Interview Scorecards: The Secret to Better Hiring Outcomes

Each interviewer should have assigned areas to assess and rate candidates. This ensures that candidates are evaluated on the must-have skills and qualifications without being asked the same questions in each interview.

Scorecards can guide your team toward more consistent interviews so that each candidate is being evaluated on the same criteria at each stage in the interview process.

This is particularly important if multiple interviewers are involved in a single stage of your recruitment process. A consistent interview format and hiring scorecard means each interviewer can evaluate candidates in the same way.

When every interviewer uses the same scorecard with consistent rating criteria, comparing candidates becomes significantly easier.

Candidate ratings can be used to quickly identify top performers, while comments help hiring teams discuss specific strengths and potential concerns. This can help you make more informed hiring decisions and improve your quality of hire.

One-third of candidates have experienced bias in the interview process. 

A standardized evaluation process helps mitigate these biases by guiding interviewers to focus on objective criteria rather than gut feelings or subjective impressions.

Scorecards can be used to collect candidate feedback from your team members throughout the interview process so that it can be offered to candidates who aren’t selected. This is a worthwhile way to improve your candidate experience: 70% of candidates said that receiving a clear reason for why they weren’t selected would leave them with a positive impression of the company

Feedback helps your candidates improve so they can find their next role, or expand their experience and reapply with your organization in the future.

The first step in creating an interview scorecard is identifying the key competencies and skills that are most important for the role. These should be a mix of role-specific technical skills, as well as soft skills needed for the role and culture-fit within the organization.

Refer to the job description and collaborate with team members who work closely with the role to gather insights into what skills and attributes are truly necessary.

Once you have your list of competencies, decide how you’ll score them.

A simple rating scale works best—something like thumbs up and thumbs down to convey whether the candidate demonstrated the required competencies and skills.

Clear scoring criteria will help interviewers stay consistent in their evaluations.

Your scorecard should have space for interviewers to jot down notes, observations, and specific examples that justify the scores they’ve given. While the numbers provide structure, these notes offer critical context and insights that can inform the final decision.

For example, an interviewer might note that while a candidate scored a “double thumbs down” on problem-solving, they demonstrated an impressive ability to think creatively about a particularly challenging question. This additional detail can be valuable when comparing candidates who have similar scores.

An effective interview scorecard is a delicate balance between comprehensive insight and streamlined design. Overloaded scorecards can paralyze interviewers with too much information, while overly simplistic forms miss crucial evaluation points. 

The goal is to create a one-page document that captures the most critical candidate assessment elements. Focus on core competencies that directly relate to job performance, allowing interviewers to quickly and accurately assess a candidate’s potential without getting bogged down in unnecessary details.

Training ensures consistency across interviewers, creating a fairer and more reliable process.

Encourage interviewers to score candidates during or immediately after the interview while their impressions are still fresh. This helps capture a more accurate assessment and avoids the influence of subsequent interviews or discussions.

Let candidates know you’ll be taking notes during the interview so they understand that your full attention is on them—and make sure that it is. Close other programs on your computer or use a pen and paper if needed.

Once all interviews are complete, use the scorecards to facilitate discussions among the hiring team. Because everyone has been working from the same criteria, it’s easier to compare candidates, highlight key strengths and weaknesses, and come to a consensus.

If all competencies aren’t equally important, scores should be weighted accordingly. For example, a must-have technical skill may be weighted more heavily than a soft skill or a technical skill that can be learned on the job.

Assign a percentage value to each competency and multiply it by the candidate’s rating in each area to factor in less important skills.

No process is perfect on the first try. After each hiring cycle, gather feedback from your team on how the scorecard worked. Did the scoring criteria accurately reflect the job’s needs? Were there any areas that were difficult to assess? Use this feedback to continuously refine and improve your scorecard.