but to truly assess how the candidate might handle a challenge while working for your company in this position.
Tip #3 Create a Rubric. Once you have a bank of solid interview questions, figure out what the good, mediocre, and poor answers look like, and record them in a rubric. Then, ask each candidate the same questions in the same way and grade their answers against your rubric.
Tip #4 Standard Rubric Scoring. Develop standard rubric scoring for a given position or type of position. Consistently assessing candidates against the same expectations reduces unintentional bias and allows you to predict on-the-job performance better. Avoid comparing candidates to each other or to current employees. Instead, strive to compare candidates to the established ideal as reflected in your rubric.
Tip #5 Interviewer Recommendations. After each interview, the interviewer completes the rubric, makes notes about the candidate’s specific answers within the interview, and makes a hire or no-hire recommendation.
Tip #6 Train Interviewers. Interviewing is a skill that must be practiced and perfected. Interviewers should undergo training and, if possible and appropriate, shadow experienced interviewers.
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