Interviewing & Assessment Glossary
Interviewing and assessment is how hiring decisions actually get made — the set of methods used to evaluate whether a candidate can do the job and will thrive in it. This topic gathers the interview types and assessment tools senior talent teams rely on, from structured interviews to psychometric tests, each defined on its own page.
The through-line here is evidence over impression. Unstructured conversations are easily swayed by confidence, rapport, and bias; structured interviews, work samples, scorecards, and assessment centres are designed to measure demonstrated ability instead. Knowing the difference between a behavioural and a situational question, or when a technical interview adds more than a psychometric test, is what separates a rigorous process from a series of chats.
For senior and specialist hiring — where a single mis-hire is expensive — disciplined assessment is not optional. The terms below give interviewers and hiring managers a shared vocabulary for evaluating people accurately and fairly.
16 terms in this topic · see all 277 in the A–Z glossary →
Terms 16
360-Degree Feedback 360-degree feedback is a performance assessment method in which an employee receives structured, usually anonymous, feedback from the full circle of people around them — managers, peers, direct reports, and sometimes clients — rather than from their manager alone. It aims to give a rounded, multi-perspective view of behaviour and effectiveness. Read Assessment Centre An assessment centre is a structured selection or development process in which several candidates are evaluated together across multiple exercises — such as group tasks, role-plays, presentations, and tests — by trained assessors against defined competencies. It measures how people actually perform rather than only what they say in an interview. Read Background Verification BGV Background Verification (BGV) is the pre-joining check of a candidate’s employment history, education, identity, address, and records before they start. In India it is standard practice for GCC and IT hiring, and a failed or discrepant check can delay or reverse a joining. Read Behavioral Interview A behavioural interview is an interview technique that asks candidates to describe how they handled specific real situations in the past, on the principle that past behaviour predicts future performance. Answers are often structured using the STAR method — Situation, Task, Action, Result. Read Blind Recruitment Blind recruitment is a hiring approach that removes or hides personal information — such as name, gender, age, photo, and university — from applications during screening, so candidates are assessed on skills and experience rather than characteristics that can trigger bias. The aim is a fairer, more merit-based shortlist. Read Interview Scorecard An interview scorecard is a standardised form on which interviewers rate a candidate against pre-defined, job-relevant criteria — usually a set of competencies scored on a fixed scale with written evidence. It converts interview impressions into consistent, comparable data across candidates and interviewers. Read Interviewer Bias Interviewer bias is the tendency for an interviewer’s conscious or unconscious assumptions to distort how they judge a candidate, leading to decisions based on factors unrelated to the person’s ability to do the job. It undermines both fairness and the quality of hiring decisions. Read KSA KSA KSA stands for Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities — the three categories of attributes used to define what a person needs to perform a job. Knowledge is what someone understands, skills are learned proficiencies, and abilities are innate or developed capacities, and together they form the basis for job descriptions, screening, and structured selection. Read Panel Interview A panel interview is an interview in which several interviewers meet a single candidate together at the same time. It lets multiple stakeholders assess the candidate in one session and compare their impressions against a shared conversation. Read Phone Screen A phone screen is a short early-stage interview, usually by phone or video call, that a recruiter or hiring manager uses to check a candidate’s basic suitability before investing in fuller interviews. It confirms fit on essentials such as experience, availability, and expectations. Read Psychometric Test A psychometric test is a standardised assessment that measures a candidate’s mental abilities, aptitudes, or personality traits objectively, to predict how well they will perform or fit a role. Common types include cognitive ability tests, aptitude tests, and personality questionnaires. Read Reference Check A reference check is a step late in hiring where an employer contacts a candidate’s former managers or colleagues to verify their work history and gather independent views on their performance and conduct. It corroborates what the candidate has presented before an offer is finalised. Read Situational Interview A situational interview is a structured interview technique that asks candidates how they would handle hypothetical, job-relevant scenarios (“What would you do if…”), rather than what they have done in the past. It probes judgement and reasoning by presenting realistic problems the role is likely to face. Read Structured Interview A structured interview is an interview in which every candidate is asked the same predetermined questions in the same order and their answers are scored against a consistent rubric. This standardisation makes hiring decisions fairer and more predictive than unstructured conversation. Read Technical Interview A technical interview is an interview stage that assesses a candidate’s job-specific technical skills and problem-solving ability, often through coding exercises, system-design discussions, case problems, or hands-on tasks. Its purpose is to verify that the person can actually do the work, not just describe it. Read Video Interview A video interview is an interview conducted over video rather than in person, in one of two forms: a live two-way call, or a one-way (asynchronous) format where the candidate records answers to set questions for reviewers to watch later. It is widely used to screen candidates efficiently across locations. ReadFrequently asked questions
What is a structured interview?
A structured interview asks every candidate the same predetermined questions, scored against a consistent rubric. It is more reliable and fairer than an unstructured conversation because it compares candidates on the same evidence rather than on rapport.
What is the difference between a behavioural and a situational interview?
A behavioural interview asks about past experience (“tell me about a time you…”), on the premise that past behaviour predicts future behaviour. A situational interview poses a hypothetical (“what would you do if…”). One tests track record; the other tests judgement.
What is an assessment centre?
An assessment centre evaluates candidates through a series of exercises — group tasks, presentations, role-plays, and tests — often over a day. It gives a fuller, multi-angle read on ability than a single interview, and is common for leadership and graduate hiring.
How do interview scorecards reduce bias?
A scorecard has each interviewer rate defined competencies independently, before any group discussion. Recording judgements against fixed criteria stops confident personalities and first impressions from dominating the debrief, surfacing each interviewer’s real assessment.