Businesses today need to look out for the best technologies and innovations that would help them be more productive and efficient. However, they also have to pay equal attention to the kind of employees they hire.
An efficient HR team can make things possible and ensure that they attract, assess, and acquire the best talent as per the company’s needs and requirements. An interview, if done effectively, can enable the employer to make decisions about whether the skills and work experience of the ideal candidate meet the requirement of the position vacant. This is why getting the interview done the right way is critical to the success of the business.
In simple terms, an interview is an exchange of information between the candidate and the employer to help the employer understand and choose the best person for the job available. The purpose of the interview isn’t only to determine the relevancy of the candidate’s skills and experience about the job, but also to check for their suitability for the job as well. To make the interview process more efficient and better, hiring teams today make use of interview scorecards to evaluate a candidate in the interview process.
What is an Interview Scorecard?
Various hiring teams today prefer to conduct unstructured interviews that allow candidates more freedom to respond spontaneously. However, in the changing times, poor hiring decisions can cost a company. Hence, many hiring teams today prefer to conduct structured interviews that have scorecards to evaluate the personality, skills, and experience of the ideal candidate.
An interview scorecard works like a pre-determined set of criteria for various soft and hard skills required for the vacant job position.This makes the interview process structured and consistent as all members of the hiring team would fill in the interview scorecard for every candidate they interview.
Eventually, the scores will be tallied and the candidate with the best score will be hired for the designated position.
Generally, the interview score parameters are divided into certain categories like evaluating soft and hard skills on a ranking scale, understanding cultural fit and adding important notes about how the candidate answered certain questions, areas of concern, and suitability to the role. However, in certain job interview scenarios, HR teams may come up with a custom interview scorecard to ensure that they hire the best candidate for the job.
Why Do You Need an Interview Scorecard?
Over the years, the concept of an interview scorecard has gained a lot of popularity and many companies now prefer to conduct structured interviews that allow them to have the same consistency and clarity.
Let’s take a quick look at the benefits of an interview scorecard and why many hiring teams today prefer to make use of it.
#1 Better Hiring Decisions
Businesses cannot risk hiring candidates that are unfit for the jobs available. Hence, many hiring teams today make use of interview scorecards that would allow them to make better decisions. With the help of these scorecards, HR team members can make the right choice on how to select the best candidate that is fit and suitable for the position available within the company. This would allow the company to save time and effort and ensure that they can secure the best talent that they can find.
#2 Eliminate Unrealistic Expectations
During an interview process, it is necessary to understand what the company expects from a candidate and interview scorecards can help set realistic expectations. Many hiring teams that do not make use of interview scorecards often make use of unstructured interviews that would make it hard for them to decide what candidate to hire and that causes jobs to remain open for extended periods. This can severely impact the performance of the company and cost the company a lot of money.
#3 Consistent Methodology
There are times when more than one member of the HR team would conduct an interview. This can lead to variations in how these interviews were conducted. With the help of an interview scorecard, a consistent methodology can be established to ensure that all members of the HR team would follow the same interview scorecard template. You can later compare the scores and choose a candidate that scores the highest score. Interview scorecards are also ideal for interview panel members that can have individual observations but will use the same scoring methodology.
#4 Better Internal Feedback and Response
Often HR teams have to focus on the requirement of a specific department while hiring. Hence, when you are done with the interview you need to provide feedback to the manager of the department about the list of candidates you think are suitable for the job. With the help of an interview scorecard, you can provide this information in an easy and presentable way and ensure that you can get the right internal feedback and response. With a standard interview scorecard, you can send them to the manager and get their feedback and response for a collaborative hiring process.
#5 Effective Documentation
With the help of an interview scorecard, you can also take notes during the interview rounds and ensure that you keep that record to be clearer about the personality and certain things you want to note about the candidate. With unstructured interviews, you might not take notes and you can forget what the candidate mentioned and said during the interview rounds. With an interview scorecard, you can have all the details and information of the candidate for future interviews.
#6 Eliminates Personal Bias
While choosing the ideal candidate for the position available you need to focus on hiring candidates that are suitable for the job. However, personal bias can likely lead to the selection or elimination of the right candidate when different members of the HR team conduct interviews. With an interview scorecard, team members can identify the skills, experience, and personality of the candidate using those interview questions.
#7 Helps in Upskilling
Upskilling or teaching an employee a new skill is very important when it comes to staying relevant in an organization. When you have an interview scorecard on an existing employee, you know where their strengths lie. This can be used for upskilling them, instead of hiring a new employee. It can also help them perform better. This would reduce employee turnover and optimize the company resources and also help in saving time.
Interview Scorecard Template
There are different templates for different interview scorecards. Hence, you must know the basic template and broad categories that would allow you to have a basic understanding of how the interview scorecard works.
In most cases, the scorecard will have four columns where:
Column 1: Category of Information
Column 2: Summary of what you’re looking for
Column 3: Candidate’s response
Column 4: Scale (1 to 5) or (1 to 10)
In terms of categories you would want to ensure that your interview score template must have these categories:
- Job Title
- Role Deliverables
- Long-Term Goals
- Knowledge of Tools and Techniques
- Experience
- Character Traits
- Work Style
- Career Desires
- Soft Skills
- Culture Fit
- Areas of Concern
- Potential Strengths
- Additional Comments
These categories will allow you to create a scorecard that would allow you to evaluate different candidates based on the interview scorecard you have. You can always add or remove categories based on your company’s requirements and needs.
Conclusion
Interview scorecard is becoming a common practice globally as HR teams today would want to make the most of the hiring process. With the help of structured interviews, they can avoid making poor hiring decisions. Also, with the help of the scorecard, you can have many benefits that allow you to manage your HR duties the right way. Following a standard interview scorecard would bring more consistency in the way candidates are selected. Also, you can eliminate personal bias and speed up the hiring process, and choose candidates that have the required skills and experience for the available position.
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FAQs on Interview Scorecard
Should you notify the candidate that you are using an interview scorecard?
Yes. Transparency is a great way to make the interview process better and more efficient. This builds trust between the candidate and the interviewer. Also, the candidate will have a better understanding of how they will be rated and will do their best to answer your interview questions.
Can you decide what questions to include in the interview scorecard?
Different businesses have different demands and needs. Hence, HR teams need to evaluate what they expect and determine what skills and traits are the most important for the job they are interviewing for. Create the list of questions accordingly to choose the right candidate for the job.
What questions are not ideal for an interview scorecard?
Questions related to the candidate’s gender, race, religion, pregnancy status, and income status are potentially offensive and not suitable for the interview scorecard.
Can telling about the interview scorecard beforehand help to improve the candidate experience?
Yes. Many candidates prefer to have information on how they will be evaluated and how the interview will be conducted. This indicates to the candidate that you conduct fair interviews and hiring practices and are open and transparent about the process which builds trust and candidate experience.
Should you update your interview scorecard questions regularly?
In general, the interview scorecard questions would stay more or less the same. However, if you believe that you need to add more questions to determine and select the right candidate for the job you can make the changes.
