Run a structured interview with human-reviewed evidence
Collect comparable job evidence while trained humans retain judgement.
- Preparation
- Several hours of design plus each interview
- Difficulty
- Advanced
- Task
- Structure comparable interviews
Before you start
Get what you need before you start
- Use an approved role analysis and identify the qualified reviewer for fairness, accessibility, and local law.
- Arrange reasonable adjustments before the interview where required.
Steps
Work through the method
Use the listed inputs and tools. Check the evidence when you need to verify a step.
Write questions and evidence anchors
Create the same ordered questions and anchored evidence standards from approved role competencies.
Why it matters: Predetermined questions and standards make evidence more comparable and reviewable.
- Input
- The approved role record and entry competencies.
- Output
- A reviewed interview guide and scorecard.
Tools in this stepOPM Selection GuidesGreenhouseEvidence for this step
OPM describes structured interviews as using the same predetermined questions, order, and evaluation standards for every candidate.
US Office of Personnel Management: “Structured Interviews”, paragraphs before “Summary Sheet and Training Presentations”, accessed 26 September 2026Greenhouse scorecards record predetermined interview criteria and interviewer evidence for later human review.
Greenhouse: “Scorecard components” through “Fill out a scorecard”, updated 29 May 2026
Capture observed evidence
Ask the approved questions, record job-related examples, note adjustments, and keep interpretation separate from what the candidate said.
Why it matters: Reviewers need source evidence rather than personality or resemblance judgements.
- Input
- The interview guide and candidate responses.
- Output
- An interviewer evidence record completed before group discussion.
Tools in this stepOPM Selection GuidesGreenhouseEvidence for this step
OPM describes structured interviews as using the same predetermined questions, order, and evaluation standards for every candidate.
US Office of Personnel Management: “Structured Interviews”, paragraphs before “Summary Sheet and Training Presentations”, accessed 26 September 2026ICO recruitment guidance addresses personal information used during recruitment, including defined purposes, necessary data, access, retention, and candidate rights.
UK Information Commissioner's Office: “Data protection and recruitment”, “Automated decision-making and profiling”, and “Keeping recruitment records”, guidance under review, accessed 26 September 2026
Make the authorised human decision
Have trained reviewers compare evidence, record disagreements, apply approved criteria, and let the authorised person decide.
Why it matters: A scorecard organises evidence and cannot make an employment decision.
- Input
- Independent scorecards, adjustments, and approved decision rules.
- Output
- A reasoned human decision, recorded dissent, next communication, and correction route.
Tools in this stepGreenhouseEvidence for this step
Greenhouse scorecards record predetermined interview criteria and interviewer evidence for later human review.
Greenhouse: “Scorecard components” through “Fill out a scorecard”, updated 29 May 2026ICO recruitment guidance addresses personal information used during recruitment, including defined purposes, necessary data, access, retention, and candidate rights.
UK Information Commissioner's Office: “Data protection and recruitment”, “Automated decision-making and profiling”, and “Keeping recruitment records”, guidance under review, accessed 26 September 2026
Success checks
Check the result before you finish
- Each candidate received the same approved core questions and standards.
- The final record cites job evidence and names the authorised human decision owner.
Failure modes
Watch for these problems
- Stop if criteria change after seeing a candidate or if an adjustment is unresolved.
- Discard inferred personality, emotion, honesty, protected traits, culture fit, or predicted performance.
Tools
Choose the tools you need
Tool
OPM Selection Guides
Official job-analysis and structured-interview methods for defining work and comparable assessment evidence.
Check fit, limits and pricingTool
Greenhouse
An applicant tracking system for visible candidate stages and structured interviewer scorecards.
Check fit, limits and pricingSources
Read the sources behind this practice
Check what each source supports and where the advice has limits.
- US Office of Personnel Management: Structured InterviewsOfficial government selection guidance · Publication date unavailable
- Greenhouse: Scorecard overviewOfficial product documentation · Published 29 May 2026
- UK Information Commissioner's Office: Recruitment and selectionOfficial UK data-protection guidance under review · Publication date unavailable