What kind of job interview is most successful at predicting later job performance?

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Multiple Choice

What kind of job interview is most successful at predicting later job performance?

Structured interviews are most predictive because they are built on a careful job analysis, use the same questions for every candidate, and score responses with a clear rubric. This consistency means the questions target bona fide job tasks and required behaviors, so the interviewer’s judgment is tied to actual performance criteria rather than impressions or vibes. By focusing on evidence of past behavior and ability to handle real job situations, structured interviews produce reliable and valid signals about how a person will perform on the job. In contrast, unstructured interviews let questions and topics vary from one candidate to the next, and judgments rely heavily on gut feeling, which can be biased or influenced by irrelevant factors. Phone screenings mainly filter out applicants and don’t delve into job-specific behaviors, while group interviews introduce social dynamics that can blur individual performance and distort evaluation. All of these reduce the link between interview judgments and later job success. So, the interview format that best predicts future performance is the structured one.

Structured interviews are most predictive because they are built on a careful job analysis, use the same questions for every candidate, and score responses with a clear rubric. This consistency means the questions target bona fide job tasks and required behaviors, so the interviewer’s judgment is tied to actual performance criteria rather than impressions or vibes. By focusing on evidence of past behavior and ability to handle real job situations, structured interviews produce reliable and valid signals about how a person will perform on the job.

In contrast, unstructured interviews let questions and topics vary from one candidate to the next, and judgments rely heavily on gut feeling, which can be biased or influenced by irrelevant factors. Phone screenings mainly filter out applicants and don’t delve into job-specific behaviors, while group interviews introduce social dynamics that can blur individual performance and distort evaluation. All of these reduce the link between interview judgments and later job success.

So, the interview format that best predicts future performance is the structured one.

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