Special offer 

Jumpstart your hiring with a $75 credit to sponsor your first job.*

Sponsored Jobs are 2.6x times faster to first hire than non-sponsored jobs.**
  • Attract the talent you’re looking for
  • Get more visibility in search results
  • Appear to more candidates longer

How To Conduct a Job Interview

 

Learning how an interview is conducted is essential when hiring new talent for your company. The correct interview format lets you learn more about the candidate and understand if they could be a good cultural addition. A great interview is beneficial for the candidate, too, as it lets them know more about the position and the company, and it helps them know whether they truly want the role.

Knowing more about how to interview someone can help you attract and keep quality candidates and grow your team’s skill set. Learn some of the best practices and actionable interview tips, including 12 steps on how to conduct a job interview effectively.

Ready to get started?

Post a Job

Ready to get started?

Post a Job

What is a job interview?

A job interview is a professional meeting between a prospective employee and an organization to ask about someone’s qualifications, education, background and experience. It’s an essential part of the hiring process and allows you to better understand the content within a candidate’s cover letter and resume.

So, how are interviews conducted? Job interviews can take place in person, over the phone or by video. Depending on the role, you might give one interview or multiple rounds of interviews per candidate. Check out this article for tips on deciding which type of interview is right for the role you’re hiring for.

Why is a job interview important?

A job interview is an opportunity for an employer to assess a candidate’s skills, knowledge and if they would be a positive culture add. You can also use job interviews to compare candidates or build a list of future talent options for other open positions.

Plus, hiring and onboarding employees can be expensive. When you spend time and resources hiring the wrong candidates, it can lead to high turnover. An interview allows you to do some verifying before hiring to increase your chances of finding a quality candidate who will be a good fit.

How to conduct a job interview in 12 steps

Interviewing someone may seem straightforward, but there’s skill involved. When you interview well, you set your company and candidates up for a match that works for all. When you interview poorly, the consequences to your business can be high, from wasted time and increased turnover to unhappy employees and poor morale.

It’s essential to prepare ahead of time for an interview so you can ask intentional questions that give thoughtful insight into a candidate and their skills. Consider carefully assessing your job posting and structuring questions that can help you determine an applicant’s suitability for the position.

Here are 12 steps you can take to conduct an interview that is strong:

1. Prepare and develop interview questions

Preparing for an interview is a two-way street. It’s not just the interviewee who should prep for the interview; the employer should be equally prepared for what they want to get out of this conversation.

Preparing for an interview lets you best evaluate a candidate’s abilities. Start by reviewing their cover letter and resume to assess if their education, background and skills align with the role. You’ll also want to identify what areas of their professional career you want to learn more about during the upcoming conversation. Lastly, consider connecting with leaders and colleagues who will collaborate with the person in this role to ask if there are specific questions they think are important for the interview.

Consider preparing a mix of behavioral, situational and fun interview questions. It’s also a good interview practice to create a list of interview questions based on a scoring rubric. This ensures all candidates are asked the same set of questions, which can help you make more objective hiring decisions and reduce bias.

We’ve compiled 1000s of interview questions for over 500 jobs to help you get to know a potential employee.

2. Apply the STAR interview structure

A common interview technique is STAR, which stands for:

  • Situation: A situation or challenge
  • Task: An individual’s task, duty or responsibility
  • Action: The action a person takes to overcome, improve or resolve the issue or challenge
  • Result: The outcome of the actions taken

Candidates often use the STAR interview method when answering behavioral questions, such as those that focus on dealing with challenging customers or colleagues. The STAR structure for questions and answers can give you insight into how applicants approach problems and apply decision-making abilities to lead to positive outcomes. If an applicant doesn’t answer fully, ask follow-up questions or guide them to be more specific about the situation.

If the interviewee doesn’t use the STAR method when answering your questions, you can use the STAR method to create follow-up questions or to request more information to better understand a candidate’s previous experience. For example, you can ask candidates to be more specific or to describe the results of their action.

Keep the STAR method in mind when you’re coming up with interview questions to ask as well. If a question can’t be answered using the STAR method, you may want to rephrase it or choose a different question.

3. Vary the question types

Varying the question types during an interview can help it feel fresh and allow you to see the candidate’s different attributes. A well-rounded mix of questions lets you explore the facets of the job position and assess how well an applicant might perform. For example, consider using a combination of these questions:

  • Closed-ended questions: You can use these to gain basic information, like, “How many years of experience do you have?”
  • Open-ended questions: These let a candidate expand on a topic. Examples include, “What is a challenging goal you’re proud of achieving in your career?” or “Explain a time you had to change your approach to a work project entirely.”
  • Logic questions: You can gain insight into how an applicant approaches problem-solving with questions such as, “How many minutes are in a week?”
  • Hypothetical questions: These questions showcase how a candidate handles issues at work. An example of this type of question is, “How would you react to a colleague who misses a deadline?”

