What should the new employee actually achieve?

Write the results you want before listing personality traits. Replace “proactive all-rounder” with duties a person can understand, practise and demonstrate. Separate essential starting skills from things you can teach.

Hypothetical example: A small homewares shop needs an operations assistant. Instead of asking for someone who can “handle everything,” specify accurate order records, clear delivery updates and a complete handover of unresolved requests.

Prepare a role brief

• Describe the main tasks and who sets priorities.
• State the working hours, location and pay range.
• List the decisions the employee can make independently.
• Explain what a satisfactory first month would look like.
• Name the person responsible for training and feedback.

Check whether you can support the role financially and operationally. Use a small business cash flow plan to include the ongoing commitment, then reserve time for training.

If the role combines unrelated jobs, narrow it before advertising. Reviewing your business costs can be a separate exercise; do not turn this vacancy into an unexplained collection of tasks you want someone else to absorb.

What makes an interview structured?

A structured interview uses consistent questions and scoring criteria for people applying for the same role. Google re:Work describes this approach as assessing candidates against predetermined qualifications using the same questions and scale.

The same guide reports that structured interviews predict job performance better than unstructured interviews. Treat that as a reason to prepare carefully, not a promise that a particular candidate will succeed.

Keep the structure, allow a human conversation

Explain the agenda at the beginning. Ask the core questions in the same order, allow thinking time, and use prepared follow-ups when an answer needs clarification. Finish with time for the candidate's questions.

Agree on neutral follow-ups such as “What did you personally do?” and “How did you check the result?” Avoid supplying the answer you hoped to hear. Record the response before writing your interpretation.

If you discover a missing essential question halfway through the hiring round, document the change. Give earlier candidates a comparable opportunity to answer it before making the final comparison.

Which structured interview questions should you ask?

Choose questions that reveal how someone handles your everyday work. Use both past examples and realistic situations they might face. Google's question guidance distinguishes behavioral questions about previous actions from hypothetical questions about possible situations.

Questions for a small marketing team

The following are suggested questions for a coordinator role. Write the skill being assessed beside each question before using it.

1. Checking work: Describe a time you spotted an error before something was sent or published. What did you check?
2. Priorities: Imagine two colleagues need urgent work and you cannot finish both today. How would you decide what happens first?
3. Ownership: Tell me about a deadline you missed. What did you communicate, and what happened next?
4. Learning: Describe an unfamiliar task you had to complete. How did you find out what to do?
5. Judgment: Imagine a campaign brief contains a claim with no supporting information. What would you do before using it?

Ask for the candidate's own contribution, especially when they describe a team project. Accept relevant examples from education, volunteering or personal projects when hiring someone early in their career.

Add a small work sample

Hypothetical exercise: Provide a fictional campaign brief containing conflicting dates and an unsupported product claim. Ask the applicant to flag missing information and draft a message requesting clarification.

Give everyone the same brief, time allowance and scoring criteria. Keep the exercise limited and relevant. Do not use confidential client material or turn the submission into unpaid work for a live campaign.

How do you build an interview scorecard?

Create one row per essential skill, with space for evidence and a rating. An interview scorecard is the record of those judgments. An interview rubric is the written explanation of what each rating means.

For the fictional marketing exercise above, you could use this simple rubric. It is a proposed starting point, not a universal hiring standard.

Set essential requirements before seeing applicants. If checking claims is essential, do not let strong presentation skills cancel out missing evidence of that ability.

Write the reason beside the rating

Use “identified both dates and asked which was approved” rather than “seems sharp.” If a skill was not assessed, record “not assessed” and gather the missing evidence. Do not silently convert an information gap into failure.

When two people interview, score independently before discussing candidates. Compare the evidence behind disagreements. Keep a short decision note showing demonstrated strengths, training needs and unresolved questions.

How can you make hiring decisions less biased?

Make every judgment answerable to a job requirement. Bias here means letting something unrelated to the work influence your assessment. Google's guide describes confirmation bias as looking for evidence that supports an initial impression.

• Do not score shared hobbies, familiar schools or mutual contacts as job skills.
• Replace “good fit” with an observable behavior, such as giving clear handovers.
• Ask everyone about the stated schedule without speculating about family circumstances.
• Allow clarification when someone misunderstands a question.
• Score against the rubric rather than against the person interviewed immediately before them.

Hypothetical example: One applicant is relaxed and entertaining; another speaks quietly but explains a careful checking process. For a role responsible for order accuracy, examine the checking evidence before rewarding conversational confidence.

Also state the working conditions honestly. Explain busy periods, supervision and available support. Once someone joins, continue with clear expectations and useful feedback; the guide to motivating employees covers that next management task.

What should you ask during reference checks?

Use reference checks to clarify specific work claims. Agree with the candidate whom you may contact and when. Do not approach their current employer without their agreement.

For this process, a reference is someone who can describe the applicant's work from direct experience. A letter of recommendation can provide background; use a conversation to clarify points that matter to this vacancy.

• What work did you supervise or complete together?
• Which responsibilities did the candidate handle independently?
• Can you describe how they dealt with a mistake or delay?
• Where did they need guidance?
• What support would you suggest during their first month?

Ask for an example when you hear broad praise or criticism. If information conflicts with the interview, give the candidate a chance to explain. Record an unanswered reference request as missing information, not an automatic negative rating.

I recommend treating references as one part of the decision. Keep them alongside the interview notes and exercise, rather than letting one person's opinion replace the rest of your assessment.

What belongs in a small business interview toolkit?

Prepare a reusable folder containing the role brief, questions, exercise, rubric and candidate messages. Indeed's toolkit page describes resources covering interview formats, sample questions and standardized scoring methods.

Your preparation checklist

1. Define: Write the essential duties and starting skills.
2. Prepare: Draft questions and a brief fictional exercise.
3. Practise: Score a sample answer with a colleague and discuss differences.
4. Interview: Use the agreed materials and complete notes promptly.
5. Decide: Resolve important gaps and explain the next step to applicants.

If nobody meets the essential requirements, review the role, offer and training capacity. Do not change the pass criteria privately to justify a favorite. Apply any revised assessment consistently.

Prepare the successful candidate's first week before sending the offer. Name their guide, explain their initial tasks and schedule feedback. Use the employee onboarding guide to organize that handover.