Structured Interview
Interviews are one fundamental aspect of the recruitment process. They act like a critical tool for employers, helping them assess a candidate’s suitability for specific roles. Amidst different interview techniques, the structured and semi-structured interviews stand out. It is because of their effectiveness and systematic approach. The content here will delve into further specifics about structured interviews while explaining them better with an example. It would even try to differentiate it from the semi-structured Interviews.
What is Structured Interview?
It is an interview type wherein the interviewer, with his predetermined questions set in specific order, interviews the interviewee/candidate. The questions being carefully crafted help to evaluate the candidates on varied skills, competencies, and attributes that are job-relevant. It is the question's uniformity that helps assess each candidate on similar criteria. It helps to minimize the biases too, while giving an enhancement to the selection process’s objectivity.
To explain better, let's take an example of a Structured Interview. Consider the scenario wherein the company is hiring a customer service representative. In this case, the interview questions would be,
- Describe the time when you handled a difficult customer- Assessment of candidate’s experience & conflict resolution approach.
- How do you prioritize tasks when you deal with different customer inquiries in a simultaneous manner?- Evaluation of time-management and organizational skills.
- Which strategies are used by you for better customer satisfaction?- Examines the methods of candidate and their commitment towards maintenance of high serviec standards.
Each of the candidates will be asked same questions, in similar order. The recorded responses would then get evaluated as against the predefined scoring rubric. The process would ensure all candidates get judged on similar scale, thereby facilitating fair competition.
Structured Interviews Key Features
- Objectivity. The standard format helps reduce the subjective judgement as the personal biases of the interviewer is less likely to influence made evaluation.
- Consistency. The candidtes, each one of them, are asked similar questions in same order. It ensures that each of the interview gets conducted within similar conditions.
- Predictive Validity. Its indicated by the research that Structured Interviews, in comparison to the unstructured ones, remain much more predictive of the job performance. Its because they can in systematic manner cover some relevant competencies related to the job.
- Comparability. It is easier to compare the responses of the Structured Interviews. It's because each of the responses could be directly compared with the other responses using similar criteria.
What is a Semi-Structured Interview?
To make an application for the TAN via Form 49B, one can use either an online or offline process.
Online
When compared to the Structured Interviews, the semi-structured interviews combine the mix of,
- Some predetermined questions and
- Flexibility of exploring the topic in-depth, as per the responses of the candidate.
Even though there are some core sets of the question, interviewers here has liberty of asking the follow-up questions. It helps to get clarification or even delve deep within the areas of the interest that arises at the time of the conversation.
Semi-Structured Interviews Key Features
- Depth. Format of interview helps interviewer to explore some responses in detail. It offers rich insights, in the thought processes nd experiences of the candidate.
- Flexibility. Despite the set of questions, interviewer with the flexibility to adapt interview as per the answer of the candidate, allows for dynamic and natural conversation.
- Balance. The semi-Structured Interviews, they strike the balance between Structured Interviews’s rigidity and unStructured Interviews open-ended nature. This makes them the versatile tool in different contexts.
Final Words
Structured and semi Structured Interviews, both offer some distinct advantages within recruitment process. While Structured Interviews features make them highly effective for the assessment of candidates as against the specific criteria, the semi-structured Interviews features allows for much more comprehensive understanding about the capabilities of candidates, helping to find, if they are fit for the role.
Employers must consider the position’s nature as well as the role’s specific requirements, when choosing between the interview types. It is by leveraging the strengths of the interviews that the organization will be able to enhance the selection processes, thereby leading towards better hiring. It would ultimately bring in a robust workforce in the organization.
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