By Nick Young
One interview that comes to mind was for a retail job where the process felt casual but unorganized. It started with small talk and a few general questions like, “Tell me about yourself” and “What would you do if a customer was upset?” While the vibe was relaxed, the interview didn’t feel structured, and there wasn’t a clear way to know what they were really looking for. Looking back now with what I’ve learned, I’d say the interview had pretty low reliability and validity—it didn’t feel like the same process was being used for every candidate, and the questions didn’t really tie back to how well someone would actually do the job.
There was also nothing in place like a scoring system or rubric. That means decisions probably came down to gut feeling, which isn’t a great way to choose who to hire. Based on what we’ve gone over this week, structured interviews where every candidate is asked the same job-related questions and rated the same way are way more consistent and fair. Research shows structured interviews lead to more accurate, unbiased hiring decisions and are better predictors of job success.
If I could give that employer advice now, I’d tell them to add more job-related questions and score answers right after they’re given. Something like, “Can you give an example of how you handled a tough customer?” would have been better. It would’ve helped them actually measure what matters for the role and make better hiring decisions overall.
Citation:
Test Partnership. (2021). Structured interviews: Finding top talent and avoiding bias. Retrieved from https://www.testpartnership.com/blog/structured-interviews-top-talent-avoiding-bias.html