5 Proven Ways to Be a Better Interviewer

Interviewing might seem straightforward - ask a few questions, take some notes, and choose the best person for the role. But if you’ve ever ended up with a poor fit, high turnover, or interviews that feel more confusing than insightful, you know it’s not that simple.

To build strong teams, you need to approach interviews with intention and structure. In this post, we’ll cover five proven ways to help you improve your interviewing skills so you can make better hiring decisions and give candidates a better experience in the process.

1. Why Interviewing Skills Matter

1.1 Why is being a great interviewer important?

Selecting the right people for your team isn't merely about filling an empty role. Choosing wisely affects productivity, team dynamics, and ultimately your company's growth. When you're a great interviewer, you bring out the candidate's best, accurately assess their fit, and help your company avoid costly hiring mistakes - especially since a bad hire can cost up to £132k at mid manager level.

1.2 The impact of interview skills on hiring quality

Sharp interview skills directly influence the overall quality of your hires. Proficiency here can mean the difference between onboarding a great fit or someone who can derail team motivation. Great interviewing can also impact your hiring process by:

• Reducing turnover: By making informed choices, you hire individuals who are more likely to stay and grow with the company.

• Improved team morale: Right hires promote a positive working environment, whilst bad hires can have a significant knock on effect on team morale.

• Enhanced company reputation: When candidates leave impressed, they talk, which attracts more top-tier talent.

Moreover, being an adept interviewer means you can quickly identify best fit candidates and assess their real capabilities, compatibility with team culture, and adaptability to future challenges. Without strong interviewing skills, you might miss out on talent by moving too slowly in your decision making.

Ultimately, what's good for the goose is good for the gander; improving your interview skills will have knock on effects that benefit your whole company beyond just hiring.

2. Five Proven Ways to Improve Your Interviewing

1: Use a Structured Interview Framework

Having a consistent structure helps reduce bias and ensures every candidate you interview is evaluated on the same criteria. A basic framework might include an introduction, core questions, time for the candidate’s questions, and a closing.

Benefits of a structured framework:

• Ensures fairness and compliance.

• Helps you stay focused as an interviewer.

• Makes it easier to compare candidates objectively.

2: Practice Active Listening and Clear Communication

Great interviewing isn’t just about asking the right questions - it’s also about listening carefully and creating space for candidates to share their stories. Make eye contact, avoid interrupting, and take notes without losing engagement.

Remember, if something’s unclear you shouldn't hesitate to ask for clarification, even with as simple a question as: 'Can you expand on that a bit more?'.

This not only shows you’re listening but helps uncover valuable detail. Even if you are asking questions from a structured framework, there's always room to probe a little further into a candidate's answer when necessary.

Pro tip: Role-play interviews with colleagues or attend training sessions to sharpen your listening and communication skills.

3: Use Scorecards to Stay Objective

Scorecards help you stay grounded in the facts by rating candidates against defined criteria. They reduce the influence of bias and make it easier to explain or justify decisions - especially when comparing strong candidates.

What to include:

• Key competencies (e.g. communication, problem-solving).

• Scoring scales (e.g. 1–5 with descriptions).

• Space for brief notes or context.

Pro tip: Review scorecards as a group to ensure consistency across interviewers and refine your evaluation process over time.

4: Give and Collect Constructive Feedback

Providing thoughtful feedback, even to candidates who aren’t moving forward, can enhance your company’s reputation and help candidates improve. It will also help you learn which parts of interviews are most important for you to focus on moving forward. Remember to focus on specific observations in your feedback, not generalisations or personal traits.

Equally important is gathering feedback from candidates about their interview experience. Ask what worked, what didn’t, and where you can improve. Using tools like Evidenced can help you gather candidate feedback automatically.

Pro tip: Make feedback an iterative part of the process and use the input you gather to refine how you hire.

5: Commit to Ongoing Improvement

Interviewing is a skill that improves with experience, reflection, and learning. Take time to review past interviews, identify what worked (or didn’t), and stay up to date on best practices.

Whether it’s a new interviewing technique or a digital tool, staying adaptable will help you make better decisions and stay competitive.

Pro tip: Schedule regular check-ins with your hiring team to evaluate and improve your approach, especially after major hiring rounds.

3. How Technology Helps You Hire Smarter

3.1 Streamline Your Process with Interviewing Tools

Managing interviews across multiple roles and team members can get messy fast. That’s where structured tools like Evidenced come in. With Evidenced, you can:

• Automatically generate structured interview templates based on your existing materials.

• Keep all your notes, scorecards, and evaluations in one central place.

• Ensure every interviewer follows the same consistent format.

The result? Clearer data, fewer gut-feeling decisions, and a more objective process that leads to better hires.

3.2 Enhance Candidate Experience and Team Collaboration

A well-run interview doesn’t just help you - it makes a big impression on candidates. When using a tool such as Evidenced, you ensure every candidate goes through a clear, fair, and professional process. That builds trust and reflects well on your brand, whether or not they’re hired.

On the team side, shared scorecards and notes keep everyone aligned. You can easily compare feedback, spot trends, and make confident hiring decisions together.

Technology won’t replace your judgment as an interviewer - but it can give you the structure, clarity, and insight needed to make smarter, more confident hiring decisions. Platforms like Evidenced support a more fair, efficient, and strategic approach to interviewing, so you can spend less time second-guessing and more time building a great team.

Becoming a great interviewer takes more than instinct - it takes preparation, structure, and a willingness to improve. By applying these five proven tips and using the right tools, you can run interviews that are more consistent, insightful, and effective. In the long run, that means better hires, stronger teams, and a more resilient hiring process.