Great hiring isn't a gut feeling. It's a craft. This is how we interview: prepared, fast, evidence-led and fair. Come away sharper, and more confident walking into your next one.
Who this is for
Everyone involved in hiring decisions completes this before they interview. Whatever your experience or the stage you're running, the standard is the same.
Give it your full attention
Plenty of us interview all the time, and it's tempting to skim. Please don't. Close the other tabs, give it twenty focused minutes, and treat it as a chance to sharpen. The best interviewers are the ones who never stop working on the basics.
Let's go
Setup/01
first, your name
We'll put this on your completion certificate at the end. That's the only setup.
Before you go in
We run a multi-stage process, and we'll usually want each stage to dig into different things, so no interview is just scratching the surface or assessing the same things twice. Where it helps, your Talent partner can steer you on the focus for your stage and suggest questions to use. This training covers the craft underneath all of it.
Lesson 01/how we hire
how we hire here
We move quickly, but never carelessly. Speed and rigour aren't a trade-off. Structure is what lets us decide fast and get it right.
80%
of the quality of a hire is decided before the interview, in the prep. Come ready, and come open-minded. It's easy to reach a verdict from a CV, or a single culture test answer, before they've said a word. Prep so you can test what you think, not just confirm it.
Our process
We run a multi-stage process, and we'll usually want each stage to dig into different things, so no interview is just scratching the surface or re-treading what another has covered. Where it helps, your Talent partner can steer you on the focus for your stage and suggest questions to use. Trust the other stages to cover the rest, and go deep on yours.
Structured. Same core areas, scored the same way, so candidates are genuinely comparable and decisions are defensible.
Focused. You assess your assigned areas, not the whole candidate. Focus beats breadth.
Evidence-led. We hire on what candidates have actually done and how they think, not on charm or gut feel.
Fast. Prep tight, interview sharp, feedback in fast. Great people have options, and slow processes lose them.
The through-line
Prepare, then interview for evidence, stay fair and legal, record what you saw, and feed back fast.
Lesson 02/prepare
prep is the job
You won't walk in cold. Everything you need is handed to you, and the time to use it is already in your diary.
Your prep pack
A dedicated prep slot is booked into your diary before every interview. The time is yours to get ready, and these files are already in it.
01
The candidate's CVRead it properly before the interview, not while the candidate sits in front of you.
02
Culture test resultsHow the candidate scored, so you know what's already been assessed.
03
Interview questions for your stageIncluding probes into the culture test where relevant, plus the specific things to listen out for.
Then do your bit
Use the prep slot. Read the CV, the culture test results and your questions before the interview.
Know what good sounds like. Your pack calls out the specific things to listen out for, so you're clear on what you're assessing.
Lesson 03/interview
ask for evidence
Anyone can claim they're brilliant. Your job is to find the proof, and to understand how they think.
Use STAR
Ask for real situations, then listen for four things: Situation, Task, Action, Result. The Action matters most. Listen for what they did ("I"), not what the team did ("we").
Dig into your concerns
Don't let a vague answer slide. If something in your area raises a flag, a gap, a claim you can't verify, or a culture test area that needs pressure, dig into it. Use the questions in your pack, and keep following up until you understand what actually happened. Value how they think, not just the answer: "How did you approach that?", "What did you weigh up?", "What would you do differently?"
Top tips that separate good interviewers from great ones
01
Get comfortable with silence
After an answer, pause. The gap is where the real, unrehearsed detail comes out. A simple ‘take your time’ is fine; it settles nerves without leading them. Just don't rush to fill the gap, or nudge them toward the answer you were hoping for.
02
Ask one thing at a time
Stacked questions get you the easy half answered and the important half forgotten. One question, then listen.
03
Ask, don't hint
Keep your questions neutral. A leading question like "You'd obviously put the customer first, right?" just hands them the answer, and you hear your own view repeated back.
04
Chase the thread, don't read a script
Your prepared questions are a backbone, not a cage. Follow what's interesting or unclear.
05
Write what they said, not your verdict
Capture their actual words first. Judge later, when you have the evidence in front of you.
06
Let them do the talking
Aim for roughly 80% them, 20% you. You're there to gather evidence, not fill the air, and always leave real time at the end for their questions.
A technique worth knowing · align on the role, once
Candidates often have far more experience than the role needs. Aligning on the role early keeps the interview focused on what matters. One approach: ask what they understand the role to be, fill any gaps once they've finished, then ask them to draw on the experience most relevant to it. It puts the onus on them to surface the right evidence, so no one leaves saying "you never asked". Because it only needs doing once, your Talent partner will tell you if it's your job. If it isn't, don't repeat it. Go straight to your focus areas.
