Interview Guidelines

Best practices for getting the most out of your candidate interviews

CONDUCTING THE INTERVIEW

Preparation Legal Considerations

Make sure you understand the knowledge, skills, Do ask about:
abilities, and competencies that are important for
the job. • Position related questions

Review the interview guide, paying careful • Employment history

attention to the ratings you’ll be giving the
Only write accurate, factual, job-related remarks
candidate.
on interviewing documents.
Look at any available candidate application
Don’t ask about discriminatory topics, such as:
information.
• Age
For in-person and video interviews, make sure
your space is clean. • Family planning
For video interviews, ensure nothing is blocking • Disabilities
your webcam and that nothing distracting is
behind you. • Criminal history

Test all necessary technology to make sure the

interview will go smoothly.

AFTER THE INTERVIEW

Best Practices for Rating Responses

Consider each answer and each rating separately. Avoid biases caused by the tendency to like people
Be careful not to base ratings: who are similar to us. Common similarities include:

• On a generally positive or negative impression • Gender

of a candidate which could lead to rating him or
her the same across dimensions or questions. • Ethnicity

• Primarily on the beginning or ending of the • Age

candidate’s interview.
• Experience
• On a comparison with a strong candidate or star
• Personality
performer, which could lead to ratings based on this
comparison rather than on the candidate’s responses. • Hobbies
If using a rating scale, use the whole scale, not just
the top, bottom, or middle.

Focus on specific, observable behaviors. Avoid

making inferences.