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FAIR EMPLOYMENT INTERVIEW PROCESS IN AUSTRALIA

Updated: 3 days ago

In many hiring processes, we cling to the comfort of a structured interview: same questions, same scoring matrix, same false sense of objectivity. We convince ourselves it’s fair, consistent, and scalable.


Sometimes, business owners are even told it’s the law, but sadly;


A FAIR INTERVIEW PROCESS IN AUSTRALIA DOES NOT REQUIRE YOU TO ASK EVERY CANDIDATE THE SAME QUESTIONS.


We're here to share some fresh insights into why you may have been sold a lie.


When we ask every candidate the same questions, we aren't just standardising; we're flattening. We're measuring one person against another rather than assessing fit for role, impact, pace, ambition, and cultural congruence. In effect, we reduce hiring to a game of comparative performance rather than a decision about alignment.


In fact, this "equal questions = fair process" thinking contributes to some of the most persistent challenges modern organisations face:


  • Mis-hires

  • Disengaged teams

  • Culture mismatches

  • Faster churn

  • Burned-out leaders stuck fixing people problems


There is a misunderstanding of what a fair interview process in Australia actually is and how it should function in the future of work.



THE INTERVIEW FAIRNESS FALLACY


To confirm, there is no legal requirement in Australia to ask every candidate the same interview questions.


What is required under the Fair Work Act, the Australian Human Rights Commission Act, and anti-discrimination legislation is that your interview process is:


  • Fair (candidates assessed against the same role criteria/metrics)

  • Consistent (not ad hoc or biased)

  • Non-discriminatory (free of questions or assumptions tied to age, sex, disability, ethnicity, etc.)


That means your assessment criteria must be consistent, but your questions can vary, so long as they are grounded in those same core criteria.


Fair ≠ same.


In fact, insisting on sameness often causes more harm than good, leading to rigid, transactional hiring and missed opportunities to uncover real alignment.


Assembly line of Human Silhouettes


CONGRUENCE OVER COMPARISON


When every candidate gets the same set of questions, what are you really assessing?


You’re not hiring for impact. You’re just ranking people in a vacuum.


This is comparison over concordance, and it’s outdated.


At A Human Edge, we see talent identification and acquisition as strategic matchmaking. This process requires attention to nuance and potential to perform, along with a deep understanding of human complexity.


UNDERSTANDING THE ROLE


This means understanding the behavioural and biopsychosocial demands of the role. It's crucial to grasp the real shape of what success requires and to ensure the candidate will love what they do and who they do it with.


This becomes a high-resolution avatar and performance blueprint rooted in:


  • Each individual walks into the room with different contexts, lived experiences, motivations, values, and cognitive wiring.

  • To truly assess their potential to create impact, our questions must meet them at their starting point.


True congruence isn’t revealed by how someone answers the same question everyone else did. It’s revealed by how they connect to this mission, this culture, and this role’s real-life challenges.


A question that uncovers a potential misalignment in one candidate may be completely irrelevant to another who brings a different shape of value. When we instead frame our process to elicit concordance - shared values, mutual expectations, and behavioural alignment - we reveal what matters:


  • Can this person amplify what we’re building?

  • Will they be fulfilled doing it?


This is our Talent Congruence model, where capability, character, context, and contribution are matched.


We then design a questioning framework that explores congruence, not comparison, using a mix of consistent assessment benchmarks and tailored probes that surface real-world alignment.


Most businesses don’t do this. They chase availability. They hire for now. Then they overpay in perks, workshops, compliance, and damage control.



THE BEST PLAYERS IN A TEAM DON'T WIN THE MATCH ON THEIR OWN


In high-performance sport, teams don’t just recruit based on general excellence. They also recruit for:


  • Specific skills

  • Team dynamics

  • Role requirements


They don’t ask a sprinter and a midfielder the same questions. They ask what the game requires of them.


We bring that same lens into the workplace, mapping:


  • Team needs

  • Role specifications

  • Cultural fit


We then interview for those variables—legally compliant, deeply human, and commercially intelligent.


So whilst the idea that we're searching for 'the best' candidate is seductive, it's dangerously simplistic.


“Best” in comparison to what? To whom? For how long?


More often, businesses don’t need the objective ‘best’; they need the one who fits the team, the role, and the business context.


And you don’t find that through standardisation. You find it through depth, curiosity, and adaptability.



Juxta™: INFRUSTRUCTURE FOR CONCORDANCE TALENT MATCHING


Where does our proprietary software, Juxta™, come in?


It acts as the ecosystem infrastructure that supports this strategic shift.


Juxta™ matches biopsychosocial profiles of humans to roles, factoring not just experience, but motivation, working style, pace, values, and potential. It’s not recruitment tech; it’s alignment intelligence.


But it doesn’t replace people. A Human Edge still brings the human lens: behavioural science, deep listening, challenge mapping, and performance calibration.


Together, we build talent systems designed for real-world impact, not box-ticking compliance.



WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU DON'T SHIFT


And here’s the reality:


You can’t coach someone into concordance.


If the shape of who they are doesn’t match the shape of the challenge, they’ll burn out, stall out, or walk out.



OUR TALENT ID METHOD


1. AVATART FIRST

We build a behavioural and biopsychosocial success profile before any job is advertised.


2. CONCORDANCE-CENTRED INTERVIEWING

We blend structured, legally compliant benchmarks with dynamic, role-specific questions that surface a true match.


3. Juxta™ TALENT MATCHING INFRUSTRUCTURE

We activate Juxta’s matching intelligence to build talent ecosystems that bring mutual power between talent and businesses, not just to fill reactive roles.


4. DOCUMENTED, DEFENSIBLE DECISIONS

Every hiring decision is traceable back to consistent, role-based criteria, protecting you legally, operationally, and commercially.



IN CLOSING


A fair interview process in Australia isn’t one where everyone answers the same script. It’s one where:


  • Every person is assessed consistently.

  • Every role is understood deeply.

  • Every decision is made with clarity and alignment to a clear set of metrics that matter.


If you want someone to tick boxes, ask the same questions. If you want someone to drive impact, match for concordance.


Because sameness might feel safe. But it’s alignment that sustains performance.


Let's Connect @ hello@ahumanedge.com

 
 
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