Hiring the right people can feel like a guessing game if your process isn’t structured.

Heather Doshay, Partner & Head of Talent at SignalFire, joins Shannon to explore the impact of structured interviews on hiring outcomes. She explains how unstructured interviews often lead to bias and why creating a consistent, repeatable process is essential for building high-performing teams.

Heather outlines the key components of structured interviewing, how to build interview rubrics, and why taking time upfront leads to more efficient hiring down the line. She also discusses how to influence stakeholders, manage expectations, and tackle common objections from hiring managers.

Key takeaways:

1. Structured interviews boost accuracy: Clear criteria help make the right hire every time.
2. Efficiency drives success: Investing time upfront leads to faster, more focused hiring processes.
3. Bias mitigation is crucial: Removing subjectivity levels the playing field for all candidates.
4. Influence is key: Helping hiring managers see the value of structure builds trust and compliance.

Timestamps:
(00:00) Introduction

(00:43) Meet Heather Doshay

(03:02) The flaws of the traditional hiring process

(06:50) The science behind structured interviews and the research supporting them

(12:03) Addressing pushback on structured interviews

(18:52) Coaching hiring managers on structured interview adoption

(26:00) Navigating the emotional side of saying no to candidates

(31:38) Using follow-up questions to improve candidate evaluation

(37:05) Training vs. outsourcing interview training