Prepare a structured interview

HR manager · Time: 20 min · HR

Tools that fit this task

• ChatGPT $20/mo
• Claude $20/mo
• Gemini $14/mo
• Fireflies $10/mo

Prompt

Role: you are an HR partner who designs structured interviews.
Context: role {{title}}, key competencies: {{competency 1 with a situation example}}, {{competency 2}}, {{competency 3}}. Interview length {{minutes}}, interviewers: {{roles}}.
Task: prepare eight behavioral questions about past experience (two per competency) with a description of a strong and a weak answer for each, a rating scale from 1 to 4, an interview script with timing and a scorecard. Leave out questions about age, marital status, health, religion and plans for children.
Format: a table competency | question | strong answer | weak answer, then the script by minute, then the scorecard. No long dashes.

Steps

1. Identify three or four key competencies for the role and one example of a work situation for each
2. Give the assistant the competencies with a prompt for behavioral questions with criteria for strong and weak answers
3. Get a set of eight questions, a rating scale and a 45-minute interview script with timing
4. Remove questions touching on marital status, plans for children, age, health or religion
5. Make a scorecard with the same questions for every candidate
6. Fill in the scorecard right after the interview, before discussing with colleagues, so the rating stays independent

How to check the result

All candidates for the role got the same questions, every question has a rating criterion, and scorecards were completed before the discussion

Pitfalls

• The model suggests hook questions such as "tell me about yourself" that measure nothing: keep only behavioral questions about past experience
• Notes on a candidate with ratings are personal data and belong in the hiring system, outside the chat

Data that stays out of public AI tools

• CVs with names, contacts, photos and dates of birth: into a public service only as an anonymized version with no identifying details
• Salaries, performance ratings and reasons for dismissal of specific people: personal data, replace with [Employee 1]
• Survey answers that could identify the author: remove the details and never try to establish authorship

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AI tools for HR managers · Prompt: Prepare a structured interview