[FREE] Interview Evaluation Form and Step-by-Step Guide
The use of interview evaluation forms can significantly enhance the effectiveness, fairness, and consistency of the overall hiring process for organizations by streamlining the interview process and ensuring that all candidates are objectively evaluated. This promotes diversity and ensures the best candidate for the job role is hired.
Over time, HR professionals can use candidate interview evaluation forms to improve the overall quality of the workforce and support the organization’s strategic objectives.
In this article, we will provide a comprehensive guide to help you structure an interview evaluation. Our free interview evaluation form can also serve as a starting point for your organization.
Contents
What is an interview evaluation form?
How to structure the interview evaluation form
Creating an interview evaluation form in 6 steps
Implementing interview evaluation forms
Integrating interview evaluation forms into the hiring process
Common mistakes to avoid in interview evaluations
Interview evaluation form example
How to effectively use the interview evaluation forms results
What is an interview evaluation form?
An interview evaluation is a systematic way to assess a candidate’s suitability for a particular job role based on their performance during an interview. This evaluation allows HR professionals and hiring managers to objectively measure a candidate’s skills, experience, and fit within the organization’s culture and job requirements without bias. The evaluation is crucial to the hiring process as it helps organizations make informed decisions regarding candidates, reduce hiring errors, and improve workforce quality.
An interview evaluation form is a structured document used during the hiring process to record and assess a candidate’s performance in the interview. The form typically contains various evaluation criteria, including technical skills, communication skills, experience, problem-solving abilities, cultural fit, and other role-specific parameters.
Why should HR professionals use interview evaluation forms?
One of the most important reasons HR professionals and hiring managers should use an interview evaluation form is that it makes the hiring process objective. By ensuring a standardized interview approach, HR professionals can maintain consistency and fairness throughout the recruitment process across different interviewers and candidates, and the risk of biases is eliminated.
A structured and uniform set of criteria to evaluate all candidates ensures that the evaluation is based on job-related factors rather than personal biases or preconceptions.
What the stats say:
According to a study published in the Harvard Business Review, between 85% and 97% of hiring managers rely on intuition when processing candidate applications, believing that they understand the job roles and organizational culture well enough to know who will fit the business well. Unfortunately, this opens the door for unconscious biases, and the result is often a lack of diversity or hiring the best candidates for the role.
It’s an important distinction that makes a difference to the business’s overall performance. A report from McKinsey, “Delivering Through Diversity,” found that firms with gender diversity on their executive teams were 21% more likely to experience above-average profits. In addition, organizations with more ethnically and culturally diverse executive teams were 33% more likely to see better-than-average profits. At the board of directors’ level, this rose to 43%, showing a significant correlation between diversity and performance.
Unfortunately, one of the reasons why gender, cultural and ethnic diversity remains low for many organizations is unconscious bias during the hiring and selection process. A Yale University study measured how objectively male and female scientists were hired for specific roles. The scientists in the study had taken a training course on how to hire objectively and believed they were doing just that. Instead, the study revealed they still preferred to hire men over women, viewing them as more skilled despite any evidence to back this assertion, and were even willing to offer higher salaries.
A study run by Princeton and Harvard researchers found that when symphonies started to hold blind auditions for musicians, the results of the auditions changed dramatically. Female musicians were immediately 50% more likely to make it to the next round of the audition process.
While objectivity is a key reason supporting the interview evaluation method of comparing candidates, interview evaluation forms also make the entire process more structured and efficient because interviewers have a clear process to follow. This saves time, streamlines the process, and ultimately ensures candidates are hired that can positively impact the bottom line.
How to structure the interview evaluation form
An interview evaluation form is typically divided into various sections, each designed to assess different aspects of the candidate’s profile. What’s important to understand about interview evaluation forms is that they are standardized and score candidates according to specific criteria. This is why they are often referred to as interview scoring sheets.
Each answer will have a value, and when those values are added up, there will be candidates who clearly score higher than others in terms of their job role and culture fit. What HR professionals often find interesting when they move to this interview method is that the high scorers are often not who they expected.
Here’s an overview of the sections HR professionals should consider including in an interview scoring sheet:
- Personal information: Record basic information about the candidate, such as their name, the position they applied for, the date of the interview, and the names of the interviewers. This section sets the stage for the evaluation form and allows easy identification and tracking of the candidate’s application.
- Job relevance: Evaluate the candidate’s experience, qualifications, and skills relevant to the job. This section could include questions about the candidate’s education, previous job roles, key responsibilities, and achievements. A rating scale can be used to assess how well the candidate’s experience aligns with the job requirements.
