HR: Structured Interview Guides

According to a SHRM.org report, 5/22/09, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court affirmed a summary judgement against a sexual harassment claim of an unsuccessful female applicant. The candidate alleged she was not hired because of poor performance on a "scripted interview" measuring specific job competencies. The case was somewhat complicated by other charges including an earlier sexual harassment cased involving the facility (relevance?), the absence of females in nontraditional jobs, the interview panel was all male. One interesting factor she alleged was that the employer destroyed the interview notes.

Comment: The most damaging piece of this is that another woman was hired using the process. But in addition, the prior sexual harassment case cited was 15 years earlier, involving none of the decision-makers involved in the interview. But most importantly, the court held that requiring interviewers to ask each applicant and rate each applicant's responses to the same job-related questions "foreclosed excessive subjectivity."

Clearly one of my biggest interests and activities is the development of structured interview guides based on performance-based interviewing. We have always argued that these are the best and most legally defensible actions an employer can take.