Interviewing candidates involves more than assessing their hard and soft skills — it’s crucial to choose the right method to gain a comprehensive understanding of their potential long-term fit for the team and company. During my time in human resources, I frequently encountered new hires who possessed extensive experience and expertise but struggled to adapt, which ultimately benefited no one. This mismatch often stemmed from a lack of alignment between the candidate’s values and the company’s environment and core principles, as well as the hiring manager’s lack of understanding about a candidate’s long-term career aspirations and motivations.

This misalignment can create conflict, hampering interpersonal relationships and productivity. It’s also costly: The Society of Human Resources Management puts the average cost of hiring an employee at nearly $4,700, and according to Indeed, the cost can go as high as $20,000 depending on whether outside recruitment vendors are used. Therefore, it’s critical to avoid the financial burden of a poor hiring decision.

Making a stellar hire can depend on interview technique. Two approaches to conducting interviews — structured and conversational — can yield different insights about a candidate. Here’s what each method can reveal, their limitations, and when you might want to use them.

 

Structured interviews

Structured interviews are meant to go deeper than what’s on a candidate’s resume, prompting them to provide specific answers about their past job responsibilities, relevant experience, and expertise. Interviewers will often be asked to focus on a specific theme such as technical expertise, culture alignment, or leadership and use the same set of questions for each candidate.

 

What they reveal

This approach makes it easier to compare candidate responses, helps ensure that each interviewer covers distinct areas without redundancy, and allows for a more thorough exploration of key topics from the candidate’s resume. For example, a direct question like “Do you know Python?” typically results in a straightforward yes or no answer, whereas a more open-ended question such as “How would you optimize the performance of a Python program?” will encourage a more detailed response and show whether a candidate’s methodology aligns with the team’s problem-solving approach and goals. Similarly, behavioral questions such as “Tell me about a time when you had to manage conflict at work” can help you understand how a candidate might handle conflict based on their description of their past actions. Hypothetical questions like “What would you do if you had conflicting priorities?” can give you a sense of a candidate’s thought process when managing typical job-related scenarios.

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