Structured or Unstructured Interviews – Which Yields Better Results?

Interviewing is a critical component of the hiring process, and the approach you take can significantly impact the outcome. Two common methodologies - STRUCTURED and UNSTRUCTURED interviews. They both offer distinct advantages and drawbacks. Understanding the effectiveness of each can help organizations make informed decisions about how to best assess candidates.

Structured Interviews: A Data-Driven Approach

What Are Structured Interviews? Structured interviews follow a standardized format where each candidate is asked the same set of predetermined questions. These questions are typically job-related and designed to evaluate specific competencies, skills, and qualifications. The responses are then rated using a consistent scoring system, allowing for objective comparison between candidates.

Pros of Structured interviews:

1. Consistency and Fairness: Because all candidates are asked the same questions, structured interviews minimize biases and ensure that everyone is evaluated on the same criteria.
2. Predictive Validity: Research indicates that structured interviews have a higher predictive validity, meaning they are more effective at forecasting a candidate's future job performance.
3. Ease of Comparison: The standardized format makes it easier to compare candidates objectively, leading to more data-driven hiring decisions.
4. Legal Defensibility: The consistent approach of structured interviews can help protect against discrimination claims, as it demonstrates a fair and equitable process.

Cons of Structured interviews:

1. Rigidity: The standardized nature of structured interviews can make them feel rigid, potentially limiting the interviewer’s ability to explore unique aspects of a candidate’s background.
2. Lack of Depth: While structured interviews are effective for assessing specific skills, they may not capture the full range of a candidate’s personality, creativity, or cultural fit.

‘Google's Use of Structured Interviews for Software Engineers’ Google is known for its highly structured interview process, especially when hiring software engineers. They follow a predefined set of technical questions that assess coding skills, problem-solving abilities, and algorithms. Each candidate is asked the same questions, and their responses are graded on a clear, consistent rubric. This method ensures that candidates are evaluated purely on their technical abilities, reducing bias and ensuring fairness. Google’s approach has been widely praised for its high predictive validity in identifying top-performing engineers who thrive in the company's environment.

Unstructured Interviews: A Flexible Conversation

What Are Unstructured Interviews? Unstructured interviews are more conversational and less formal. Interviewers may ask open-ended questions that vary from candidate to candidate, allowing the discussion to flow naturally. This approach is often used to explore a candidate’s experiences, values, and personality in greater depth.

Pros of Unstructured Interviews:

1. Flexibility: Unstructured interviews allow interviewers to adapt their questions based on the candidate’s responses, enabling a deeper exploration of areas of interest.
2. Rapport Building: The conversational nature of unstructured interviews can help build rapport, making candidates feel more comfortable and revealing more about their true selves.
3. Cultural Fit Assessment: Unstructured interviews provide more room to assess whether a candidate’s values and personality align with the company’s culture.
4. Discovery of Unique Insights: The open-ended format can lead to the discovery of unexpected talents or experiences that might not emerge in a structured format.

Cons of Unstructured Interviews:

1. Inconsistency: The lack of standardization can lead to inconsistencies in how candidates are evaluated, introducing potential biases and making it harder to compare candidates fairly.
2. Lower Predictive Validity: Studies suggest that unstructured interviews are less reliable in predicting job performance compared to structured interviews.
3. Potential for Bias: Without a standardized format, interviewers may unconsciously allow personal biases to influence their evaluation of candidates.
4. Time-Consuming: Unstructured interviews can be more time-consuming, as they lack the focused approach of structured interviews.

‘Zappos’ Cultural Fit Interviews’ Zappos, an online retailer, is famous for its emphasis on company culture. They often use unstructured interviews to assess whether a candidate aligns with their unique values. These interviews focus on personality, work ethic, and team spirit. For instance, an interviewer might ask a candidate to share personal stories about how they’ve handled failure or worked as part of a team. The questions evolve based on the candidate's answers, which allows Zappos to discover hidden traits and gauge whether a person would thrive in their distinctive company culture. Though unstructured, this conversational style helps them build a cohesive, culturally aligned workforce.

Which Yields Better Results – Structured or Unstructured?

The effectiveness of structured versus unstructured interviews largely depends on the goals of the hiring process. If the primary aim is to objectively assess specific skills and qualifications, structured interviews are generally more effective due to their consistency and higher predictive validity. However, if the goal is to assess cultural fit, creativity, or unique talents, unstructured interviews can offer valuable insights that structured interviews might miss.

Best Practices for Interviewers

1. Combine Both Approaches: Consider using a hybrid approach, where a structured format is employed for assessing core competencies, followed by unstructured questions to explore cultural fit and personality.

Example: Amazon employs a hybrid approach that combines both structured and unstructured interviews. In the first stage, they use a structured format to evaluate a candidate’s core competencies through standardized behavioral questions tied to their leadership principles, such as "Tell me about a time when you demonstrated customer obsession." Once this evaluation is complete, the second tier of interviews is more unstructured, focusing on deeper exploration of the candidate’s fit within Amazon’s unique culture. By blending these methods, Amazon ensures they’re hiring people with both the technical skills and the right cultural fit for long-term success.

2. Train Interviewers: Ensure that interviewers are trained to recognize and mitigate their own biases, particularly in unstructured interviews.

3. Use Behavioral Questions: Incorporate behavioral questions in both structured and unstructured interviews to assess how candidates have handled situations in the past, which can be predictive of future performance.

4. Document and Review: Whether using structured or unstructured interviews, documenting candidate responses and reviewing them systematically can help reduce bias and improve decision-making.

5. Align with Job Requirements: Ensure that all questions, whether structured or unstructured, are closely aligned with the key requirements of the job to make the interview process relevant and effective.

In conclusion, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to interviewing. The choice between structured and unstructured interviews should be guided by the specific needs of the role, the organizational culture, and the importance of consistency versus flexibility in the hiring process. By thoughtfully integrating elements of both approaches, organizations can create a more holistic and effective interview process.