How to Conduct Fair and Revealing Job Interviews (That Lead to Great Hiring Decisions)

A practical shortcut inspired by Topgrading—without the heavy lift

By Scott Drake
Founder

Most job interviews fall into one of two patterns:

1. A loose, free-flowing conversation built on gut feel.
2. A rigid checklist of identical questions asked in the same order.

Both are flawed.

The conversational approach leads to warm but unreliable impressions. The checklist feels fair but often strips away context, leading to shallow answers. Worse, it can feel like a game of stump-the-candidate, even if that's not the intent.

If you want to make consistently great hiring decisions, you need a method that combines structure with context. One that helps candidates show what they're capable of, while giving you the clarity to compare what actually matters across interviews.

That's where a combined chronological + behavioral interview approach shines.

It's a core idea in the Topgrading methodology and the book Who: The A Method for Hiring by Geoff Smart and Randy Street.

This article is a shortcut if you don't have time to read the book.

Why Chronological + Behavioral Works

Chronological interviews walk through each role in a candidate's career, starting with early jobs and moving forward. They help you understand the arc of someone's growth: the decisions they made, the challenges they faced, the results they delivered, and why they moved on.

Behavioral interviews ask candidates to describe what they did in specific situations, especially when under pressure, leading others, or solving problems.

Examples of behavioral questions are "Tell me about a time where you dealt with an irate customer," or "Describe a situation where your team missed a deadline or goal. How did you handle it, and what did you learn?"

These questions help you uncover patterns in judgment, ownership, and emotional maturity, but can feel very random and hard to answer to an interviewee.

When you combine the two, the interview becomes both structured and flexible. You move through the timeline of their experience while pausing to explore key moments with behavioral depth. To be clear, you don't ask every behavioral question with each job. You look for opportunities to ask your behavioral questions as they tell their stories.

Why does this combo work better? Because it gives you clearer, more grounded answers:

• It anchors behavioral questions in real-world context.
• It helps candidates recall relevant, honest examples without scrambling.
• It makes it easier to detect consistent patterns across roles.

You're not jumping from one hypothetical to another. You're walking through what actually happened, step by step.

Reduce Stress, Improve Decisions

One of your goals in any interview is to reduce stress for the candidate and for yourself.

That's not about being "soft." It's about creating the conditions for a clear, mutual decision.

You need to understand what the candidate is truly capable of. They need to get a feel for the role, the expectations, and the way your team works. If either side is faking or flinching, you're not setting up for a strong hire.

Here's why this method helps:

• Candidates feel comfortable sharing. People naturally open up when they're telling their own story, not reacting to random prompts.
• Interviewers stay grounded. You don't need to memorize questions. The resume gives you a built-in map.
• The conversation flows. You're not lobbing disconnected questions; you're following a thread.

You still get rigor. You still ask hard questions. But the stress drops, and the signal improves.

Most candidates don't fear tough conversations. They fear being misunderstood or misjudged. A fair, revealing interview gives them a shot to show you who they are. And it gives you the clarity to make the right call.

Start with a Scorecard

Before you step into the interview, get clear on what you're hiring for.

A scorecard helps you define what "great" looks like in this role. It's not a list of vague traits or a copy-paste from the job posting. It's a short, specific set of success markers that you'll evaluate during the interview.

A solid scorecard includes:

• Key competencies – What do you actually need this person to do well? Think: ownership, communication, adaptability, cross-functional influence, etc.
• Culture and team fit – What mindset or behaviors are non-negotiable on your team? Do they need to handle ambiguity well? Are they stepping into a highly collaborative or highly independent role?
• Red flags to watch for – What behaviors or gaps would concern you? (Blame-shifting, vague results, lack of growth over time.)

The goal is to make evaluation easier, not harder. You're creating a lens to see candidates more clearly and compare them more fairly.

This gives your behavioral exploration purpose. You're not just asking, "Tell me about a time..." You're looking for evidence that maps back to what matters most in this role.

And if multiple people are involved in hiring? A shared scorecard keeps the team aligned and reduces bias.

