Most interviews are poorly conducted. The interviewer glances at the CV five minutes before, asks whatever comes to mind, and leaves with a vague impression that amounts to whether they liked the person. This is not interviewing. It is an expensive and unreliable way to make one of the most important decisions in management. A great interview is a structured assessment that gives both sides the information they need to make a good decision. It requires preparation, discipline, and a genuine respect for the candidate's time.
An interview is not a test you administer. It is a conversation you design to reveal whether this person and this role are right for each other.
Preparation that matters
Preparation is the difference between a useful interview and a wasted hour. Before the candidate arrives, you should know exactly what you are assessing, what questions you will ask, and how you will evaluate the answers. This is not about scripting a rigid conversation. It is about entering the room with clarity of purpose so that the conversation goes somewhere useful rather than meandering through small talk and improvised questions.
Read the candidate's CV thoroughly, not as a box-ticking exercise, but to identify themes, transitions, and gaps worth exploring. Prepare questions that probe the competencies this specific interview stage is designed to assess. If you are evaluating problem-solving, write questions that require the candidate to walk through how they approach real problems, not hypothetical brainteasers.
- Know your briefBe clear on the two or three competencies you are assessing. If this stage is about collaboration and communication, every question should relate to those areas. Do not try to assess everything in one conversation.
- Study the CVLook for patterns: career progression, lateral moves, gaps, short tenures. These are not red flags by default, but they are prompts for thoughtful questions. "I noticed you moved from X to Y. What drove that decision?"
- Prepare your questionsWrite them down. Five to seven well-crafted questions are enough for a 45-minute interview. Having them written prevents you from defaulting to whatever comes to mind under pressure.
- Plan your timeAllocate time deliberately: five minutes for introduction and settling, thirty minutes for your questions, and ten minutes for the candidate to ask theirs. Running over because you spent too long chatting is a planning failure.
Asking better questions
The quality of an interview is determined by the quality of the questions. Closed questions that can be answered with yes or no tell you almost nothing. Hypothetical questions reveal how someone thinks they would behave, which is unreliable. The most informative questions ask candidates to describe specific past experiences in detail. This is the behavioural interviewing approach, and decades of research confirm it is the strongest predictor of future performance available in an interview setting.
Use the STAR framework as a guide: ask for the Situation, the Task they were responsible for, the Actions they took, and the Result. When a candidate gives a vague or high-level answer, probe deeper. “You mentioned you improved the process. Can you walk me through exactly what you changed and why?” The detail is where the truth lives.
- Behavioural questions"Tell me about a time when you had to influence a decision without authority." Past behaviour is the best predictor of future behaviour. Abstract questions produce rehearsed answers. Specific ones reveal real capability.
- Follow-up probesThe first answer is rarely the complete picture. Ask "What specifically was your contribution?" or "What would you do differently now?" Probing separates candidates who were genuinely involved from those who were adjacent.
- Uncomfortable territoryAsk about failures and mistakes. "Tell me about a project that did not go as planned. What happened and what did you learn?" How someone handles this question reveals self-awareness, honesty, and growth mindset.
- Consistent across candidatesAsk the same core questions to every candidate for the same role. This is not about being robotic. It is about creating a fair basis for comparison. You can still follow up differently based on their answers.
- Avoid leading questions"You are probably great at managing stakeholders, right?" is not a question. It is a prompt to agree. Phrase questions neutrally and let the candidate demonstrate their capability through evidence, not through agreeing with your assumptions.
Fair and consistent evaluation
Human judgement is riddled with bias. We favour people who remind us of ourselves, who went to the same university, who share our communication style. We are influenced by the order in which we see candidates, by how hungry we are, and by whether the previous interview went well or badly. None of this is deliberate, but all of it shapes decisions. The antidote is structure.
Score each competency immediately after the interview, while the details are fresh. Use the rubric you prepared before the process started. Write specific evidence for each score, not just a number. “Demonstrated strong conflict resolution by describing how they mediated between engineering and design teams on a deadline dispute, resulting in a revised timeline both teams accepted.” This level of detail makes the debrief productive and the decision defensible.
- Score immediatelyWrite your evaluation within thirty minutes of the interview ending. Memory degrades fast, and by the time the debrief happens days later, you will have lost the detail that matters most.
- Evidence not impressions"Strong communicator" is an impression. "Clearly articulated the trade-offs of three different technical approaches and tailored the explanation to a non-technical audience" is evidence. Record the latter.
- Separate assessmentsEach interviewer should complete their evaluation independently before the group discussion. If one person shares their view first, it anchors everyone else. Independent assessment produces more honest and diverse perspectives.
- Calibrate across candidatesCompare candidates against the rubric, not against each other. A strong candidate in a weak pool is still only as good as their evidence shows. The standard is the role, not the other applicants.
The candidate experience
An interview is a two-way evaluation. While you are assessing the candidate, they are assessing you, your team, and your organisation. The experience they have during the interview shapes whether they accept an offer, how they speak about your company to others, and whether they would consider applying again in the future. Treating candidate experience as an afterthought is a strategic error.
Small things matter enormously. Starting on time signals respect. Explaining the format upfront reduces anxiety. Leaving genuine space for their questions shows you value their decision-making, not just your own. Use Manager Toolkit to track follow-up actions after each interview, ensuring that feedback is delivered promptly and no candidate is left waiting in silence. The managers who build the best teams are often the ones candidates describe as having run the best interview process they have experienced.
Remember that every candidate who leaves your interview, whether they get the role or not, carries a story about the experience. Make it one worth telling. A respectful, well-run process builds your reputation as a manager and as a team. That reputation compounds over every hire.
Keep every interview on track
Capture interview notes, track follow-up actions, and ensure consistent feedback with structured meeting notes.