Structured Interview : The Proven Way to Hire Smarter and Reduce Mis-Hires

The Structured interview is part of Monday Simon Manager Development Program:
👉 Module 6: Hiring for managers (Coming Soon)

When interviews turn into “nice conversations” and remain at the surface level, everyone leaves feeling good until the wrong person shows up on Monday and productivity drops. This is why structured interviews exist. 

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What is a Structured Interview

A structured interview is a disciplined method where you ask every candidate the same job-relevant questions in the same order, then score their answers using a predefined rubric. It’s a systematic, repeatable, and data-driven process designed to compare candidates objectively rather than emotionally.

Structured interviews aren’t unique to HR. The same logic is used in research and market studies to collect consistent data. In hiring, this structured interview helps you detect patterns in behavior, spot blind spots, and make decisions supported by evidence instead of intuition. A structured interview is the recipient to additional questioning methods, such as the STAR interview method.

There are three broad interview formats:

Type	Pre-selected questions	Fixed order	Flexibility	Bias risk
Structured	Yes	Yes	Low	Minimal
Semi-structured	Partial	No	Medium	Moderate
Unstructured	None	No	High	High

If you are serious about improving hiring accuracy, structured interviews are your baseline. 

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When to Use The Structured Interview

My advice is to apply a structured interview at every single interview to limit bias. Use the structured interview approach especially for the following cases:

• Hire for roles with high early failure rates (like sales or technical specialists, etc). 
• Scale teams quickly and need consistency across multiple interviewers.
• You need defensible decisions that minimize bias and stand up to legal or HR scrutiny.
• You have limited time and resources to compare candidates because the data collected speaks for itself.

The structured interview also helps to “come prepared” in the interview room with minimal time for preparation, because the structure is always the same. 

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The Blueprint for a Structured Interview

The preliminary step to structured interviews is to have clearly identified the key requirements of the role in your recruitment scorecard. So here are 3 easy steps for implementation:  

Create your scorecard

The scorecard lists the mandatory requirements for the role. The scorecard can list the key competencies and the mandatory items for the candidate selection. Here, identify the top non-negotiable skills or behaviors for success in the role. Avoid vague words like “team player.” Instead, write measurable behaviors such as:

Every question you ask must tie directly back to one of these identified competencies. You can generate questions to prepare for your interview by using my custom Chatgpt for interviews.

Standardize the questions

Switch from hypothetical to behavioral questions. Future behavior is predicted best by past behavior.
Stop asking “What would you do if…?” and start asking “Tell me about a time when…”

Example:
Don’t: “How would you handle a demanding client?”
Do: “Tell me about the last time a client pushed back hard on your deliverable. What did you say, and what was the result?”

Important: Use the exact same wording and order for each candidate. This ensures your comparison is apples-to-apples, not impressions-to-vibes.

Create an objective scoring rubric

Immediately after the interview, score responses using a simple scale. This simple scale is nothing less then what’s written in your recruitment scorecard. The rating scale can present like this:

Score	Description
1	Unacceptable: fails to demonstrate the required behavior.
2	Meets expectations: provides a solid, relevant example.
3	Exceptional:  demonstrates mastery and measurable impact.

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Why Structured Interviews Drive Business Results

Structured interviews are essentially a business protection system because they remove bias and gut feeling. I strongly recommend managers to adopt structured interviews, as they lead to : 

• Fewer bad hires: Data shows they are up to twice as predictive of performance as casual chats.
• Faster time-to-productivity: You hire for proven skills, not stories.
• Better credibility: Managers can justify decisions with data, not opinions.

Structured interviews also make it easier to analyze results over time. You can spot which questions best predict on-the-job success and continuously improve your process.

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Competency-based Interviews: How is it Different?

A competency-based interview is simply a structured interview focused specifically on skills, knowledge, and behaviors. We also call it the behavioral interview. Here you are assessing how a candidate demonstrates competencies such as:

• Cognitive skills: analytical thinking, problem-solving, critical reasoning.
• Interpersonal skills: teamwork, influence, and relationship building.
• Self-leadership skills: resilience, adaptability, decision-making.

These competencies must connect directly to the job’s core deliverables, not to “personality fit.”

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Example: Customer-orientation Competency

Below are sample behavioral questions you can plug directly into your structured interview for a “Customer Orientation” competency:

Behavior	Example Question
Demonstrating positive attitude toward resolution	“Tell me about a time when a customer reported an issue you didn’t know how to fix. What did you do?”
Solving customer issues within timelines	“Describe a situation where you had to resolve a customer request under tight deadlines. How did you handle it?”
Understanding customer needs	“Give an example of when you misread a customer’s expectations. What happened and what did you learn?”

Each question maps to a specific behavior, making your scoring consistent across interviews.

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How to Apply This on Monday morning

1. Pick one role you’re hiring for.
2. List 5 mandatory requirements and/or behavioral competencies that predict success.
3. Write one “Tell me about a time…” question for each. You are fetching practical lived experiences answers in return. 
4. Create a simple 1–3–5 scoring sheet and train every interviewer to use it.
5. Compare candidates by data, not by chemistry.

If you want ready-to-use templates and rubrics, visit the Manager Tools page.