Every one knows that job interviews can be daunting for candidates: they don’t know what they’re going to be asked, they want to make a good impression, and they want to demonstrate that they’re a good fit for the role.

Job interviews are also difficult for hiring managers: they don’t have a lot of time, they don’t know a lot about the candidate, and a lot of times, they don’t know exactly what to ask.

There is one tool used by leading companies, for example Google, that makes things easier for both sides: structured interviews. After work sample tests and cognitive ability tests, structured interviews do the best (26%) at predicting job performance in a role.

Structured interviews ensure that:

• Hiring managers are asking the same questions. So rather than focusing on an impression made in the first 10 seconds, or learning about similar sports interests, the hiring manager can be asking about skills and traits that are relevant to performing well in the job.


• Hiring managers know how to identify a good response. Structured interview guides have anchors, so hiring managers know what information to look for in their responses and can probe further if the candidate has not provided enough information. For example, some people can speak a lot without providing concrete examples. A structured interview helps a fatigued hiring manager to be on the lookout for non-answers.


• Applicants recognize that your organization uses best practices and takes the interview process seriously. It's important to make a good impression with applicants. If a hiring manager appears to be reading a resume for the first time and only makes casual conversation, the candidate might feel their future role in the organization is not important.

Some companies have their own internal structured interview guides, which is great. For organizations that do not have a guide, we recommend using the guides that are included with HR Avatar pre-employment test reports.

HR Avatar reports already provide information about a candidate’s cognitive abilities, including attention to detail, analytical thinking, and writing skills. The reports also provide information on whether the candidate is a good fit for the role. But numbers do not always tell the whole story, and the guides have interview questions so that you can probe further in areas where a candidate scored outside the range.

If you are already using HR Avatar tests, be sure to take a closer look at the report and make the interviewing process easier for your organization. You can download a sample report here.

If you haven’t tried a test already, check out a Free Trial today! You can send a test within a minutes and change your hiring process for the better.