The 7 Types Of Structured Interview Questions for Better Hiring

Sorting through endless CVs and conducting back-to-back interviews - only to remain unsure about the right hire - can be exhausting. Especially knowing that one wrong decision can disrupt team dynamics and productivity. However, by using a clear, data-driven approach such as structured interviewing, you can reduce bias, ask the right questions, and evaluate candidates more effectively.

If you're ready to strengthen your interview process, here’s our guide to the 7 types of structured interview questions that will help your team hire with confidence.

1. Understanding Structured Interviews

1.1 What is a Structured Interview?

A structured interview essentially means an interview that is based on a pre-determined set of questions that all candidates answer, ensuring a consistent evaluation framework. This method relies on prepared interview templates, so interviewers focus on the key competencies and attributes needed for the role instead of veering off into irrelevant discussions.

Key Features of Structured Interviews:

• Consistency: All candidates answer the same questions.

• Objectivity: Evaluation is based on pre-determined criteria.

• Focus: It eliminates irrelevant topics and distractions.

1.2 Why Use Structured Interviews?

Using structured interviews is about making your hiring process robust and reliable. A major benefit is the reduction of bias, as the uniformity in questioning ensures that each candidate is judged by the same standards. Furthermore, structured interviews can improve your hiring precision by systematically evaluating key competencies, which helps in identifying the right fit for the job role.

Reasons to Use Structured Interviews:

• Reducing Bias: By asking the same questions, you ensure decisions are based on data rather than gut feeling.

• Better Decision Making: Structured interviews help draw out relevant competencies.

• Efficiency: By using structured interviews, you hiring teams can run more streamlined interviews and make quicker decisions.

1.3 Benefits of Structured Interviews for Companies

For companies, structured interviews offer a multitude of benefits, including that they significantly increase the reliability and validity of the hiring process, ensuring that your hiring decisions are not just swayed by gut feelings but backed by real data. Moreover, structured interviews save resources in the long run by reducing turnover rates - finding the right fit the first time around means fewer costly re-hires.

Advantages for Companies:

• Enhanced Reliability: Provides evidence-based, data-driven assessments.

• Reduced Turnover Rates: Hire the right fit from the start.

• Cost-Effectiveness: Saves hiring and training costs long-term.

By incorporating structured interviews, companies are not merely fine-tuning their hiring processes, they're strategically transforming them to be more effective and fairer.

2. The 7 Types of Structured Interview Questions

When building your first structured interview template, it can be difficult to know which questions to ask. Here are the 7 types of questions that could be relevant for your interviewers.

1: Situational Questions

Situational questions assess how candidates would handle hypothetical work scenarios. For example, “How would you manage a conflict between team members?” These questions evaluate decision-making, problem-solving, and adaptability.

You can use scenarios relevant to the role to gauge how candidates would tackle real challenges at your company.

2: Behavioural Questions

Behavioural questions focus on past experiences, assuming past behaviour predicts future performance. Questions like, “Tell me about a time you overcame a major obstacle,” reveal problem-solving abilities, teamwork, and leadership skills. You can also use these questions to assess key competencies like integrity and adaptability.

3: Skills-Based Questions

Skills-based questions test job-specific abilities. Technical roles may require coding tasks, while sales roles might involve negotiation exercises. For example, “How do you approach debugging code?” might be used to asses the skills of a software engineer.

Tip: Combine practical tasks with theoretical questions for a more well-rounded assessment.

4: Job Knowledge Questions

Job knowledge questions assess a candidate’s expertise in a specific field. These questions determine whether they have the technical knowledge needed for the role. For example, an accounting candidate might be asked, “Can you explain the difference between cash-based and accrual accounting?”

By tailoring these questions to key job responsibilities, you ensure they accurately measure expertise.

5: Problem-Solving Questions

Problem-solving questions test analytical thinking and decision-making skills. They are essential for roles requiring strategic planning and troubleshooting. A question like, “How would you handle a sudden drop in sales performance?” helps evaluate a candidate’s ability to identify issues and implement solutions. You can also use open-ended questions to gauge logical reasoning and creativity.

6: Motivation Questions

Motivation questions reveal what drives candidates in their careers. They can help determine alignment with company goals, job progression and long-term commitment. Asking, “What aspects of this role excite you the most?” provides insight into a candidate’s enthusiasm and suitability for the job.

7: Organisational Fit Questions

Organisational fit questions assess whether a candidate aligns broadly with company culture and values - for example, “Describe the type of work environment in which you thrive.” Responses help predict how well they will integrate with the way your team is already working.

Reminder! By using tools such as Evidenced, your structured interview question templates can be built automatically for you, using data from the tens of thousands of best-in-class interviews we've helped our customers run.

3. Implementing Structured Interviews for Better Hiring

3.1 Developing Structured Interview Templates

Creating structured interview templates is about identifying the key competencies and skills necessary for each role in your company. Start by outlining the job requirements clearly and then align each interview question with these requirements. Consider these steps:

• List Core Competencies: Determine the essential skills and behaviours.

• Craft Specific Questions: Tailor questions that elicit responses directly related to those competencies.

• Include Various Question Types: Use situational, behavioural, and skills-based questions to cover different evaluation aspects.

• Pilot Test the Template: Trial with a small group to ensure clarity and relevancy before large-scale implementation.

• Regular Updates: Adapt templates over time based on feedback and as roles evolve.

It's best practice to focus on clarity and role relevance when building your structured interview templates. Each question should have a clear purpose, directly tied to job performance indicators.

Having flexibility of these templates also allows you to maintain consistency while adapting to different roles. Always review and adjust based on insights from both interviewers and candidates.

3.2 Training Interviewers

Effective interviewer training ensures interviewers can competently utilise the templates and conduct assessments impartially. This involves a series of key activities:

• Interactive Workshops: Engage interviewers in workshops to demonstrate how to use templates effectively.

• Mock Interviews: Conduct mock sessions to practice real-time scenarios and provide feedback.

• Bias Awareness Training: Highlight common biases and how structured interviews combat these.

• Use of Scorecards: Ensure interviewers understand how to document responses consistently for future reference.

• Ongoing Support: Regular check-ins and refresher courses to adapt to emerging best practices.

Interviewers must not only be familiar with the template content but confident in their ability to ask probing questions and critically evaluate candidate responses. Training prepares them to handle different candidate profiles effectively, increasing reliability and fairness in hiring assessments.

Tip: Evidenced provides insight into each of your interviewer's performances, so you can see where individual training is necessary and can run easy interview shadowing sessions.

3.3 Monitoring Question Effectiveness

Monitoring the effectiveness of your interview questions ensures they remain relevant and predictive of job performance. Follow these strategies:

• Analyse Interview Outcomes: Regularly assess how candidate performance during interviews correlates with job success.

• Gather Feedback: Have interviewers and candidates provide insights into the usefulness of each question.

• Review Success Rates: Evaluate any patterns or trends in hiring decisions over time.

• Update Regularly: As roles and market demands change, periodically revise questions to remain current.

• Benchmark Against Industry Standards: Ensure your interview process meets or exceeds standard practices.

Tip: Implement a feedback loop where insights are shared across teams to maintain a dynamic interview process.

Ultimately, employing structured interviews in your company requires taking the time to set up the proper frameworks and templates. But by investing in development, training, and evaluation, you can quickly optimise your hiring process, allowing you to make quicker, more reliable hiring decisions long term. Moreover, by using tools such as Evidenced, you can easily implement, manage, and monitor your company's structured interview process, all in one place.