Hiring glossary
What is a structured interview?
A structured interview is a job interview in which every candidate is asked the same predetermined, job-related questions in the same order, and each answer is rated against the same scale and standards.
The US Office of Personnel Management describes it as a standardised way to measure job-related competencies by asking about past behaviour or about behaviour in hypothetical situations. The questions come from an analysis of the job, the rating scale is written before interviews start, and interviewers take notes and score each answer.
The structure is what makes candidates comparable. Without it, two interviewers can meet the same person and leave with different impressions shaped by rapport, and the decision goes to whoever argues best in the debrief. A structured interview pairs naturally with an interview scorecard.
Example
Every candidate for a project manager role is asked: “Tell me about a project that slipped. What did you notice first, what did you do, and what happened?” Each interviewer rates the answer from 1 to 5 against written descriptions of weak, acceptable and strong responses.
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