Structured Interviews: A Practical Guide

Federal Agency mission accomplishment is substantially affected by who gets hired. Agencies must select people who possess characteristics required for the job. The employment interview is an effective way of determining who has these attributes and therefore, who is right for a job. The interview is popular because it is more personal than traditional selection assessments (e.g., written tests) and because it can be used to evaluate job characteristics not easily measured with other procedures (e.g., Oral Communication and Interpersonal Skills). Interviews are typically used for one of two purposes in the Federal Government. First, the interview may be used as part of the formal selection process in which candidates are screened or ranked based on their scores. Second, a "selecting official's interview" may be used to verify candidates' qualifications for a job after they have been rated using other assessment methods, but prior to making a hiring decision. In a selecting official's interview, candidates' responses are typically not scored. This guide, Structured Interviews: A Practical Guide, provides practical information on designing structured interviews. The guide discusses why interviews should have structure, what structure consists of, and how to conduct a structured interview. It also addresses the pros and cons of different types of interview questions and helpful/harmful interviewing techniques. Additionally, the guide provides practical tools for developing and implementing a structured interview. For step-by-step checklists for implementing and developing a structured interview, refer to Appendix A and Appendix B, respectively. The guidance on developing and administering structured interviews applies to interviews formally rated as part of the assessment process, as well as those used by the selection official to verify a candidate's qualifications after he/she has been rated by other assessment procedures. However, since responses are typically not scored in a selecting official's interview, the information in this document related to developing and using rating scales may be of limited use for the selecting official's interview. This guide is not intended to be exhaustive of the possible approaches to developing a structured interview, but to provide one effective method.