How to Be a Good Interviewer: 9 Science-Backed Tips That Top Managers Swear By

Most hiring managers believe they can spot talent through gut instinct and casual conversation. Research tells a different story: unstructured interviews are nearly as unreliable as flipping a coin when predicting job performance. The difference between a good interviewer and a great one isn’t charisma or experience—it’s method. Learning how to be a better interviewer starts with understanding what separates great interviews from forgettable ones: preparation, structure, and genuine human connection.

Why Is it Important to Conduct Effective Interviews

A bad hire costs an average of $14,900^{1https://press.careerbuilder.com/2017-12-07-Nearly-Three-in-Four-Employers-Affected-by-a-Bad-Hire-According-to-a-Recent-CareerBuilder-Survey}, while losing a good employee costs nearly $30,000. But the damage extends beyond direct costs.

When Virgin Media analyzed their hiring process, they discovered something alarming: rejected candidates who had poor interview experiences were canceling their subscriptions. The annual cost? £4.4 million in lost customer revenue. Your interview isn’t just a hiring tool—it’s a brand experience.

The interview process shapes how every candidate (hired or not) perceives your company. A good interviewer protects both the hire quality and the employer brand.

Great interviews share common elements: they feel like genuine conversations while maintaining consistent evaluation criteria. They leave candidates—even rejected ones—feeling respected and fairly assessed. They surface authentic information about skills, personality, and cultural fit rather than rehearsed answers. And they generate actionable insights that make hiring decisions clearer, not muddier.

Interestingly, the science behind effective interviewing extends beyond hiring. Research on cognitive interview techniques shows that structured questioning methods dramatically improve eyewitness testimony accuracy. The same principles apply: open-ended questions, allowing pauses for reflection, and building rapport before diving into specifics all yield better information. When investigators use these techniques, witnesses recall 25-35% more accurate details. The lesson for hiring managers? How you ask matters as much as what you ask.

Good Interviewer vs. Bad Interviewer: Key Differences

Understanding what separates effective interviewers from ineffective ones helps you avoid common pitfalls. Here’s what the research reveals about bad interviewers and their counterparts:

Good Interviewer	Bad Interviewer
Prepares specific questions tied to role requirements	Wings it with generic questions
Asks the same core questions to every candidate	Changes questions based on mood or first impressions
Listens 70% of the time	Talks more than the candidate
Takes structured notes during and after	Relies on memory and gut feeling
Evaluates against predetermined criteria	Makes decisions based on likability
Communicates timeline and next steps	Ghosts candidates after interviews
Creates psychological safety	Uses stress tactics to “test” candidates
Recognizes their own biases	Believes they’re objective

Bad interviewers often don’t realize they’re ineffective. They confuse confidence with competence, believing their years of experience make them skilled evaluators. In reality, unstructured “conversational” interviews allow unconscious bias to dominate. Research shows interviewers often make judgments within the first ten seconds—then spend the remaining time confirming their initial impression.

Concrete example of the difference: A bad interviewer asks, “Tell me about yourself” and mentally checks out while the candidate talks. A good interviewer asks, “Walk me through a project where you had to influence stakeholders who initially disagreed with your approach,” then asks follow-up questions based on specific details the candidate shares.

The Science Behind Effective Interviewing (Structured vs. Unstructured)

The research is clear: structured interviews predict job performance nearly twice as well as unstructured ones. But what exactly makes an interview “structured”?

Structured interviews have three core components:

1. Standardized questions – Every candidate answers the same essential questions
2. Predetermined evaluation criteria – You define what “good” looks like before interviewing
3. Consistent scoring – Responses are rated against the same rubric

Unstructured interviews lack these elements. The interviewer asks whatever comes to mind, evaluates based on overall impression, and compares candidates using gut feeling rather than data.

Why does structure matter so much? Unstructured interviews let cognitive biases run wild:

• Similarity bias: We prefer candidates who remind us of ourselves
• Halo effect: One positive trait colors our perception of everything else
• Confirmation bias: We seek evidence supporting our first impression
• Recency bias: We remember the last candidate better than earlier ones

A landmark meta-analysis of hiring research^{2https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1998-10661-006}by Schmidt and Hunter found that structured interviews have a validity coefficient of 0.51, compared to just 0.38 for unstructured interviews. In practical terms: structured interviews help you hire better performers more consistently.

