To interview a candidate, you prepare against a written scorecard, run a consistent structure (open, core questions, their questions, close), ask behavioral and situational questions, and score answers against a rubric before deciding. Doing this the same way for every candidate is what lets you compare people fairly instead of picking whoever you liked most. This guide walks through each step so a single interview gives you real signal, not just a nice chat.
Key takeaways
- Interviewing a candidate well starts before the call: review the resume, define your criteria, and pick questions tied to those criteria.
- Use the same structure and the same core questions for every candidate in a role so you can compare them fairly.
- Mix behavioral, situational, and role-specific questions, then score each answer against a written rubric instead of relying on gut feel.
- Watch for common bias traps like the halo effect and hiring for likability, and always agree on clear next steps before you close.
Prepare before the interview
Most weak interviews are lost before they start. Ten to fifteen minutes of prep turns a vague conversation into a focused one.
- Re-read the resume and note two or three specific things to dig into (a gap, a big project, a short stint).
- Define 4 to 6 criteria the role actually needs, such as core skills, ownership, communication, and role-specific knowledge.
- Write a scorecard: list those criteria with a simple 1 to 4 scale so every interviewer rates the same things.
- Choose your questions in advance and map each one to a criterion, so no question is there just to fill time.
- Block enough time (usually 30 to 60 minutes) and decide who covers what if more than one person is interviewing.
Interview format: a 45 minute structure
A predictable flow keeps you on time and gives every candidate a fair shot at the same questions. Here is a simple structure for a 45 minute interview.
- 1
Open (about 5 minutes)
Introduce yourself and the plan for the call, then ask an easy warm-up question. This settles nerves so you hear how the person really thinks.
- 2
Core questions (about 25 to 30 minutes)
Work through your prepared behavioral, situational, and role-specific questions. Follow up on vague answers and take notes as you go.
- 3
Candidate questions (about 5 to 10 minutes)
Let them ask about the role, team, and work. The questions they ask tell you what they care about and how much they prepared.
- 4
Close (about 3 to 5 minutes)
Explain the next steps and timeline, thank them, and confirm how and when they will hear back. Leave a clear, honest impression.
Guard the core-question block. If the open or their questions run long, trim there, not the part that actually scores the candidate.
Sample interview script for interviewers
An interview script is the wording you use for the parts of the interview that should sound the same for every candidate: the opening, the transitions, the probes and the close. It is not a script for the whole conversation. Adapt the bracketed parts and keep the rest fixed for everyone you interview for the role.
- 1
Opening
'Hi [name], thanks for making time today. I am [your name], and I lead [team]. Over the next 45 minutes I will tell you a little about the role, ask about your experience, and leave about ten minutes for your questions. I will take notes so I can compare everyone fairly. Does that work for you?'
- 2
Role summary
'Briefly, this role [one sentence on what the person will do]. The main challenge in the first six months is [one specific challenge]. You would work most closely with [teams or people].'
- 3
Warm-up
'To start, could you give me a two minute overview of your current role and what you are responsible for?'
- 4
Moving into core questions
'Now I will ask about some specific situations. For each one, please describe a real example: what happened, what you did yourself and how it turned out.'
- 5
Probes, used the same way for everyone
'What did you personally do at that point?' and 'What happened in the end, and what would you change?' Use at most two per question.
- 6
Candidate questions
'That is everything from my side. What would you like to know about the role, the team or how we work?'
- 7
Close
'Thank you, this was helpful. The next step is [next stage], and [name] will contact you by [day] either way.'
For the core questions themselves, use prepared sets for the role. The interview question pages list questions with sample answers by role and skill, and the STAR method guide shows how to probe and score answers built on real examples.
Choose the right question types
Different question types reveal different things. Use a mix so you see past performance, thinking under pressure, and real skill.
| Question type | What it reveals | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Behavioral | How the person actually acted in a real past situation | Tell me about a time you missed a deadline. What happened and what did you do? |
| Situational | How they would approach a realistic problem they have not faced yet | A key client is unhappy the day before launch. How would you handle it? |
| Role-specific | Depth of the concrete skills the job needs day to day | Walk me through how you would set up reporting for this team from scratch. |
| Motivation | Why they want this role and whether it fits what they are looking for | What made you apply here, and what are you hoping to do differently next? |
For behavioral answers, listen for the situation, the action they personally took, and the result. If someone keeps saying 'we,' ask what they specifically did.
Take notes and score against a rubric
Memory fades fast and favors whoever you saw last. Score during and right after the interview, not at the end of the week.
- Write down what the candidate said, not your judgment of it: capture their actual example before you rate it.
- Rate each criterion on your 1 to 4 scale and add one line of evidence for the score.
- Fill in the scorecard within a few minutes of the call, while the details are fresh.
- Keep ratings independent when interviewing as a panel: score on your own before comparing, so one loud opinion does not sway everyone.
How to be a good interviewer
- Prepare: know the role's criteria and your questions before the candidate joins, not as they introduce themselves.
- Talk less: the candidate should be speaking for most of the interview. If you are explaining for long stretches, the interview is not collecting evidence.
- Ask for examples, then follow up on the details. General answers are the starting point, not the evidence.
- Be consistent: same questions, same order, same probes, so candidates are compared on the same test.
- Take notes on what was said, and score each criterion soon after the interview.
- Be respectful of the candidate's time: start on time, explain the next steps and follow up when you said you would.
Avoid bias and common mistakes
Good structure only helps if you notice where judgment slips. A few traps show up in almost every hiring process.
- Halo effect: one impressive answer (or a shared background) makes you rate everything else higher.
- Hiring for likability: enjoying the chat is not the same as the person being able to do the job.
- Talking too much: if you speak more than the candidate, you learned very little about them.
- Leading questions: hinting at the answer you want teaches the candidate what to say.
- First-impression lock-in: deciding in the first five minutes and spending the rest looking for proof you were right.
The fix for most of these is the same: ask everyone the same core questions, score against the rubric, and separate what happened from how you felt about it.
Decide the next steps
Right after the interview, turn your notes into a clear recommendation while everything is fresh.
- 1
Total the scorecard
Add up ratings across your criteria and note any must-have that scored too low to ignore, even if the average looks fine.
- 2
Make a call: advance, reject, or hold
Decide whether the candidate moves to the next round, is not a fit, or needs one more data point before you can say.
- 3
Compare, do not just react
If several people interviewed, line up scorecards side by side and discuss evidence, not vibes, before agreeing.
- 4
Close the loop with the candidate
Follow up within the timeline you promised. Even a short rejection note protects your employer reputation.
The half hour before the interview
Most of how to conduct an interview well is settled before it starts. Read the CV and any screening scores once, write down the two things you actually need to find out, and stop there. Interviewers who arrive having formed a view spend the interview confirming it, and the tell is a first question shaped like 'so you were at X for three years, that must have been…', which hands the candidate the answer you are hoping for.
- Decide the questions before you see who is answering them, and use the same ones for everyone.
- Know what a strong answer contains, in a sentence, for each question.
- Budget for silence. If you plan six questions in thirty minutes there is no room to think, and thinking is what you came to observe.
- Knowing how to conduct an interview is mostly knowing what to leave out: fewer questions, asked the same way, scored on the spot.
- Agree with your co-interviewer who leads and who writes, and score separately before comparing.
