Should Your Company Invest in Structured Interviews?
Interviews introduce a bias into the process. We’ve all met someone who was hired based on their interview performance but struggled with day-to-day tasks. Why aren’t such people weeded out during interviews? Simply put, first impressions matter a lot — so much so that an unqualified candidate may be persuaded to apply for a job.
Thus, interviews are required, but they are also risky. You risk missing additional red flags or even underqualifying a candidate if you rely solely on a resume or pre-interview screening. “How do you conduct interviews?” rather than “Should you conduct interviews?” is the correct question.
Interviews: Structured vs. Unstructured:
There are two kinds of interviews. For many years, many businesses relied heavily on unstructured interviews. Unstructured does not imply that hiring managers or human resource screening agents were unprepared. Rather, it refers to a process that lacks any formal structure as defined by human resources. The hiring managers and current staff conducting the interview are solely responsible for any preparation, quizzing, questioning, or other process. This means that each discussion becomes unique, and when that happens, unconscious bias is very likely to enter the picture.
A structured interview, on the other hand, typically includes the following components:
HR Process:
Each candidate is interviewed in accordance with the HR process, which includes a structured interview. Each candidate goes through the same process, with questions pre-prepared and asked in the same order. This repetition reduces the possibility of unconscious bias, which can arise when each hiring manager tailors each interview to the individual.
Concentrate solely on your abilities. Because the questions are pre-planned, hiring managers and human resources can work together to highlight the specific skill sets required for the position, as well as the challenges it will face. Instead of wasting interview time on irrelevant tangents, this focus allows each candidate to explain and elaborate on their own abilities.
Reasoning Ability:
Google’s testing and open-ended questioning model has been adopted by many businesses, particularly those in the technology sector. These challenges place the candidate in a position where hard metrics, such as the amount of time required to answer, the accuracy of the answer, the number of creative solutions, and so on, can be tracked.
Cognitive Abilities :
Furthermore, these tests assess the critical cognitive abilities that are most predictive of a candidate’s success.
Comparisons of data A structured interview allows hiring managers and human resource personnel to compare data across candidates by providing standardized metrics and values that aid in the elimination of less-qualified candidates and the formation of a faster consensus.
Final Thoughts:
According to Ms. Mariana Joseph of Techfetch RPO, one of the best RPO firms (https://rpo.techfetch.com/), it’s important to remember that just because an interview is structured doesn’t mean it’s a verbal pop quiz. Rather, the structure ensures that the interview remains focused on the required skills and characteristics for the position.
Candidates can still demonstrate their personality by asking process and planning questions; they just have to do it in a way that also evaluates their skills. Read More