How to implement structure without losing warmth:

• Prepare 5-6 core questions every candidate must answer
• Create a scoring rubric with specific behavioral indicators
• Allow natural follow-up questions within each core area
• Score responses immediately after each interview
• Compare candidates using scores, not impressions

9 Practical Tips to Conduct an Effective Interview

If you’re wondering how to be a good interviewer for a job, these nine research-backed strategies will transform your approach. Each tip addresses specific skills that separate average interviewers from exceptional ones.

Know Exactly What You Want in a Candidate

Searching without a target leads to frustration for everyone. Before posting the job, get specific about your requirements.

Ask yourself and your team:

• What traits matter most for this role?
• Are we asking too much? (Most job descriptions are overloaded.)
• Should this be split into two positions?
• How does this description compare to industry standards?
• What specific outcomes should this hire achieve in year one?

Create an ideal candidate profile^{3https://ca.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/candidate-profile}that defines the specific skills, experience, and traits you need. This document becomes your scoring rubric during interviews, reducing bias and keeping evaluations consistent across candidates.

Script for clarifying requirements with hiring managers: “Before we start interviewing, I need us to align on three things: the must-have skills versus nice-to-haves, the specific outcomes this person should achieve in their first year, and the personality traits that will help them succeed in our team culture.”

Understand Nonverbals (Without Over-Interpreting Them)

What candidates don’t say matters—but context matters more. Body language provides valuable insights when interpreted correctly.

Hiring managers report^{4https://press.careerbuilder.com/2010-07-28-New-CareerBuilder-Survey-Reveals-Top-Body-Language-Mistakes-Candidates-Make-in-Job-Interviews}they’re less likely to hire someone who avoids eye contact (67%), fidgets (33%), or crosses their arms (21%). This is problematic. All of these behaviors can stem from nervousness, shyness, or neurodivergence rather than incompetence or dishonesty.

Instead of penalizing normal stress responses, watch for specific red flags:

• A lip press (pressing lips into a thin line) often signals someone is holding back information. However, this cue can also indicate deep concentration, so look for it specifically after sensitive questions. Want to learn all 96 cues? Check out Vanessa’s book, Cues: Master the Secret Language of Charismatic Communication.
• The contempt microexpression (a small lifting of one side of the mouth) signals disdain or moral superiority. This is one of seven universal microexpressions identified by researcher Paul Ekman^{5https://www.paulekman.com/}.
• Sudden nonverbal shifts when you ask a difficult question. A candidate who was relaxed but suddenly freezes, looks away, or touches their face may be recalibrating their answer.

The key is establishing a baseline first. Notice how the candidate behaves during casual conversation, then watch for deviations when stakes rise. This baseline-deviation approach generates more reliable insights than snap judgments about individual gestures.

The 7 Universal Expressions

Concrete example: A candidate maintains steady eye contact and relaxed shoulders throughout your conversation about their background. When you ask about their reason for leaving their current role, they suddenly break eye contact, shift in their seat, and begin speaking faster. This cluster of changes—not any single behavior—suggests this topic deserves a follow-up question.

Understanding nonverbals can be challenging! Check out our free training materials to brush up on your nonverbal skills. 

Be Focused and Prepared

Your attention should be fully on the candidate from the moment they arrive.

• Silence notifications so pings don’t pull your focus.
• Print their resume and have your questions ready.
• Choose a quiet space with comfortable seating.

Pro Tip: Match your questions to the role’s demands. Hiring for a client-facing position? Prioritize questions exploring emotional intelligence and communication style. Technical role? Focus on problem-solving scenarios.

Keep the Interview Moving

Some candidates share every project they’ve ever touched. Others answer in monosyllables. Managing the pace is your responsibility.

For reserved candidates: Nod three times and wait. This signals you’re listening and want to hear more. Smile and lean forward slightly—these interest cues encourage people to open up.

For overly talkative candidates: Lean forward and open your mouth slightly to signal you want to speak. Wait for a natural pause, then redirect: “That’s helpful context. Let me shift to another area…”

Aim for a 70/30 split where the candidate talks 70% of the time. You’re gathering information, not delivering a monologue.

Follow-up questions that dig deeper:

• “You mentioned [specific detail]. Can you tell me more about that?”
• “What was the most challenging part of that situation?”
• “If you could do that project again, what would you do differently?”
• “How did your manager respond to that approach?”

These follow-up questions transform surface-level answers into revealing stories. They also signal genuine interest, which helps candidates relax and share more authentically.

