There are several types of interviews that can be conducted when hiring candidates. Structured interviews are pre-planned with standardized questions, unstructured interviews have no predefined questions, and semi-structured interviews provide flexibility while maintaining basic structure. Other types include group, depth, individual, informal, formal, exit, behavioral, panel, case, and technical interviews.
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TYPES OF INTERVIEWS
1. ◤
TYPES OF INTERVIEWS
Structured Interview –
In this type, the interview is designed and detailed in advance. A
structured interview is pre-planned, accurate, and consistent in
hiring the candidates.
2. ◤
Example of a structured interview question:
▪ Can you talk about what it was like to work in customer
service?
▪ How do you deal with an angry or upset customer?
▪ How do you ensure that the information you give customers is
correct?
3. ◤
Unstructured Interview –
This type of interview is an unplanned one, where the interview
questionnaire is not prepared. Here, the effectiveness of the
interview is very less and there is a tremendous waste of time and
effort of both the interviewer and the interviewee.
4. ◤
SEMI-STRUCTURED INTERVIEW
Semi-structured interviews offer a considerable amount of leeway
to the researcher to probe the respondents, along with maintaining
a basic interview structure.
Even if it is a guided conversation between researchers and
interviewees – appreciable flexibility is offered to the researchers.
5. ◤
Example of an unstructured interview
question:
▪ Can you tell me about when you had to deal with something
hard and how you did it?
▪ What are some of the things you’re most proud of, and what did
you learn from them?
▪ How do you deal with ambiguity or not knowing what to do at
work?
▪ Can you describe how you lead and how you get your team
going?
6. ◤
Group Interview –
In this type of interview, all the candidates or a group of candidates
are interviewed together. Group interviews are conducted to save
time when there is a large number of applications for a few job
vacancies. A topic will be given to discuss among the candidates
and the interviewer judges the innovativeness and behavior of each
candidate in the group.
7. ◤
Depth Interview –
Depth interview is a semi-structured interview, where the
candidates have to give a detailed information about their education
background, work experience, special interests, etc. And the
interviewer takes a depth interview and tries in finding the expertise
of the candidate
8. ◤
Individual Interview –
In an individual interview, the interview takes place one-onone i.e.,
there will be a verbal and a visual interaction between two people,
an interviewer and a candidate. This is a two-way communication
interview, which helps in finding the right candidate for a vacant job
position
9. ◤
Informal Interview –
Such interviews are conducted in an informal way, i.e., the
interview will be fixed without any written communication and can
be arranged at any place. There is no procedure of asking
questions in this type of interview, hence it will be a friendly kind of
interview.
10. ◤
Formal Interview –
A formal interview held in a formal way, i.e., the candidate will be
intimated about the interview well in advance and the interviewer
plans and prepares questions for the interview. This is also called
as a planned interview.
11. ◤
Exit Interview –
Exit interviews are conducted for those employees who want to
leave the organization. The importance of the exit interview is to
discover why an employee wants to leave his job.
12. ◤
BEHAVIORAL INTERVIEW
During this type of interview, candidates are asked to give specific
examples of how they have acted in the past. The idea behind this
kind of interview is that what someone did in the past can be a sign
of how they will act in the future. And by this interview, the company
can also understand the interviewee’s behavior through body
language.
13. ◤
PANEL INTERVIEW
During a panel interview, three or more interviewers usually ask
questions and evaluate the candidate’s answers as a group. This is
a good way to get a full picture of a candidate’s skills and suitability
for the job.
14. ◤
CASE INTERVIEW
During a case interview, candidates are given a business problem
or scenario and asked to think about how to solve it. In the
consulting and finance fields, this kind of interview is common.
15. ◤
TECHNICAL INTERVIEW
A candidate’s technical skills and knowledge are tested during a
technical interview, usually in fields like engineering or software
development. Most of the time, candidates are asked to solve
problems or complete technical tasks.