How much do interviews predict a candidate’s likelihood of success on the job? That all depends on how you’re interviewing. All too often, recruiters and hiring managers approach interviews without any real game plan, figuring they’ll just make small talk or discuss the candidate’s résumé. This makes it difficult to accurately assess candidates and virtually impossible to track whether you’re screening for the right qualities. Use this guide to designing a structured interview process to answer three major questions: who you're trying to hire, how you'll evaluate candidates, and what the interview process will look like. You'll never have to improvise at an interview again!

1. G R E E N H O U S E . I
O
Designing a Structured Interview
Process

2. Why is a
structured
interview
process
important?
Drastically improves your chances of
making the right hire
Helps you focus on planning for the
future; not just immediate needs
Maintains objectivity during interview
process
Provides legally defensible approach to
hiring

3. 1. Who are you trying to hire?

4. Understand your needs
Define what a successful hire will accomplish in
their first year, then work backwards.
Be as specific and clear as possible. Document
your ideas so the entire team understands what
you’re trying to achieve.

5. WHAT TO DETERMINE
AT THIS STAGE:
The Role
• Role name
• Department
• Reporting structure
• Business objectives this role
addresses

6. • What will a successful hire achieve in
the first year on the job?
• What will they need to accomplish in
their first 3 months?
WHAT TO DETERMINE
AT THIS STAGE:
Success

7. • Which employees exemplify your
company culture?
• How would you describe your company
culture?
• Which attributes would make someone
a culture fit?
WHAT TO DETERMINE
AT THIS STAGE:
Company Culture

8. 2. How will you evaluate the
candidate?

9. Clarify your hiring criteria
Keep your list brief—the more things you add,
the more interviews you’ll need to conduct.
Be realistic. Which qualities are truly necessary
for someone to succeed in this role?

10. • Skills
• Personality Traits
• Qualifications
WHAT TO DETERMINE
AT THIS STAGE:
Defining Your
Candidate

11. 3. What will the interview
process look like?

12. Create your interview pipeline
An effective pipeline is all about asking the right
questions at the right time.
Screen for the basics first—only invite the most
promising candidates to in-person sessions.

13. Stage 1: Initial Screen
During application review, screen out candidates
who are most obviously not a fit based on things
like relevant work experience and required
qualifications

14. Stage 2: Candidate Qualification
Get an initial sense for each candidate. Review
their work experience at a high level to make sure
it aligns with the role, and make sure they have
the basic communication skills to fit in with the
team.

15. Stage 3: Skills Testing
The best way to see if someone has the skills to
do a job is to test for it. Craft a task for the
candidate that’s reflective of what they’ll have to
do on the job, and have them do it.

16. Stage 4: In-Person Interviews
Culture Fit: Determine if the candidate would be
a strong fit at your organization by seeing if they
live by your company values, and find out what
motivates them at work.

17. Stage 4: In-Person Interviews
Team Panel: Allows the team to get a sense for
what it would be like to work with and collaborate
with the candidate.

18. Stage 4: In-Person Interviews
Hiring Manager One-on-One: Explore the
candidate’s working style and get a sense for how
the manager relationship would work. Note: this
interview is as much about selling the candidate
on who they’re going to be working for as it is for
the hiring manager to evaluate the candidate!

19. Stage 5: Offer
Extend the Job Offer: At the end of the process,
you should know everything you need to know
about a candidate to confidently extend an offer.

20. Still want more?
Download our interactive workbook to put these
ideas into practice.
Get it here!

21. G R E E N H O U S E . I
O