Which practice involves gathering information about job candidates without a fixed set of questions or a systematic scoring procedure?

• A. Unstructured interviews
• B. Structured interview
• C. Confirmation bias
• D. Anchoring and adjustment bias

Answer: (A)

Unstructured interviews focus on gathering information about candidates in a flexible, conversational way rather than following a fixed set of questions or using a standardized scoring system. The interviewer can tailor questions on the fly, probe interesting responses, and explore each candidate’s background in depth, which can reveal genuine strengths or concerns that a rigid format might miss. This approach often feels more natural and can uncover aspects like communication style, cultural fit, and problem-solving in real-time.

However, because there’s no standard set of questions or scoring rubric, the information collected can be inconsistent across candidates, making fair comparison more challenging. It also leaves more room for subjective judgments or bias to influence the evaluation.

Structured interviews, by contrast, rely on the same predetermined questions and a clear scoring system to ensure consistency and comparability. The other two options describe cognitive biases—confirmation bias and anchoring and adjustment bias—which are not interview formats but mental shortcuts that can affect judgment during assessment.