Be Friendly and Warm

Your goal isn’t intimidation. A relaxed candidate reveals their authentic self; a stressed candidate performs.

Welcome them with a genuine smile and handshake. Make eye contact. Listen with visible interest.

As Laszlo Bock, former SVP of People Operations at Google, notes: “Structured interviews cause both candidates and interviewers to have a better experience and are perceived to be most fair.”

Pro Tip: If you have Resting Bothered Face, consciously add responsive expressions—a small smile at something amusing, raised eyebrows when intrigued. At minimum, nod and lean forward to show engagement.

Be Genuinely Interested

Every interview is an opportunity to connect with a potential team member.

If you treat interviews as a waste of time, candidates will sense it. They may unconsciously perform down to your low expectations—or they’ll accept another offer from a company that made them feel valued.

Most candidates (94%) want feedback after interviews, but only 41% receive it^{6https://business.linkedin.com/content/dam/business/talent-solutions/global/en_us/c/pdfs/Ultimate-List-of-Hiring-Stats-v02.04.pdf}. Here’s the business case: candidates are four times more likely to consider your company for future opportunities if you provide constructive feedback.

Action Step: End each interview by mentioning one specific positive observation. “Your portfolio showed real attention to user experience—that stood out.” This costs nothing but creates lasting goodwill.

Take Strategic Notes

Document what matters while the details are fresh:

• First impressions and how they evolved. Did they seem nervous initially but warm up? Did confidence tip into arrogance?
• Surprises. Anything unexpected—good or bad—that could influence your decision.
• Details not on the resume. Volunteer work, side projects, or skills they mentioned casually.

This becomes essential when interviewing multiple candidates. Your memory will blend them together; your notes won’t.

Let Conversation Flow Within Structure

Here’s where many interviewers go wrong: they believe “natural conversation” means abandoning structure. Research shows the opposite approach works better.

Structured interviews^{7https://www.criteriacorp.com/resources/glossary/structured-interview}—where every candidate answers the same core questions scored against consistent criteria—are nearly twice as predictive of job performance as unstructured ones. Unstructured interviews let bias run wild: interviewers make unconscious judgments in the first ten seconds and spend the rest of the time confirming them.

The solution? Structure the content, not the tone. Ask the same essential questions to every candidate, but let follow-up questions flow naturally based on their responses. When a candidate mentions something intriguing, dig deeper. You may discover skills or experiences that weren’t on their resume.

Review their resume before the meeting so you can ask specific questions that build on what you already know rather than repeating it.

Script for transitioning between structured questions: “That’s really helpful context about your project management experience. I’d like to shift gears and hear about a time when you had to navigate a significant disagreement with a colleague.”

Remain Professional Throughout

In 2024, 61% of job seekers^{8https://www.greenhouse.com/blog/candidate-experience-report}reported being ghosted after an interview. This epidemic damages employer brands and shrinks your future talent pool.

Worse: ghosting a candidate and then reappearing with an offer rarely works. They’ve moved on, leaving you with second-choice candidates or a restart from zero.

Pro Tip: Create template emails for each hiring stage. After interviews, send a brief acknowledgment within 24 hours. Set calendar reminders for follow-up communications. Candidates remember how you treated them—and they talk to other candidates.

Consistency in your communication builds trust. Even a brief email saying “We’re still in the decision process and will update you by Friday” demonstrates respect for the candidate’s time and emotional investment.

The Business Case for Great Candidate Experience

Every candidate who interviews with you forms an opinion about your company—and shares it. In the age of Glassdoor reviews and LinkedIn posts, candidate experience directly impacts your ability to attract talent.

Consider these statistics:

• 72% of candidates share negative interview experiences online or with their network
• Companies with strong candidate experience see 70% improvement in quality of hire
• Rejected candidates who had positive experiences are 3.5x more likely to refer others

The candidate experience encompasses every touchpoint: the job posting clarity, application process simplicity, communication responsiveness, interview professionalism, and rejection handling. A good interviewer owns the interview portion but advocates for improvement across the entire journey.

Practical improvements that cost nothing:

• Send calendar invites with interviewer names and LinkedIn profiles
• Provide clear directions and parking information
• Offer water and a comfortable waiting area
• Start on time (or communicate delays immediately)
• End with specific next steps and timeline
• Follow up when you said you would

When candidates feel respected regardless of outcome, they become brand ambassadors. When they feel dismissed or ghosted, they become vocal critics—and potential customers you’ve lost forever.

