Structured Interview
Definition
A structured interview uses a standardised set of predetermined questions and a competency-based scoring rubric — called a scorecard — applied consistently to every candidate interviewed for the same role. Interviewers rate each candidate against the same criteria, using the same questions, producing data that is directly comparable across the candidate pool.
The alternative is an unstructured interview: a conversation-style interview where each interviewer asks whatever questions they feel are relevant. Unstructured interviews are faster to set up but have poor predictive validity — they measure how much the interviewer likes the candidate, not how well the candidate will perform in the role.
Why it matters for ATS selection
Structured interviews are a feature, not a technique. Your ATS must support them natively for them to scale. The key ATS capabilities required:
- Scorecard builder — define competencies and rating scales per role
- Question bank — standardised questions assigned to each interview stage
- Per-interviewer scoring — each interviewer submits their scorecard independently (not after discussing)
- Calibration session support — a facilitated debrief after all interviews are complete
- Anonymisation on submit — prevent interviewers from seeing each other’s scores before calibrating
Greenhouse has the deepest structured interview implementation in the mid-market ATS space. Lever’s is strong. Workable’s is functional for most SMB use cases. JazzHR’s is basic.
The EEOC and OFCCP connection
Structured interviews are not just good practice — for OFCCP-covered employers (federal contractors with 150+ employees and $150k+ contracts), a documented, consistent interview process is a component of audit readiness. If every candidate is asked the same questions and scored on the same rubric, your selection process is defensible. If different interviewers ask different questions to different candidates in protected classes, you have exposure.
This is one reason why engineering-heavy tech companies at 100+ employees buy Greenhouse rather than Workable: the scorecard infrastructure is built for audit readiness, not just process efficiency.
Example scorecard structure
For a senior software engineer role:
| Competency | Rating scale | Question |
|---|---|---|
| Systems design | 1–5 (with anchors) | “Design a distributed rate-limiting system for 10M requests/day” |
| Communication | 1–5 | ”Explain the last complex technical decision you made to non-technical stakeholders” |
| Collaboration | 1–5 | ”Tell me about a time you disagreed with a team direction. What happened?” |
Each question has anchor examples for each rating level — “a score of 5 on communication sounds like [X].” Without anchors, interviewers calibrate to different internal standards.
Related concepts
- Hiring Funnel — the stages where structured interviews occur
- Applicant Tracking System — the software that hosts scorecards
- Time to Hire — structured interviews typically lengthen time-to-hire by 3–7 days but improve offer-rate and 6-month retention