Skip to content
ENCSDEES
Contact Explore resources
Resources Tools About Contact
Explore resources

What Is Interview?

An interview is a structured conversation used to evaluate a candidate against the requirements of a role.

An educational definition from the HR glossary. Explore related terms below, or jump into the resource center to go deeper.

Definition

An interview is a structured conversation used to evaluate a candidate against the requirements of a role.

Why it matters

It is decisive and expensive, so running it well protects quality and candidate experience.

Examples

Illustrative example. A panel asks the same role-relevant questions of each candidate and scores against criteria.

For the practical detail behind this term, follow the related metric, template and resources below.

Free, printable HR resources

Templates, checklists and calculators to put these concepts into practice — free and ungated.

Browse free downloads HR calculators HR templates
For informational purposes only. This is an educational, plain-language definition — not legal, tax, financial or compliance advice and not an official definition. Terms and obligations vary by organisation and jurisdiction. Numeric examples are simple, placeholder-based illustrations, not data. Confirm specifics with qualified professionals.
Related concepts

Related glossary terms

Keep exploring the HR vocabulary.

Glossary

Structured Interview

A structured interview asks every candidate the same role-relevant questions and scores them against defined criteria.

Open Glossary

Candidate Assessment

Candidate assessment is the overall evaluation of how well a candidate fits a role, against defined, role-relevant criteria.

Open Glossary

Interview-to-Offer Ratio

The interview-to-offer ratio is how many interviews are conducted for each offer made.

Open
Measure it

Related metrics & calculators

Recruitment metric

Quality of Hire

Quality of hire asks the most important recruiting question: did the people we hired turn out well? There is no single formula.

Open Calculators

HR calculators

Quantify the metrics in your browser.

Open Hub

HR metrics hub

How HR measures are defined and read.

Open
Put it into practice

Related templates

Template

Interview Evaluation Template

Structured evaluation makes hiring fairer and more comparable.

Open
Go deeper

Related resources

The clusters that put this concept into practice.

Lifecycle

Employee lifecycle

The full employee journey, stage by stage.

Open Operations

Employer operations

Run the workforce as a repeatable system.

Open Planning

Workforce planning

Strategy and organizational design.

Open Compliance

HR compliance

Documentation, records, data and policy.

Open Templates

HR templates

Free, printable, placeholder-based templates.

Open Playbooks

HR playbooks

Step-by-step plays for people processes.

Open Technology

HR technology

Automation, analytics and systems.

Open Funnel

Recruitment funnel

Sourcing through to accepted offer.

Open Reporting

HR reporting & dashboards

Turn people data into clear views.

Open AI for HR

AI for HR

Where AI assists HR, responsibly.

Open Resource center

HR resource center

The central map of every cluster.

Open

Practical HR resources, by email

Templates, hiring insights and workforce updates. No spam — unsubscribe anytime.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

What is Interview?

An interview is a structured conversation used to evaluate a candidate against the requirements of a role.

Why does Interview matter?

It is decisive and expensive, so running it well protects quality and candidate experience.

How is Interview measured?

It connects to the HR metric linked on this page, where you can find the formula and how to read it. This glossary entry is an educational definition, not a data source.