Evaluation Scorecards for Candidates: Why You Should Use Them (Includes Free Template)

What do you do when you need to conduct candidate interviews? Do you fly by the seat of your pants and just “see” how the conversation goes? Do you have a general sense of things you want to ask? Perhaps you have a standard set of questions that you use for each job opening. To improve your interview process, we recommend using an evaluation scorecard. It will make your interview process more consistent and reliable.

Evaluation scorecards are templates you can use to ask identical questions of all candidates interviewing for the same position. This process allows you to better understand how:

• The prospect will fit within the job
• Well your organization’s culture and the candidate align
• Each interviewee stacks up against the others

Evaluation scorecards also give you a place to take relevant notes, allowing you to cleanly align answers with their associated questions. So, let’s dive in and discover other benefits you can realize from using a scorecard and how to manage this process.

3 reasons you want to consider using candidate evaluation scorecards

Conducting interviews can be a challenging process. Using candidate evaluation scorecards can help you navigate the potential potholes that are out there. Let’s start by going over 3 essential rules for conducting interviews.

The first rule of interviewing is, don’t ask any questions that trip Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) investigations. Those would be questions that tread on our protected areas of life, including:

• Age
• Color
• Genetic history
• National Origin
• Race
• Religion
• Sex
• Among others

Although you would never intend to have any bias during the interview process, it can easily sneak up and present itself as “that gut feeling that the person is right for the job” or as “the person just clicked with you.” As tempting as it is to follow that internal instinct, neither is a legitimate reason to choose one candidate over another to fill a position.

Although you would never intend to have any bias during the interview process, it can easily sneak up and present itself as “that gut feeling that the person is right for the job” or as “the person just clicked with you.”

Along the same lines, the second rule of interviewing is to keep your personal observations to yourself — do not write them down. Often, those observations are based on personal bias and will not affect a candidate’s ability to succeed in the role. Some dangerous examples could include the candidate::

• Was not appropriately dressed for the interview
• Had an accent that was hard to understand
• Wore ethnic garb
• Displayed religious jewelry

The 3rd rule of interviewing is, don’t take notes on a candidate’s resume. Resumes are a document that must be retained for several years as part of the hiring process for any position. Using a separate candidate evaluation scorecard provides you with a place to take notes and provides stronger documentation should the Department of Labor (DOL) ever come calling.

How to use candidate evaluation scorecards

“Success depends upon previous preparation, and without such preparation, there is sure to be failure.” ~ Confucius

A well-prepared interviewer makes for a successful interview process. Part of that preparation includes ensuring the interview questions are aligned with the job description. First, you need to make sure your job description is an accurate reflection of the open position.

“Success depends upon previous preparation, and without such preparation, there is sure to be failure.” ~ Confucius

Once you’ve reviewed the description and updated it if needed, identify the top 3 skills a successful incumbent must possess for that job. Build experiential questions around those skills. Structure the question so you ask them to tell you about a time when they (fill in the blank). You want to find out how each candidate applied that skill set to real-life situations.

Answering questions in the PAR format

For each question you ask, you will want the prospect to provide complete and specific answers about their role in the scenario. It’s human nature to talk in terms of “we.” When that happens, ask the candidate to tell you about their individual part in that process.

To get to those complete answers, you can advise the interviewee to answer questions in the PAR format. Here’s what you’re looking for:

• The candidate should state the nature of the Problem/situation/task
• They’ll follow that with what Action they took to resolve the issue
• Finally, you’ll want to know what the Result or the outcome was and how they know that’s what happened.

After the interview is finished, you will score each question as to how completely it was answered and how that response aligns with the job’s requirements. You’ll follow the same process for each candidate.

When you first adopt the process, it may seem somewhat laborious. Still, it has definite benefits that your company can experience.

5 benefits of using candidate evaluation scorecards

When you’re in the midst of the interviewing process, your goal is to put the best candidate in that vacant position. A robust process can help you do that more efficiently and effectively. Here are 5 valuable benefits you’ll realize when you use evaluation scorecards in your hiring process. You will be able to:

• Clearly define skills and proficiencies needed for the role. Use the open position’s associated job description to identify the strengths an individual must possess to be successful. Translate those skills into experiential questions you can use to discern the prospect’s actual experience.
• Provide consistency not only among candidates but also among interviewers. Now that you’ve created a set of questions specifically related to the job you need to fill, you can ensure that everyone interviewing the candidate asks the same questions. This also ensures that each candidate is placed on a level interviewing platform.
• Improve interviewer memory. When you’re interviewing multiple prospects, it’s human nature to lose track of which individual said what. Having a place to make notes about those consistent questions gives you a record of which candidate provided that well-thought-out response and which floundered.
• Turn interviewing into a data-driven rather than a perception-driven process. Part of the candidate evaluation scorecard process is actually scoring how effectively each individual answered the question. You put facts and structure behind your approach by scoring the answers and comparing the results of those scores.
• Make improved hiring decisions. Because you ask your candidates for specific examples of when they had certain experiences, you can compare that information across all interviewees and make more informed decisions.

These are just a handful of the big-picture benefits your company can experience when you use a consistent process.

You can strengthen your company

Evaluation scorecards will not only improve your interviewing process, but they can also improve your overall employee bench strength:

• Bonus benefit: Improve future recruiting candidate pipelines. Not everyone will be a good fit for the position you’re currently focused on. However, this process can provide you with information demonstrating that someone may be just the person you were looking for when considering a different job.

When you use candidate evaluation scorecards, you set your company up for:

• Consistency in the candidate’s interview process
• Specific situational candidate answers
• Safe documentation that is specific to the candidate’s relevant experience
• Better and qualified hires
• Data-driven decision making

Download a free evaluation scorecard template here.

A guide for your entire hiring process

If you’re feeling overwhelmed or would like to have a booklet at your fingertips that will walk you through the entire hiring process, you’re not alone. We have a resource that walks you through everything from writing complete job descriptions to making a tempting job offer. Take time to look at our Ultimate Recruiting Toolkit. This resource will provide you with the information you need to move your company to the next level in your hiring processes.