When clients ask me at Dolmen Recruitment how to run a structured interview, I start with the same three things we always test for: technical fit, motivation fit and cultural fit. Can the person do the work? Do they want the job as it actually is? And how would they work in the environment they’re joining?

Assess each one separately. Someone can be excellent at the work and interested in moving, yet want a different job from the one you’re offering. Agree what evidence you need on each point before interviews begin. Otherwise, a polished answer in one area can carry too much weight in the overall decision.

Technical capability: ask what they did

If you are hiring a fund risk specialist, give each candidate the same short, fictional case. A fund is close to an internal risk limit, the portfolio manager says the exposure is temporary, and one of the data feeds looks stale. Ask what the candidate would verify, who they would speak to and what would make them escalate.

You are listening for judgement as well as technical knowledge. Do they distinguish a data problem from a risk problem? Can they explain their reasoning? Then ask for a real example and establish their personal contribution. “We resolved it” is a good starting point. “What did you decide, and what did someone else decide?” usually tells you much more.

Motivation: explain the job as it really is

Tell candidates how their week will actually look. A role can offer excellent exposure to the board and still involve regular reporting, chasing data and following through with service providers. Ask which parts they would want more of, which they would want less of and how that balance fits with where they want to go.

I would rather find out at interview that someone wants to build a team when the real job is to stay close to the work. Both are perfectly reasonable ambitions. The difficulty starts when neither side says what they expect.

Cultural fit: define the working conditions

A large organisation may reward someone who builds support across functions and knows how to get decisions through a complex group. A smaller team may need someone who can make decisions with fewer layers of support and switch between detailed work and board discussions. Ask for evidence of how the candidate works in the conditions they will actually face.

For example: “Tell us about a time you challenged a decision that a senior colleague wanted to make. What did you do when they disagreed?” Listen for how they handled the disagreement and what happened afterwards. You can assess that without asking whether they are “our sort of person”.

Give the panel a simple scorecard

Before the first interview, agree what strong evidence would look like under each heading. In the fund risk exercise, for example, a strong answer would explain how the candidate would check the data, what they would do while the position was still uncertain and what would trigger escalation. Under motivation, look for a clear reason why the actual mix of work appeals to them. Under cultural fit, look for specific examples of how they work with others, make decisions and handle disagreement.

Ask everyone the same core questions in the same order and use the same scoring criteria. You can still ask follow-up questions to clarify an answer. Have each interviewer record their scores and the evidence behind them before the panel discusses the candidate. CIPD’s guidance on selection methods sets out this approach to consistent questions and independent scoring.

At the debrief, if someone says, “I’m not sure about fit,” ask which part they mean and what they heard that led them there. If the evidence is thin, agree what you still need to find out. That gives you a better next step than asking the candidate back for another general chat.

Think back to your last hiring debrief. Which was hardest to judge: whether the person could do the work, whether they wanted the job as it really was, or how they would work in your team? That’s where I’d start when writing questions for your next interview.