With graduation coming up and the fact that I need to find a job soon, I have participated in a good number of interviews recently. These interviews have varied quite a lot regarding how they’re structured. Some have been highly structured with lots of questions and multiple interviewers, and others have been a more conversational format.
The article “How to Take the Bias Out of Interviews” gives a couple of pros and cons of a structured versus an unstructured interview. While I agree that an unstructured interview can allow the interviewer to explore details based on what they believe to be interesting or relevant, I think it is much better for the interviewer than the interviewee. In an unstructured format, it can be difficult for the candidate to come prepared, and some people don’t respond to spontaneous questions as well as others. I think a structured interview with specific questions for each candidate presents the company as more professional, and it allows the candidate to come prepared and do their best. It makes the responses interviewers receive more reliable when they ask each candidate the same questions.
I have been in many interviews where I felt they lacked utility for either side. This is typically the first stage of interviews, where the company is really just getting an idea of what kind of person you are. An interview can feel more useful for both sides when they ask questions like how they would react to certain workplace situations.
One improvement I would suggest to interviewers is to incorporate role-specific questions into the interview. Not only does this give the company an idea of how the candidate would react in certain situations, but it also gives the candidate an idea of what kind of work they would be doing at the company. Another piece of advice would be to consistently have multiple interviewers when possible. This can limit any biases, and one interviewer may catch something that the others don’t.
Sources:
Bohnet, I. (2016, April 18). How to take the bias out of interviews. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2016/04/how-to-take-the-bias-out-of-interviews