4. Consider the style and number of interviewers

Interviews can happen via video, phone or in person, so consider the best interview style and plan accordingly. Determine how many people you need to hold an interview. Do you need a panel of colleagues to interview for a prominent role or multiple rounds of interviews for a high-level position? Involving relevant leaders in the interview process can help you get different perspectives on the candidate’s experience and abilities.

Conducting round two interviews? Here are some interview questions to ask.

5. Practice the interview

Once you have an outline of the style of the interview and a list of questions, consider practicing the interview, especially if it is a developing skill. This can help you determine if questions are suitable or need adjustments. It also lets you know approximately how long to schedule the interview. Consider recording yourself to review your body language and performance, or ask a colleague to do a mock interview with you.

6. Explain the company’s background

Consider starting the interview with a brief introduction of yourself, the role and the organization’s goals and objectives. This gives candidates a better understanding of job expectations and can give them topics to ask about later in the interview. If you need more information about the specific responsibilities of a role, ask the direct manager for these details in advance.

7. Discuss the interview process

In this step, you explain the interview process to the candidate to keep the interview organized and the expectations clear. Consider sharing the following:

  • How long the interview may last
  • What format the interview follows
  • Whether there are work-related tasks, tests or assessments during the interview

8. Let the candidate ask questions

One frequent element of a productive interview is an opportunity for the candidate to ask the employer questions. Consider giving time at the end of your interview to let them ask questions about the role, responsibilities and expectations, or about the company and team they might join. Not only does it allow an applicant to assess the position, but it can also give you insight into their level of interest. An engaged and invested candidate will have done their research and will be ready to ask you relevant questions.

9. Take notes

During the interview, take notes of the candidate’s answers to help remember important information or crucial details. For example, write answers that impress you or thoughts on a candidate’s body language or confidence level. Notes can be a good reference when it’s time to decide on which candidate to hire. Remember to balance note-writing with active engagement during the interview.

If you’re doing a video interview, consider recording it so you don’t have to take notes. However, note that you should always ask the candidate’s permission before recording.

10. Share the next steps in the interview process

Close the interview by explaining what the candidate can expect in terms of next steps, including when they can expect to hear back from you and what the rest of the interview process might look like. This is also a good time to inform them of your intended timeline for filling the position.

When discussing timelines, it’s important to mention to the candidate that you hope they’ll share any impending deadlines from their end, too. Your candidate is likely interviewing at other places, so you’ll want them to update you if another company is progressing quickly with them. If it’s a top candidate for you, consider skipping certain steps to speed up the interview process and get an offer out quickly.

11. Use a rating scale

Consider how you and the hiring team will assess a candidate’s interview performance. One option is to establish a rating scale. It can be a numerical value or a simple rating of strong or weak for answers given. Having all interviewers use the same scale on the same candidates allows you to examine averages to see which candidates impressed the most.

12. Select a candidate and follow up with all applicants

Once you decide which candidate to hire, it’s time to inform them. Put out an offer and see if they accept. Sometimes, you’ll have to negotiate with the candidate before they sign the job offer.

Remember to update all the applicants and inform them of the outcome. Getting back to candidates even when they didn’t get the job can help establish or grow an organization’s reputation as a considerate employer.

Depending on the industry and role, filling an open position can take between a few weeks to several months, so it’s best to start sourcing candidates as soon as possible.

How to conduct a job interview FAQs

How do you start an interview?

Kick off an interview by introducing yourself (including who you are and what you do), providing a brief background of the company and giving an overview of the role the candidate is interviewing for.

You can also help reduce a candidate’s stress by explaining the steps in the interview process and easing into the interview by building rapport before starting with questions.

How long should an interview last?

A standard interview usually lasts for 30 to 60 minutes, but the length can vary depending on the position and type of interview. As a guideline, the interview should allow enough time for you to learn about the candidate, but it shouldn’t last so long that the candidate (and you) become fatigued.

How many people should conduct an interview?

The number of people you’ll need to interview a candidate depends on the role. For example, a higher-level role may require more rounds of interviews and more people from different teams to interview the candidate. An entry-level role, on the other hand, may only require one round of interviews with one or two people.

Whatever you decide, involve only as many people as you need. Requiring a candidate to go through multiple rounds of interviews with dozens of people can turn them off and lead to a bad candidate experience. Instead, aim for interviews to include no more than 3-5 people, depending on the role. This may include the recruiter, the manager, the manager’s manager and/or a peer.

Can I ask candidates about salary expectations during the interview?

Yes, you can ask candidates about salary expectations during the interview. Prepare for conversations about salary by comparing the compensation you’re offering to the current industry standard. Don’t automatically rule out candidates who suggest a figure that’s above the range you’re offering. Some interviewees start high, expecting a negotiation.

Recent Interview process articles

See all Interview process articles
Boost Employee Engagement
Use our guide to plan, implement and analyze employee engagement surveys.
Get the Guide

Two chefs, one wearing a red headband, review a laptop and take notes at a wooden table in a kitchen setting.

Ready to get started?

Post a Job
Editorial Guidelines