One of the most common personnel selection tools is the interview. Most supervisors want to get to know job candidates and their skills prior to making a hiring decision, and most applicants expect an interview and have a positive reaction to it. But research has shown that some interview formats are better than others for predicting later job performance. As we will see in this chapter, unstructured interviews, which are simply an informal conversation between the job applicant and the employer, are not the best selection method because they are susceptible to a number of biases and are not necessarily job related.
In contrast, research shows that structured interviews, where all applicants are asked the same job-related questions, are a good selection tool.
Structured interviews have grown in popularity due to the science that consistently supports them. For example, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM, which provides the U.S. government’s HR functions) provides guidance for how government agencies can develop and deploy structured interviews to make good hiring decisions. In the private sector, behavioral interviews (a type of structured interview where applicants are asked how they have handled past situations) are a standard part of Google’s selection procedures.1 HRM plays an important role by guiding supervisors and managers as to how to use structured interviews to get the best talent.

Case Discussion Questions 

1. What is an example of a structured interview question you would use to hire a supervisor for a customer service job?
2. What types of biases might occur when using an unstructured interview?
3. Do you think that job applicants would prefer structured or unstructured interviews? Why?