What is a structured interview?
A structured interview asks every candidate for a role the same predefined questions, in the same order, and scores the answers against the same criteria and scale.
The benefits of structured interviews come from that consistency: research on hiring has repeatedly found them more predictive of job performance than free-form conversations, and fairer, because every candidate is judged on the same evidence.
Structured interview questions
Questions come from the skills the role needs. Behavioural questions ask about the past: “Tell me about a time you had to give a customer bad news.” Situational questions pose a scenario: “A key customer asks for a feature that is not on the roadmap. What do you do?”
A structured interview example
For a support lead role, the panel agrees four criteria in advance: customer judgement, coaching, prioritisation and written communication. Each interviewer asks the same two questions per criterion and scores every answer from 1 to 4 against written anchors, such as 4 for a specific example that explains the trade-off and the outcome.
Structured interview scoring
Each interviewer scores independently, before any discussion, so the loudest voice does not set the result. Scores are weighted by how much each criterion matters for the role. Recruitment Workflow Optimizer uses weighted scorecard criteria, which makes candidates comparable across interviewers.
Structured vs unstructured interview
An unstructured interview follows the conversation wherever it goes. It feels natural and builds rapport, but each candidate sits a different test, and impressions are driven by the first few minutes, similarity and confidence. A structured interview can still be warm; it just makes the assessment the same for everyone.
Last reviewed 2026-11-01.