# Unstructured interview

An unstructured interview has no fixed question set or order. The interviewer follows the conversation wherever it goes, asking different candidates different things depending on their resume and how the discussion develops.

It's the loosest end of the spectrum that runs from unstructured to fully structured interviews.

**Unstructured interview** — An unstructured interview has no fixed question set or order. The interviewer follows the conversation wherever it goes, asking different candidates different things depending on their resume and how the discussion develops. There's no shared rubric requiring every candidate to answer the same prompts, which makes the format feel more like a natural conversation than an exam.

Small teams, early-stage startups, and informal culture-fit conversations lean toward unstructured interviews because they build rapport quickly and let an interviewer chase whatever seems most relevant about a specific candidate. The cost is consistency: two candidates for the same role can walk away from completely different conversations, which makes it harder to compare them fairly afterward and leaves more room for an interviewer's personal bias to shape the outcome without anyone noticing.

## Frequently asked questions

### Is an unstructured interview the same as a casual chat?

It can feel that way to the candidate, but the interviewer is still evaluating fit, skills, and communication. The difference from a structured interview is the absence of a fixed script and rubric, not the absence of evaluation.

### Why do some employers avoid unstructured interviews?

Because they're harder to defend and compare. Without a shared question set, it's difficult to say objectively why one candidate was rated higher than another, and research on hiring consistently favors structured formats for reducing bias and improving prediction of job performance.

### Can an interview be part structured and part unstructured?

Yes, and this is common. Many interviews open with a fixed set of core questions asked of every candidate, then leave time at the end for open, candidate-specific conversation. This hybrid is often called a semi-structured interview.

## Related pages

- [Browse open roles](/jobs)

## Get comfortable with open-ended questions

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