How to Interview Candidates: A Structured Interview Guide

Step 1: Define what success looks like

List the four to six competencies that matter most for the role, for example, safety awareness, customer focus, technical knowledge and reliability. Our hiring guides list key skills for 709 roles.

Step 2: Write questions for each competency

• Behavioral: “Tell me about a time you…” (past behavior predicts future behavior)
• Situational: “What would you do if…” (useful for entry-level candidates)
• Technical: Role-specific knowledge questions

Step 3: Build a scorecard

Define what a 1, 3 and 5 answer looks like for each question. Use our free structured interview scorecard.

Step 4: Run the interview consistently

• Ask every candidate the same core questions in the same order.
• Take notes on what candidates actually say.
• Score independently before discussing with other interviewers.

Step 5: Add a practical skills check

A short demonstration (walking through a procedure, a troubleshooting scenario or a work sample) is often the best predictor of ability. Each hiring guide includes ideas, such as asking a medical assistant candidate to describe taking a manual blood pressure reading.

Avoid these mistakes

• Deciding in the first five minutes
• Asking about protected characteristics such as age, religion, national origin, disability, pregnancy or family plans
• “Culture fit” judgments without defined criteria
• Skipping reference checks

Give candidates a realistic job preview

Describe the real schedule, physical demands and challenges. Candidates who opt out early save you a costly early departure.

Keep reading