Unstructured vs. Structured Interviews: Which is Better?

Today’s tight job market can make finding the right candidates for open positions especially difficult. That’s why it’s even more important now to have well-thought-out plans for the interview process, said James Durago, director of people operations at database platform company Molecula. Through planning, hiring managers can tailor interviews to the roles they are hiring for and find the best candidates for them.

“Don’t stress yourself out,” said Durago. “It’s actually something you can control.”

One aspect of the interviewing process that companies can plan for is whether the interviews are structured or unstructured. Structured interviews are characterized by a predetermined list of questions that interviewers ask all candidates, while unstructured interviews are more like free-flowing conversations that take different directions depending on the candidate.

Both unstructured and structured interviews have their advantages and disadvantages. Read more to find out which one is best for your hiring process.

Structure is important to the interview process

Durago swears by the structured interview process.

As a candidate, he’s been on the receiving end of poorly conducted unstructured interviews and seen firsthand how disorganized they can be. Job interviews are already stressful for candidates, and having completely unstructured interviews can make them even more so. Even giving applicants an outline of what to expect, such as who they’ll be speaking to and what skills will be tested, can eliminate much of the anxiety caused by uncertainty.

“For example, if I know that this interview is going to focus on interpersonal skills or teamwork, then I can at least put myself in that frame of mind and give it my best shot,” Durago said.

Structured interviews are also better for interviewers, Durago said. It is common for companies to have several different internal staff involved in the hiring process, and not all of them will have the same level of experience and preparation for interviewing. Setting a well-defined interview structure helps make the experience better for candidates and the hiring process – which can be expensive – worthwhile for the company.

“You don’t want to just throw it in the wind and hope and pray it sticks. This is not a good use of your money or time.

“You might be going through 10 applicants — that’s 10 hours of just your personal time, and then you have to ask other people to interview that person,” Durago said. “You don’t want to just throw it in the wind and hope and pray it sticks. This is not a good use of your money or time.

In a completely unstructured interview, there is always the danger that the interviewer will try to fill the 60 minutes with random questions, or that different interviewers will ask the same questions to the same candidate. Having a predetermined structure can help each interviewer understand their role and the purpose of each interview, which in turn can help them better evaluate candidates and gain a clearer understanding of their strengths and weaknesses.

Interviewers often have work responsibilities outside of interviewing, which makes it difficult to switch contexts quickly. Having a structured process such as a written checklist helps interviewers orient themselves at the start of each interview and make sure they don’t miss anything important.

A sloppy interview process is not only a waste of the candidate’s time, but can also be harmful to the company in the long run. Job applicants are also users and can share their bad interview experiences with other users, which can have a negative effect on the company’s reputation.

“These candidates, whether we hire them or not, have a platform, and that platform is powerful,” Durago said. “If you do not have [established] brand that can carry weight, then you make your job of growing your business exponentially more difficult.”

MORE ABOUT HIREThe perfect interview template for software engineers

Unstructured interviews have their advantages

Incorporating both structured and unstructured components into the interview process is best, according to Ani Khachaturian, vice president of people at natural foods e-commerce company Thrive Market. The unstructured parts of interviews allow companies to get to know candidates on a deeper level, while the structured overall process prevents interviews from going off the rails.

“Having a framework ensures that you’re not attacking questions, you’re attacking categories of areas that you want information about,” Khachaturian said. “In those categories is where the unstructured part can sit.”

Structuring interviews with a set list of technical questions usually works well when hiring for technical positions, such as software developers or database administrators. But even these interviews don’t have to stick to a rigidly structured format. Interviews for senior technical positions, in particular, are moving away from selective coding questions and focusing more on conversations about process and software design, said Sonali Moholkar, engineering manager at blockchain analytics company Chainalysis.

“It’s not just the results – how you break down a complex project is just as important… Because we also want diversity of thought and diversity of experience.”

“When you have system design and behavioral loops, they naturally tend to be a little more semi-structured,” Moholkar said. “Because there is no single way to design a system. Depends [candidate’s] experience, conversations can go in completely different directions.

Unstructured interviews can help interviewers assess the candidate’s approach to solve problems and understand how they make decisions. For Khachaturian, this is useful when hiring higher management positions. She will ask them standard questions about how many people they have managed and the organizational chart of their department, but also open-ended questions about their experience and career journey.

“It’s not just the results — how you break down a complex project is just as important,” she said. “Because we also want diversity of thought and diversity of experience. And if we don’t want your expertise, we just want that bottom line, we’re not going to have a team that can approach really big hard problems in a multifaceted way.”

Derive interview questions from company values

But even if structuring parts of the interview process with predetermined questions is important to companies, how should hiring managers decide on the structure of the interview and the questions they choose?

Everything should flow from the hiring company’s philosophy, Durago said. The hiring process should reflect all the values ​​that are important to the company by compiling questions that relate back to those values. The questions can then be adjusted for different positions in ways that still meet these same values.

“If it’s a question about teamwork, I might ask a software engineer, ‘Tell me about a time when you had a disagreement with one of your peers—how did you resolve it?'” Durago said. “In sales, you might say something like, ‘Tell me about a time when you had a particularly challenging relationship with one of your existing customers—how did you salvage that relationship and make it productive?'”

Hiring managers also need to think about what types of employees thrive at the company, he said. All companies are different, with different corporate environments, so hiring managers need to tailor interview questions to the types of candidates who would do well in their particular environment. If employees are expected to work in close-knit teams, for example, the interview should include questions about their experience working in a team and communication skills. If employees are expected to be self-directed, interviewers should ask about their time management strategies and methods of prioritizing tasks.

MORE ABOUT HIREHow to spot different talents

Preparation is a long way

Interviewers need to be prepared whether they are conducting structured or unstructured interviews. For structured interviews, Durago recommends writing a list of interview questions and reviewing them with all interviewers before candidates are brought on board.

“It can be as simple as just starting a document and then using that document as a template for future roles,” he said.

Hiring managers can review examples of what good and bad answers might look like and also review interview timing, such as how much time to allow for introductions, interviewer questions, and interviewee questions.

Preparation is also important for unstructured interviews, Khachaturian said. All interviewers should be trained in basic interviewing skills, such as understanding what is appropriate and appropriate to ask during the interview process. If the hiring process consists of multiple interviews with different people, make sure they don’t interview candidates for redundant skills.

“Get the whole interview team involved, make sure everyone is clear on which tapes they’re focusing on,” she said. “If there are areas that are very structured, what are they?”

It may also be helpful to inform candidates in advance of the overall structure of the interview process. Companies don’t have to share exact questions, but telling candidates how many sets of interviews there are, who they’ll be talking to, and the general types of questions to expect can help candidates prepare.

“We’re just letting them know that, for example, we use charts frequently through the company, so just be careful going through the chart,” Moholkar said. “It’s a huge domain to be aware of because you don’t necessarily write algorithms every day at work. So having the interviewers prepare the candidates a little bit just helps.”