How to Improve Your Interviewing Skills

Becoming an effective interviewer requires deliberate practice and feedback. Here’s how to develop your skills systematically:

Seek feedback from candidates. Send a brief survey to all candidates (including those you don’t hire) asking about their interview experience. Questions like “Did you feel you had adequate opportunity to demonstrate your qualifications?” reveal blind spots.

Record and review your interviews (with candidate permission). Watch for habits you didn’t realize you had: interrupting, leading questions, or nonverbal signals that might intimidate candidates.

Practice with colleagues. Run mock interviews where a colleague plays the candidate. Have them give you honest feedback on your questioning technique, listening skills, and overall presence.

Debrief after every hire. Track which interview questions predicted actual job performance. Over time, you’ll identify which questions generate useful signal and which are noise.

Study the research. Understanding why structured interviews work helps you implement them with conviction rather than just checking boxes.

How do you train your employees to become good interviewers? Start with calibration sessions where multiple interviewers evaluate the same candidate (or recorded interview) and compare scores. Discuss discrepancies to align on what “good” looks like. Pair new interviewers with experienced ones for their first several interviews. Create a question bank with scoring rubrics so interviewers aren’t starting from scratch. Most importantly, give interviewers feedback on their accuracy—when their highly-rated candidates succeed or struggle, share that information so they can calibrate.

No matter how charismatic you are, you can always level up! Try this to take your communication to the next stage. 

35 Interview Questions That Reveal True Fit

Behavioral Questions (Predict Future Performance)

1. What’s something you used to believe about your work but no longer do?
2. Who were your last company’s competitors, and how did you differentiate?
3. Tell me about your best and worst days at work.
4. If I called your current manager, what would they say about you?
5. Are you working on anything exciting outside of work?
6. You have two teleportation devices. Where do you place them and why?
7. Do you remember everyone’s name from our team introductions?
8. If you didn’t need the paycheck, why would you still come to work?
9. Describe the last significant conflict you had at work and how you handled it.
10. What should I have asked you that I didn’t?

Situational Questions (Test Problem-Solving)

11. How would you handle sudden priority changes mid-project?
12. What would you do if someone you managed consistently underperformed?
13. Tell me about working closely with a colleague you had conflict with.
14. You’re blocked on a key project waiting for a colleague’s work. What do you do?
15. You discover a mistake from the project’s start that now threatens the deadline. Next steps?

Expectation Questions (Assess Alignment)

16. How does this role fit your personal goals?
17. How would you describe your work style?
18. What’s your perception of what we do here?
19. Why do you want to work here specifically?
20. What can you offer that other candidates can’t?

Emotional Intelligence Questions

21. How do you have fun?
22. How good are you at asking for help?
23. How do you handle a bad day?
24. How do you recover from failure?
25. What kind of behavior makes you angry?

Personality Questions

26. How would your best friend describe you?
27. How do you feel when someone interrupts you mid-task?
28. Tell me about a time you disagreed with a manager.
29. Which superhero would you want to be, and why?
30. If your manager asked you to complete an impossible-seeming task, how would you approach it?

Problem-Solving Questions

31. Two managers give you urgent tasks with the same deadline. What do you do?
32. What do you do when you can’t find a solution?
33. How do you organize your daily workload?
34. Tell me about one of the most stressful work situations you’ve faced.
35. Do you try to solve problems independently first, or immediately ask for help?

Your Interview Checklist: Before, During, and After

Pre-Interview

• Establish a clear hiring process with defined stages (phone screen, team interview, final interview)
• Define your ideal candidate profile with specific, measurable criteria
• Confirm interview time and location with the candidate
• Review their resume and application; note questions for clarification
• Prepare 5-6 core questions matched to role requirements
• Be ready to answer questions about company mission, culture, and role specifics
• Block 30-90 minutes on your calendar
• Silence devices and close notification-heavy applications

During the Interview

• Welcome them with warmth—smile, handshake, eye contact
• Begin with 2-3 minutes of casual conversation to establish baseline behavior
• Explain the interview structure and timeline
• Share briefly what makes your company distinctive
• Take notes on responses and nonverbal observations
• Leave time for their questions
• Close with clear next steps: timeline, additional requirements, decision date
• Thank them genuinely for their time

