Structured interview questions for hiring managers

Structured interview questions are the same set of job-related questions, asked in the same order and scored on the same scale, for every candidate. They make hiring fairer because you compare answers, not impressions. This guide shows you how to write them, score them and run the interview.

What makes an interview structured

An unstructured interview is a chat. Each candidate gets different questions, and the winner is often the person the interviewer liked best. That is easy to do and hard to defend.

A structured interview works like a test. A structured interview has four parts: good questions tied to the role, careful notes on each answer, a scoring rubric, and training for interviewers. Every candidate is asked the same questions and graded on the same scale.

The research backs this up. In a well known review of 85 years of studies, Frank Schmidt and John Hunter reported that structured interviews predict job performance better than unstructured ones. They gave average validity scores of .51 for structured interviews and .38 for unstructured ones. A higher score means a better link to later job results. They also found that pairing a structured interview with a general mental ability test scored .63, among the best combinations they tested.

Sources: Schmidt and Hunter, "The Validity and Utility of Selection Methods in Personnel Psychology," Psychological Bulletin, 1998 (vol. 124, no. 2).

Start with the job, not the questions

Before you write a single question, list what the person must do well. Keep the list short, about four to six items. For a sales manager it might be coaching a team, forecasting, handling a hard client and staying calm under pressure.

Each item becomes a skill you test. Every question you write must link to one of them. If a question tests nothing on the list, cut it. Chatty questions like "Where do you see yourself in five years?" rarely tell you anything you can score.

Ask two or three colleagues who know the job to check your list. This makes it less likely that one person's taste shapes the whole process.

Write questions that can be scored

Two kinds of question work well. Behavioral questions ask about the past. Hypothetical questions ask what the person would do in a set situation. Use both, and keep them tied to the job.

Behavioral: "Tell me about a time you had to deliver bad news to a client. What did you do, and what happened?"
Behavioral: "Describe a time you coached someone who was falling behind."
Hypothetical: "Two of your team members disagree on a deadline the day before a launch. What would you do first?"
Hypothetical: "A top customer asks for a feature you cannot build this quarter. How do you reply?"

Write one or two follow-up prompts for each question, and use the same ones with everyone. Good examples are "What was your role?" and "What would you do differently?" Avoid brainteasers, because they rarely relate to the work.

Build a simple scoring rubric

A rubric says what a weak answer and a strong answer look like before you meet anyone. A four point scale is enough: poor, borderline, solid and outstanding.

For each question, write one line for each level. Take the question about coaching a team member. A poor answer blames the person and shows no plan. A solid answer names the problem, sets clear goals and checks progress. An outstanding answer does all that and also shows how the manager changed their own approach.

Score each answer right after it is given, while it is fresh. Do not wait until the end of the day. Take notes on what the person said, not on how you felt about them.

Run the interview the same way every time

Fairness comes from routine. Follow these steps for every candidate.

Give each person the same time, the same order of questions and the same setting.
Read the question as written. Use only the planned follow-ups.
Let the candidate finish. Silence is fine.
Score each answer on its own before you move on.
Have each interviewer score alone, then compare scores. This keeps the loudest voice from setting the result.

You can still be warm. A friendly tone does not break the process. What breaks it is changing the questions or adding new ones because you liked someone.

Train everyone who interviews. Practice with a colleague, score the same sample answers, and talk through any gap of more than one point. This training step is a core part of the method.

Decide with the scores

When the interviews end, add up the scores for each skill. Compare candidates on the same list. If two people are close, look at the skills that matter most for the job rather than at who you remember best.

You do not need a big company to use this method. A team of five can do it with a one page sheet of questions and a rubric.

Keep your sheets after each round. When a new hire starts, look back at their interview scores and compare them with how they perform in the first year. If a question never separates strong people from weak ones, replace it. Over time your list gets sharper.

Sources

Schmidt, F. L. and Hunter, J. E. (1998). The Validity and Utility of Selection Methods in Personnel Psychology. Psychological Bulletin, 124(2), 262 to 274.