Map the Interview: Roles + Real-Time Exploration

This isn't a rigid script. It's a roadmap.

In this interview, you'll walk through the candidate's resume chronologically, from their earliest relevant job to the most recent, pausing at each stop to explore.

For each role, ask:

• What were you hired to do? (Context and expectations)
• What did success look like in that role? (Goals and measurement)
• What are you proud of? (Self-awareness and priorities)
• What was the biggest challenge? (Problem-solving and resilience)
• Why did you leave? (Decision-making and career trajectory)

As the candidate answers, look for natural openings to explore the behaviors on your scorecard.

Let's say one of your key behaviors is "delivers under pressure." If they mention launching a major project during a company reorg, that's your moment. Pause and go deeper. Ask how they approached it, what decisions they made, and how they managed themselves and others.

The best interviews find those moments inside the candidate's story to explore behaviors with curiosity and care.

And if you get to the end of the interview and realize you haven't seen a clear signal for one of your scorecard behaviors? That's when it makes sense to ask a direct behavioral question as a follow-up.

Make It Conversational, Not Robotic

You're not delivering a survey. You're having a structured, purposeful conversation.

A chronological format keeps the interview grounded, but it shouldn't feel like a checklist. Let the candidate tell their story. Ask smart follow-ups. Then return to your map and move to the next stop.

Some easy transitions:

• "What prompted the move to [next company]?"
• "That sounds like a big challenge—how did you approach it?"
• "What did your team need most from you during that time?"

When something interesting surfaces, stay with it. Ask about how they made decisions, how they influenced others, what they'd do differently today.

The goal is to create space for real insight, not just surface-level answers. If it feels like a conversation, you're doing it right.

What to Listen For (and Write Down)

Interviews generate a lot of words. Your job is to filter for signal, not just soak in stories.

As you listen, match what you're hearing to your scorecard. You're looking for:

• Specific examples (vs. vague generalities)
• Clear results (what happened, not just what was attempted)
• Patterns across roles (e.g., always the team problem-solver, or consistently vague about conflict)
• Learning over time (what they've taken from past experiences and how they've applied it)

Don't try to write everything down. Jot quick notes tied to scorecard behaviors. Use the candidate's own words when possible. After the interview, spend 5-10 minutes fleshing out your impressions while it's fresh.

Structure your notes using the STAR framework:

• Situation – What was the context?
• Task – What was the objective?
• Action – What did the candidate do?
• Result – What happened because of it?

This makes it easier to review, easier to remember, and easier to share with the hiring team later.

Sample Interview Flow

You don't need a timer, but you do need a rhythm. Here's a sample 60-minute structure to guide your pacing:

• 5 minutes – Warm-up, context setting ("I'd like to walk through your experience and learn more about how you've tackled key challenges.")
• 40–45 minutes – Chronological walk-through with real-time exploration of behaviors and patterns
• 5–10 minutes – Candidate questions and close

If time allows, use the wrap-up to check for any missing signals on your scorecard. That's the moment to say, "One thing I haven't heard much about yet is how you handle difficult feedback. Any experience come to mind?"

Keep it conversational. Keep it human. Keep it focused.

Final Thought: It's a Mutual Decision—Treat It That Way

A great interview doesn't just help you make a better decision; it helps the candidate make one, too.

You're not just screening them. They're screening you. That's why it's critical to show up with honesty and transparency about what it's like to work at your company.

As the candidate shares stories, share some of your own. Be open about how your team handles challenges, communicates, and works under pressure. If they mention frustrations with things your company does—don't dodge. Explore it. If those things are true here too, it's better to surface that now than have a misaligned hire walk out six months later.

Clarity goes both ways.

This combination of structured walk-through and story-driven exploration helps both sides make informed decisions—faster and with less guesswork.

It's better for the candidate. It's better for the interviewer. And it leads to stronger hires, every time.

If you're short on time or don't have the capacity to implement a full Topgrading system, start here. Create a scorecard. Walk the resume. Dig into the moments that matter.

That's how you stop guessing and start hiring with confidence.