Post-Interview

• Send acknowledgment within 24 hours
• Evaluate against your predetermined criteria (not gut feeling)
• Communicate decisions promptly—even rejections
• For advancing candidates, provide clear next steps and start date
• Coordinate with HR on onboarding requirements

5 Top Traits and Abilities of a Competent Interviewer

What makes a good job interviewer? These five traits consistently distinguish exceptional interviewers from average ones:

1. Charisma: Warm, open, and genuinely interested in people. This looks different for everyone—you don’t need to be effusive, just authentic. Take our Charisma Quiz to discover your style.
2. Self-Awareness: You naturally prefer people similar to yourself. Recognize this bias and evaluate candidates against job requirements, not personal preferences. The best interviewers actively question their first impressions rather than trusting them blindly.
3. Focus: Great interviewers aren’t mentally reviewing their to-do list. They’re fully present, whether conducting an interview or a regular one-on-one meeting. This focus allows them to catch subtle details others miss.
4. Calm Presence: Your relaxed demeanor helps candidates relax. When they’re comfortable, you see their authentic personality rather than their interview persona. Nervous interviewers create nervous candidates—and nervous candidates underperform.
5. Preparation: Reviewing applications and preparing questions signals respect. It also makes you someone candidates want to work for. Prepared interviewers ask better follow-up questions because they’re not scrambling to think of what to ask next.

Interviewer FAQs

How can I prepare for an interview as an interviewer?

Review the candidate’s application, prepare questions based on role requirements and their background, define what success looks like for this hire, and communicate logistics clearly beforehand.

How many questions should a good interviewer ask?

Aim for 5-6 core questions with follow-ups based on responses. Fewer questions with deeper exploration reveals more than rapid-fire interrogation.

How can I ask effective interview questions?

Ask open-ended questions that give candidates freedom to share what matters while staying specific enough to be answerable. Avoid questions their resume already answered or questions that telegraph the “right” answer.

How can I evaluate candidates effectively?

Score responses against predetermined criteria immediately after each interview. Note small details: Was their application polished? Were pre-interview communications professional? Did anything feel incongruent?

How should I follow up after the interview?

Send a brief acknowledgment within 24 hours. Provide a specific timeline for decisions so candidates aren’t left wondering. This professionalism distinguishes you from the 61% of employers who ghost.

What makes for a good interview debrief?

A strong debrief happens within 24 hours while details are fresh. Each interviewer shares their scores and specific observations before hearing others’ opinions (to prevent anchoring bias). Focus discussion on evidence-based assessments rather than vague impressions. Document areas of agreement and disagreement, then discuss discrepancies. End with a clear hiring recommendation and rationale that could be defended if questioned later.

How can I tell if I had a good interview?

From the interviewer’s perspective, a good interview leaves you with clear, differentiated information about the candidate. You should be able to articulate specific strengths and concerns with concrete examples. If you finish an interview with only vague impressions (“seemed nice” or “good energy”), you didn’t gather enough actionable data. Good interviews also feel like genuine conversations—the candidate relaxed enough to show their authentic self.

What are the best ways to crack any interviews?

From an interviewer’s perspective, the candidates who “crack” interviews share common traits: they prepare thoroughly (researching the company, role, and interviewers), they answer with specific examples rather than generalities, they ask thoughtful questions that demonstrate genuine interest, and they follow up professionally. As an interviewer, watch for these signals of a strong candidate—they indicate someone who will bring the same preparation and professionalism to the job.

Good Interviewer Takeaway

To become an effective interviewer, focus on these core principles:

1. Define success first. Create a candidate profile with specific criteria before interviewing anyone.
2. Structure your process. Ask the same core questions to every candidate—structured interviews predict performance twice as well as unstructured ones.
3. Read nonverbals in context. Establish a baseline before interpreting stress signals, and never penalize nervousness alone.
4. Take notes immediately. Your memory will fail you; documentation won’t.
5. Communicate consistently. Send acknowledgments, provide timelines, and never ghost candidates.
6. Show genuine interest. Candidates who feel valued become loyal employees—or at minimum, don’t cancel their subscriptions.

Being a good interviewer isn’t about having perfect instincts—it’s about following a process that compensates for human bias while still allowing genuine connection. The best interviewers combine scientific rigor with authentic warmth.Once you’ve made the hire, the next challenge begins. A strong onboarding process dramatically improves retention. Learn how to welcome a new employee with strategies that set them up for long-term success.