Competency-based interviews and other alternatives to the traditional interview (that really work)

The unstructured job interview has a predictive validity of approximately 0.14 on a scale from 0 to 1. To put this into context: tossing a coin has a predictive validity of 0.00. The difference is statistically significant, but practically irrelevant.

In other words: the most widely used selection tool in the world is barely better than chance at predicting a candidate’s future performance.

Why we still use it

The unstructured interview persists because it creates an illusion of knowledge. After 45 minutes of talking to someone, the interviewer feels that they know them. That feeling is real. The problem is that it does not correlate with subsequent performance.

Studies by Schmidt and Hunter (1998), replicated many times, show that structured interviews have a predictive validity of 0.51. Work-sample tests show 0.54. Combining both exceeds 0.60.

What works best for junior profiles

For candidates with little work experience, work-sample tests have an additional advantage: they eliminate presentation bias. A candidate who knows how to sell their experience well in an interview does not necessarily perform better than someone who communicates less fluently but solves problems more effectively.

A practical test lasting 60 to 90 minutes, designed to replicate a real task from the role, provides information that no interview can: how the candidate thinks, how they structure their work, what they do when they do not know something.

The structured interview: how to do it properly

If you are going to use interviews, make them structured. The same questions for all candidates, in the same order, with predefined assessment criteria for each answer.

Behavioural questions have better predictive validity than hypothetical ones because they require candidates to talk about real experiences. For junior profiles with little experience, they can be adapted to non-work contexts: university projects, voluntary work, extracurricular activities.

The process I recommend

For entry-level junior profiles:

This process can be completed in under two weeks, has significantly higher predictive validity than the traditional interview, and creates a more positive candidate experience because each stage has a clear purpose.