Simulation · try it
Lesson 04/fairness & culture
stay fair
Bias is normal and mostly unconscious. The goal isn't to feel unbiased. It's to build habits that stop bias driving the call.
The common traps
Affinity ("like me"). Warming to people who share your background, school or hobbies.
Halo. One impressive thing, like a big-name employer, colours everything else.
First impression. Deciding in two minutes, then hunting for evidence to confirm it.
Recency. Remembering the last candidate best, not the strongest.
Culture matters here. Get it right.
Culture is one of the most valued things here, so a strong culture read is a real, respected signal. It matters that everyone you interview has already passed our culture test, and only around one in ten candidates do. They're already in roughly the top 10% on culture before they walk in, so treat that as a genuine, high bar, not a box to tick.
Take the result seriously, and treat it as a strong starting point rather than the final word. People sometimes read a question differently to how it was meant, so use the interview to open those areas up and pressure-test them, instead of resting everything on a single response. Respect the signal, then go and confirm it for yourself.
The discipline is telling a genuine culture read apart from affinity bias. "They'll thrive here because of X, Y, Z, and here's the evidence" is a culture judgement. "They just feel right, they remind me of us" is bias wearing culture's clothes. When you have a culture view, ground it in concrete examples of what they actually said and did. Done that way, culture is a strength, not an excuse.
Habits that beat bias
Score against your remit as you go, not at the end. Judge on evidence, not vibe. Compare each candidate to the standards we set, not to each other. Write down why you scored what you scored.
Lesson 05/compliance
what you can't ask
You can't base a decision on a protected characteristic, so don't ask about one, even as small talk.
UK · Equality Act 2010
Age
Disability
Gender reassignment
Marriage & civil partnership
Pregnancy & maternity
Race (colour, nationality, origin)
Religion or belief
Sex
Sexual orientation
US · EEOC / federal
Race & colour
Religion
Sex (incl. pregnancy, orientation, gender identity)
National origin
Age (40+)
Disability
Genetic information
Don't ask
How old are you? / When did you graduate?
Are you married? Do you have (or plan) children?
Where are you originally from?
What's your religion?
Do you have any health conditions?
You can ask
Are you legally eligible to work here?
Can you meet the role's requirements (travel, hours)?
Anything about skills, experience and how they'd work.
Their motivation and what they're looking for.
The test
Does the question relate to whether they can do this job? If not, don't ask. If a candidate volunteers protected information, don't pursue it and don't let it touch your notes or score.
Practical guidance, not legal advice. Rules differ by country, state and role. If in doubt, check with your Talent partner before the interview.
Lesson 06/feedback & decision
capture it, decide fast
Assume the candidate will one day see everything you record, because they can request it. That applies just as much to what you say out loud as what you type.
How we capture feedback
Fast, while it's fresh, all in one place.
01
A feedback slot lands in your diarySent right after the interview, with the specific areyouinclined link for that candidate.
02
Give your feedback in areyouinclinedAnswer the questions on the site. You can type, or speak your feedback straight into it.
03
Do it ASAPWhile the interview is fresh. Detail fades faster than you think, so use that slot.
Spoken or typed, the same rule applies
Your feedback is recorded. Don't say anything that would land us in trouble if the candidate saw or heard it. Keep it specific, evidence-based and job-related, never personal.
What good and bad feedback sounds like
✓ Record this
"Asked about conflict. Gave a clear STAR example of mediating two teammates and setting a shared deadline."
"Strong on the data task. Walked through her approach and flagged the key assumption unprompted."
"No line-management evidence. Answers stayed IC-level. Below the bar for this role."
✕ Never this
"Bad culture fit, weird vibe."
"Probably has young kids, might not commit."
"Bit old for this team." / "Loved them, reminds me of me!"
Then decide, on the evidence
If you debrief as a group, everyone scores independently first, so nobody anchors the room.
Judge on the evidence, your feedback plus the culture test result, not on how much you liked them.
Back a culture call with specifics. Culture is valued here, so a culture concern is legitimate. Point to the culture test and our values, and what you actually saw, so it's a signal and not a hunch.
Decide against the bar: can they do this job well and add to our culture? Not "are they the best of a weak field".
Feed back fast. A clear yes or no with reasons, quickly. Speed keeps great candidates warm.
Assessment/final
final assessment
12 questions, a mix of principles and real situations. Get one wrong and you'll get a steer and another go, so it's built to teach, not to trip you up. You need 80% to pass, with unlimited retakes.
12 questions80% to passA hint on wrong answersFollow-up learning
Select an answer
0%
nice work
You've completed the Interviewer Training. Save your certificate below, and walk into your next interview with a clear plan and the confidence to run it well.
Your completion has been logged with the Talent team.