Structured interview kit

---
name: structured-interview-kit
description: Builds a structured interview kit from a role brief - picks the competencies that matter, gives each interviewer their questions, probes, a 1 to 4 scoring scale with anchors, and a scoring sheet, so every candidate is asked the same things and scored on evidence. Use when a recruiter or hiring manager says 'interview questions', 'interview plan', 'competency questions', 'scorecard', 'structured interview' or 'how should we interview for this'. BOUNDARY - this designs the interview; to screen CVs before it, use cv-evidence-screen.
license: MIT
metadata:
  category: interviewing
  author: will-grady
  version: "1.1"
  checked: "2026-10-22"
---

# Structured interview kit

You build an interview kit for a role. A structured interview asks every candidate the same questions and scores the answers against the same scale. That makes candidates comparable and keeps the decision about evidence.

The competency bank (ten competencies, each with questions, probes and what strong and weak evidence sound like) is in `references/competency-bank.md`. Use it as your starting point. If the role needs a competency that isn't in the bank, such as a technical skill, write questions for it in the same style.

## How to work

1. **Get the brief.** Use the job title, the must-haves and what the person will do in their first year, from what the recruiter gives you. If the number of interviewers isn't given, assume two and say so.
2. **Pick 3 to 6 competencies** that the brief actually calls for. Say in one line why each was picked. Don't pick competencies to fill space.
3. **Split them across the interviewers:** two or three each. No one covers everything, and every competency is covered by at least one person.
4. **For each competency,** give:
   - what it means, in one sentence
   - two or three behavioural questions ("Tell me about a time…")
   - three follow-up probes that get past a rehearsed answer
   - what strong evidence and weak evidence sound like
5. **Give the scoring scale and the rules** below, unchanged.
6. **Give a scoring sheet** each interviewer can fill in.

**Draft first.** If you have enough to make a useful first version, write it now, in this reply: mark anything missing as "To confirm", state any assumption you made in one line, and put your questions at the end. Only stop to ask before writing when something essential is missing entirely. A brief or job advert is enough to start: infer the first-year priorities from it and say what you assumed.

## Scoring scale (use for every competency)

- **1, No evidence:** no real example, or the example shows the opposite. Talks in general terms ("I always…").
- **2, Some evidence:** a real example, but thin: "we" not "I", needed prompting, or no clear result.
- **3, Clear evidence:** a specific example, their own actions, and a result they can describe. Meets the bar for the role.
- **4, Strong evidence:** several specific examples, a measurable result, and what they would do differently. Above the bar.

## Rules for the interview (include these in the kit)

1. Every candidate gets the same questions, in the same order.
2. Each interviewer covers two or three competencies, not all of them.
3. Write down what the candidate said, not what you thought of them.
4. Score on your own, against the scale, before anyone talks about the candidate.
5. In the debrief, start from the written evidence. The decision is made against the brief, not against the last candidate.

Don't include questions about age, family plans, health, religion, nationality or other personal characteristics, or questions that invite them ("Where do you see yourself at retirement?"). Ask about right to work only in the standard form the employer uses for everyone.

## Output format

**Interview kit: [Job title]**

**Competencies and why:** a short list, one line each.

**Who covers what:** a small table of interviewer → competencies.

Then, for each competency:
**[Competency]**: what it means.
Questions: numbered.
Probes: bulleted.
Strong evidence: bulleted. Weak evidence: bulleted.

**Scoring scale** and **The rules,** as above.

**Scoring sheet**

| Competency | Evidence heard (what they said) | Score 1–4 |
|---|---|---|
| | | |

Work in UK English. Keep the kit printable: one interviewer's section should fit on a page.

references/competency-bank.md

# Competency bank

Ten competencies, each with what it means, behavioural questions, follow-up probes, and what strong and weak evidence sound like. Written by Hikari for the free structured interview kit.

## Ownership

Takes responsibility for an outcome, beyond their own task, and sees it through.

**Questions**
- Tell me about a time you took on a problem that wasn’t strictly yours to fix.
- Tell me about something you delivered that went wrong. What did you do?
- Tell me about a time you noticed something was being dropped between teams.

**Probes**
- What exactly did you do, rather than the team?
- Who else could have picked it up, and why didn’t they?
- What happened in the end, and how do you know?

**Strong evidence sounds like**
- Says "I" for their own actions and "we" for the team’s
- Owns the failure without blaming others
- Follows through after the obvious finish line

**Weak evidence sounds like**
- Waited to be asked
- The story ends with handing it to someone else
- Can’t say what the result was

## Problem solving

Breaks a messy problem down, uses evidence, and gets to a sound decision.

**Questions**
- Tell me about the hardest problem you solved in the last year.
- Tell me about a decision you made with incomplete information.
- Tell me about a time the obvious answer turned out to be wrong.

**Probes**
- What options did you consider and reject?
- What information did you go and get?
- What would you do differently now?

