How to conduct an interview: a complete guide for hiring managers
Most people are handed interviewing with zero training — you're a manager now, here's a CV, good luck. Yet the interview is the highest-stakes hour in hiring, and decades of research say most of us run it badly: we talk too much, decide in the first five minutes, and ask questions that measure confidence instead of competence. This guide is the training nobody gave you.
Before: preparation is 80% of a good interview
Decide what you're testing before you think about questions. List the 4–6 things that actually predict success in this role — specific skills, judgment areas, working-style needs. Every question you ask should map to one of them; anything else is chat.
Then write your question spine: two questions per attribute, the same for every candidate. Structured interviews — same questions, scored against the same rubric — outpredict free-form conversations by a wide margin in every meta-analysis since the 1990s. Improvise in the follow-ups, never in the spine.
Finally, actually read the CV — fifteen minutes, with notes. Candidates can tell within minutes whether you have, and interviewers who skim ask questions the CV already answers, wasting their own signal-gathering time.
The structure that works (45–60 minutes)
A reliable default shape:
- 5 min — warm-up: genuine small talk, then the agenda. Nervous candidates underperform their real ability; settling them improves YOUR data.
- 5 min — context: the role, the team, why it's open. Brief — you'll sell properly at the end.
- 25–35 min — your question spine with follow-ups. This is the interview; protect it from overruns.
- 5–10 min — their questions. Answer honestly, including the warts; overselling buys early resignations.
- 2 min — close with the process: next steps and when they'll hear. Then actually deliver on it.
During: the mechanics that separate good interviewers
Talk 20%, listen 80%. The most common interviewer failure is narrating the company for half the slot — you learn nothing while you're talking. Ask, then be comfortable with silence; the pause after a hard question is where honest answers form.
Follow up relentlessly. Rehearsed candidates survive first questions; nobody rehearses three levels deep. 'What did you do next?' 'What would you do differently?' 'What was YOUR specific part?' — the follow-up is where interviews are won.
Take notes on evidence, not impressions: write what they SAID (decisions, numbers, behaviours), not how they seemed. 'Seemed sharp' is bias with a pen; 'diagnosed the churn spike by cohort analysis, shipped fix in a week' is data.
What you can't ask (the short version)
In most jurisdictions questions about age, marital/family status, pregnancy or family plans, religion, ethnicity, disability, and health are off-limits — directly or via proxies ('when did you graduate?', 'do you have kids?'). The safe pattern: ask only about ability and availability for the job's real requirements ('this role needs occasional weekend cover — any constraints we should know about?'). When in doubt, ask whether the question maps to a job requirement; if it doesn't, drop it.
After: decide like it matters
Score immediately, alone, before discussing — group debriefs anchor on the most senior or most confident voice in the room. Rate each attribute 1–4 with one line of written evidence, then compare notes.
Beware the classic biases: first-impression anchoring (decisions made in minute one, confirmed for the rest of the hour), similarity bias ('great culture fit' = 'reminds me of me'), and recency (the last candidate always seems best). The rubric exists to fight all three.
And close the loop with every candidate, quickly and kindly. Interview experience is public now; your process is marketing whether you like it or not.
We're building an AI candidate you can rehearse real interviews on — built from the actual CV, with coaching on your technique. Free for the first cohort.
FAQ
How do I conduct an interview for the first time?
Prepare a question spine (two questions per attribute you're testing), use the 45-minute structure (warm-up → context → questions → their questions → close), talk 20% and listen 80%, take evidence-based notes, and score against a rubric immediately after. Rehearse once out loud beforehand — even one practice run dramatically reduces first-time wobble.
How long should a job interview last?
45–60 minutes for a proper first or second round: enough for 6–10 questions with real follow-ups plus the candidate's questions. Phone screens run 20–30 minutes; final rounds often 60. If interviews routinely overrun, cut questions rather than the candidate's question time.
What makes an interview 'structured' and why does it matter?
Same core questions for every candidate, scored against a pre-written rubric. Meta-analyses consistently show structured interviews are among the strongest predictors of job performance, while unstructured conversations barely beat chance — structure removes the noise of charm, nerves and interviewer mood.
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General hiring guidance, not legal advice. Employment law varies by jurisdiction — check locally before adopting questions or processes.