How to Create an Effective Interview Template for Consistent Hiring
How many of us have been involved in an interview process where panel members disagree and struggle to reach a consensus on the best candidate? This common challenge often stems from poor preparation and an inconsistent interviewing approach. To be successful, interviews must be well-structured and follow a consistent format that ensures all candidates are evaluated fairly and objectively. An interview template is the key tool to guarantee this consistency and fairness throughout the recruitment process.
Love it or hate it, for most employers, the interview remains the preferred method for assessing and hiring new staff. The face-to-face interaction provides a unique opportunity to probe a candidate’s experience, question their responses to realistic workplace scenarios, and evaluate their cultural fit within your company. While other recruitment tools like aptitude tests or skills assessments are valuable, they tend to be impersonal and rarely sufficient on their own. After all, a candidate may excel in tests but still fail to align with your company’s culture and values.
In this guide, we walk you through the essential steps to develop a practical and adaptable interview template that can be tailored to any recruitment process. Additionally, we offer a downloadable model template that you can customize to meet your organization’s unique hiring needs.
Interview Template: Preparation Is Key
The foundation of a successful interview process is thorough preparation. A well-crafted interview template ensures all aspects are considered beforehand so interviews run smoothly, and every panel member is fully briefed and coordinated. Before creating your interview template, you need to gather important background information. What is the role you are recruiting for? What are the main responsibilities and success criteria? Following these preparatory steps will provide a solid foundation for developing an effective interview framework.
Define the Role Clearly
It may sound obvious, but the first step is to be crystal clear about the job itself. Gather all basic but crucial details, including:
- Job title
- Department the role belongs to
- Line manager and any direct reports
- A summary of key responsibilities and general tasks – this should align with your company’s overall business objectives. With this clarity, you can craft targeted interview questions that reveal whether the candidate possesses the required skills and experience.
Identify Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Once the role basics are clear, identify the key success indicators that will help measure how well the new hire performs. Ask yourself:
- What must the employee accomplish within the first year?
- What are the critical milestones for the first three months that show they’re on track?
Evaluate Candidate Skills and Traits Effectively
After establishing the role’s success factors, focus on how you will assess the candidate’s skills. It’s vital to differentiate between formal qualifications, practical skills, and personality traits:
- Qualifications such as degrees, certificates, or diplomas that may be mandatory for the position (e.g., electricians require formal certification).
- Skills – specific abilities like lesson planning for teachers or proficiency with design software for architects.
- Personality traits – soft skills such as teamwork, self-management, and excellent communication (speaking, writing, listening).
Create a concise list of must-have criteria you intend to assess during the interview. Focus on essential skills and attributes rather than optional ones to keep your evaluation sharp and relevant.
Some skills may be tested outside the interview through aptitude tests or reference checks. You could also develop practical tests or sample projects related to the job to evaluate candidates’ real-world abilities. These can be completed before or during the interview, providing valuable insight into the candidate’s suitability.
However, the majority of skills and traits are best assessed through behavior-based interview questions. Base your questions on the main tasks and responsibilities of the role, focusing on knowledge, skills, and abilities required. Remember, the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior, so ask candidates to describe how they handled relevant situations. Incorporate problem-solving questions or hypothetical workplace scenarios to encourage creative thinking. Use open-ended questions rather than yes/no ones, and ensure all candidates are asked the same set to maintain fairness and comparability.
Developing a Powerful Interview Template for Better Hiring
Having completed all the essential preparatory work, it’s now time to focus on developing the interview template itself. To save valuable time and improve efficiency, if your company uses an intranet solution like MyHub, consider setting up a digital form to collect all interview information centrally. Alternatively, you can embed a Google Form directly on your intranet page. Embedding your interview template on a business intranet allows you to provide important contextual notes alongside the form, improving clarity and panel alignment. You can also control access and editing rights, ensuring that only authorized interview panel members can view or update the template. All changes update in real-time, guaranteeing everyone works from the most current version – eliminating confusion caused by multiple email versions.
Besides promoting consistency, the interview template plays a vital role in effective time management. Given that the average interview lasts about 60 minutes, the template helps keep panel members focused and on track throughout the process.
Key Components to Include in Your Interview Template
While interview templates may vary depending on the role and its unique requirements, there are several core elements common to all recruitment processes that should be included. Incorporating these ensures a comprehensive and structured interview:
Basic Candidate and Panel Information
Start your template with fundamental details such as the candidate’s full name, the role they are applying for, and the names of the interview panel members. This ensures everyone knows who is involved and sets the stage for a professional process.
Interview Agenda
Clearly outline the interview format. Introduce the panel to the candidate and provide time for the candidate to speak generally about themselves, which helps to ease nerves and establish rapport early on.
Resume Review and Clarification
Use this section to go through the candidate’s resume or CV. This is an excellent opportunity to clarify any questions or gather more details about previous roles and achievements.
Behavioral and Situational Questions
The heart of the interview lies in your behavioral questions and real-world scenarios. These questions should assess problem-solving, teamwork, leadership, and decision-making skills. The model template includes standard questions relevant across many roles, and also encourages customization to better match the specific job responsibilities.
Candidate’s Questions and Additional Notes
Allow space to record any questions the candidate asks, as well as any additional remarks or observations made during the interview. This provides a fuller picture and aids in evaluation.
Referee Verification
Double-check the accuracy of the candidate’s referee details here to facilitate efficient reference checks later in the process.
Next Steps and Follow-Up
Conclude the interview by outlining the next steps in the recruitment process and expected timeframes, giving candidates clarity and managing expectations.
Overall Candidate Assessment
After the interview, panel members should immediately complete an overall assessment of the candidate’s suitability. Doing this promptly helps capture impressions while they are fresh and supports fair, unbiased decision-making.
Download Your Free Interview Template
To simplify your hiring process, here is a free, customizable interview template you can download and adapt for your organization. It includes behavioral questions covering key competencies common to many roles, as well as sample job-specific questions to inspire your own additions.
This template is available in multiple formats for your convenience:
- PDF Document: Interview Template.pdf
- Microsoft Word: Interview Template.docx
Why Using an Interview Template Leads to More Successful Hiring
The average cost of recruiting, hiring, and training a new employee is estimated at around $4,000 per hire – excluding wages and benefits. Mistakes in hiring can lead to low productivity, increased absenteeism, employee disengagement, and costly turnover, quickly multiplying these expenses. Given the significant investment, it’s essential to streamline your recruitment process for maximum efficiency and fairness.
Developing and implementing a comprehensive interview template helps your business conduct fair, transparent, and documented interviews. This not only improves hiring decisions but also protects your company in the event of any challenges related to the recruitment process or selection outcomes.
Start today with the model interview template provided here to ensure your recruitment process is smoother, more consistent, and more successful.
For expert advice and support on creating effective interview templates and other recruitment best practices, contact the team at MyHub. Our cloud-based, pre-built intranet solutions empower businesses to optimize hiring and deliver numerous additional benefits. Reach out to us for a free demo or a 14-day no-obligation trial.
