01 / Relevance
What this could mean
The discussion points to a possible tension between familiar interview conventions and fair, useful assessment. For UK employers, the question is whether interview norms—such as expectations about candidates’ behaviour—are helping identify job-related capability or filtering for style and familiarity.
02 / Evaluation
How to judge its significance
This signal matters more if hiring teams cannot explain how interview questions and judgements relate to the role, or if similar answers receive different treatment. It may matter less where interviews are only one structured input alongside clearly relevant, consistently applied evidence.
03 / Learning
What to take from it
A hiring method can feel professional and still produce weak or uneven evidence. The transferable principle is to assess candidates against explicit role requirements, rather than treating confidence, polish or conformity to unwritten etiquette as reliable proxies for performance.
04 / Application
Use this in your organisation
For an upcoming vacancy, ask the panel to identify the capabilities each interview question is meant to test and agree what a strong answer would demonstrate. Consider a short, role-relevant task or work sample where it can be offered consistently and accessibly.
05 / Evidence
What would test the idea
Review a small sample of recent interview notes: do they record evidence against agreed criteria, or impressions such as “good fit” without explanation? Ask panel members to compare how they would score the same example answer and investigate any unexplained differences.
The source trail
Read the original report
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The Guardian Business · Feed record 2026-09-28 · Discussion 2026-09-28