**Strong evidence sounds like**
- Explains how they framed the problem before solving it
- Used data or tested an assumption
- Can name the trade-off they accepted

**Weak evidence sounds like**
- Jumps straight to the answer
- No options considered
- Credits luck or someone else for the insight

## Working with others

Builds trust, shares credit, and works through disagreement.

**Questions**
- Tell me about a time you disagreed with a colleague. How was it resolved?
- Tell me about a time you needed help from someone who had no reason to give it.
- Tell me about a team you made better.

**Probes**
- What was their point of view?
- What did you change your mind about?
- How is the relationship now?

**Strong evidence sounds like**
- Describes the other side fairly
- Changed their own approach
- Relationship intact or better afterwards

**Weak evidence sounds like**
- The other person is the villain
- Won the argument, lost the relationship
- Can’t describe anyone else’s contribution

## Communication

Explains clearly to the audience in front of them, in writing and out loud.

**Questions**
- Tell me about a time you had to explain something complicated to someone outside your field.
- Tell me about a piece of bad news you had to deliver.
- Tell me about something you wrote that changed a decision.

**Probes**
- How did you know they understood?
- What did you leave out, and why?
- What did they do next?

**Strong evidence sounds like**
- Adapted to the listener
- Checked understanding
- Delivered bad news early and plainly

**Weak evidence sounds like**
- Same message for every audience
- Avoided or delayed the hard message
- The answer itself is hard to follow

## Dealing with ambiguity

Makes progress when the goal, the process or the facts are unclear.

**Questions**
- Tell me about a time you started something with no clear brief.
- Tell me about a time priorities changed halfway through your work.
- Tell me about a time you had to decide without the person who normally decides.

**Probes**
- What did you do first?
- What assumptions did you make, and did you check them?
- Who did you keep informed?

**Strong evidence sounds like**
- Created structure: a first step, a plan, a check-in
- Made assumptions explicit
- Kept people informed as things moved

**Weak evidence sounds like**
- Waited for clarity
- Pressed on without checking assumptions
- Frustration is the main memory

## Client and customer focus

Understands what the client actually needs and acts on it.

**Questions**
- Tell me about a time you found out a client wanted something different from what they asked for.
- Tell me about a difficult client and how you handled them.
- Tell me about a time you said no to a client.

**Probes**
- How did you find out what they really needed?
- What did it cost you or the business?
- Are they still a client?

**Strong evidence sounds like**
- Asked questions before acting
- Said no with a reason and an alternative
- Can point to a lasting result for the client

**Weak evidence sounds like**
- Did whatever was asked
- Blames the client
- Measures success by the client being quiet

## Delivering under pressure

Keeps quality and commitments when time or resources are short.

**Questions**
- Tell me about the tightest deadline you’ve hit. What did you give up to hit it?
- Tell me about a time you missed a deadline.
- Tell me about a time you had more work than time.

**Probes**
- How did you decide what came first?
- Who did you tell, and when?
- What did you change afterwards so it didn’t happen again?

**Strong evidence sounds like**
- Prioritised openly and told people early
- Protected what mattered most
- Learnt something and changed a habit

**Weak evidence sounds like**
- Heroics with no plan
- Missed it and nobody knew until late
- Quality dropped and they didn’t notice

## Influence and stakeholders

Gets things done through people they don’t manage.

**Questions**
- Tell me about a time you got a senior person to change their mind.
- Tell me about a project that needed several teams to agree.
- Tell me about a time you couldn’t get the support you needed.

**Probes**
- What did they care about?
- Who did you talk to first, and why?
- What would you do differently?

**Strong evidence sounds like**
- Started from the other person’s interests
- Built support before the big meeting
- Knows when to escalate and how

**Weak evidence sounds like**
- Relied on authority or persistence alone
- Surprised people in the meeting
- No reflection on why it failed

## Commercial awareness

Understands how the work makes or saves money, and acts on it.

**Questions**
- Tell me about a time you saved money or made money for your employer.
- Tell me about a decision where cost and quality pulled in different directions.
- Tell me about how your last team’s results were measured.

**Probes**
- What were the numbers?
- Who else would have weighed it differently?
- How did it show up in the results?

**Strong evidence sounds like**
- Knows the numbers without being asked
- Weighs cost against value, not cost alone
- Links their work to the business result

**Weak evidence sounds like**
- Vague on numbers
- Treats budget as someone else’s problem
- Can’t say how success was measured

## Learning and growth

Learns quickly, seeks feedback, and changes because of it.

**Questions**
- Tell me about the most useful feedback you’ve had. What did you change?
- Tell me about something you had to learn fast for a job.
- Tell me about a mistake you won’t make again.

**Probes**
- How did you go about learning it?
- How did you know you’d got it?
- Who else did you share it with?

**Strong evidence sounds like**
- Asked for feedback rather than waiting for it
- A specific behaviour changed
- Passed the lesson on

**Weak evidence sounds like**
- The feedback was unfair
- Learnt "to work harder"
- Example is years old