ABSTRACT
The employment interview is one of the most dominant selection tools used by organizational decision-makers worldwide. Despite its widespread use, however, interviews have limited validity and reliability – unless they are structured. Structured interviews are interviews that have standardized components, such as the same questions being asked of each job candidate and the same rating scales being used across interviews. Components of structure generally relate to two dimensions – interview content and interview evaluation.
There are several benefits of structured interviews, such as increased validity and reliability, reduced bias, and legal defensibility. However, organizational decision-makers are often hesitant to utilize them due to the increased planning that they require, as well as a perception that adding structure makes interviews feel ‘cold’. Nonetheless, empirical evidence converges on the structured interview as a superior selection tool, and future research should be conducted to optimize its utility.