- Applicant’s skills assessment: This is where the candidate’s technical and soft skills are evaluated. Technical skills could include proficiency in a particular software, the ability to perform certain tasks, or knowledge about specific processes. Soft skills might include communication, leadership, problem-solving, or teamwork. Once again, a scoring system or rating scale assesses each skill according to its relevance within the role.
- Applicant’s culture fit: Does the candidate have a cultural fit with the company? Frame questions that look to understand their values, work style, motivation, and how they handle pressure or conflict.
- Interviewer’s impressions and recommendations: While scoring and objectivity are important, interviewers still play a crucial role in the entire process, or there would be no need for face-to-face interviews. This is an open-ended section where interviewers can jot down their overall impressions of the candidate. It may include observations about the candidate’s behavior, body language, confidence, or enthusiasm. The interviewer can also provide a recommendation about proceeding with the candidate or suggestions for further areas to probe in subsequent interviews or assessments.
- Comparison and ranking: Compare and rank candidates against each other after all interviews have been conducted. This can be based on the total scores in each section or based on key parameters defined by the organization.
- Next steps: This is an administrative section where decisions about the next steps are recorded. This can include whether the candidate will proceed to the next round, or whether an offer will be extended. Dates, notes about salary expectations or start dates, and any follow-up actions needed can also be recorded here.
Creating an interview evaluation form in 6 steps
Creating an interview evaluation form is a systematic process that involves understanding the job requirements, formulating relevant questions and criteria, determining a scoring system, and refining the form. We’ve compiled a step-by-step guide to creating an effective interview evaluation form to help HR professionals get started.
Step 1: Identify requirements for the job role
- Clearly define the job role and its requirements
- Refer to your organization’s job description and roles and responsibilities template to understand the skills, qualifications, and experiences needed
- Consider technical skills, soft skills, and cultural fit.
Step 2: Formulate relevant questions and evaluation criteria
- Based on the job requirements, develop questions or prompts that will help you evaluate the candidate’s suitability
- Each question or prompt should relate to a specific requirement. For example, if leadership is a key requirement, a question could be: “Describe a time when you led a team to achieve a specific goal.”
Step 3: Structure your form
- Organize your form into logical sections like personal information, job relevance, skills assessment, personality evaluation, and others per your needs.
- Each section should have its set of questions or prompts derived from the previous step.
- Remember to include space for comments or observations by the interviewer.
Step 4: Determine the scoring system
- Decide on a scoring system that suits your needs. It could be a numerical scale (1 to 5) or a qualitative scale (such as poor, average, good, or excellent).
- The same scale should be applied across all the criteria for consistency.
- Define what each point on the scale represents to ensure clarity and uniformity in scoring among different interviewers.
Lessons from Google
Structured interviews are not just about discipline in asking questions — some companies, including Google, use data to structure the content of their interviews. Google’s People Analytics departments analyze interview questions and crunch the data to determine which questions are highly correlated with on-the-job success. These questions (and the correct answers) are given additional weight in overall scoring.
Step 5: Include the interviewer’s impressions and recommendations
- Create a section where the interviewer can jot down their overall impressions and recommendations Encourage interviewers to share thoughts that the structured criteria may not capture.
- Interviewers should fill out the form as soon as possible after the interview to ensure they capture their impressions accurately.
Step 6: Review and refine your form
- Before the interview evaluation form is put to use, review it to ensure it is comprehensive, clear, and fair
- Test it with a few interviewers and ask for their feedback
- Refine the form based on the feedback received
- Remember, the form should be a living document that evolves with your organization’s needs and learns from previous hiring rounds.
Implementing interview evaluation forms
Now that you’ve created your interview evaluation form, it’s time to implement it. Remember, your goal is to create a more structured, efficient, and above all objective hiring process.
When to implement interview evaluation forms
Interview evaluation forms should ideally be implemented at the beginning of the recruitment process after a job vacancy has been identified and the job role and requirements have been clearly defined. The form should be used in all rounds of interviews to maintain consistency and fairness throughout the hiring process.
How to implement interview evaluation forms
First, following the steps outlined in the guide to creating an interview evaluation form, design a form tailored to each specific job role within your organization. Once this is done, it is crucial that all interviewers are familiar with the form and understand how to use it effectively. This includes understanding the scoring system, what each point on the scale represents, and how to record their impressions and recommendations.
HR tip
Once you adopt the interview evaluation method, ensure the interview scoring sheet is used in every interview, whether it’s a video screening interview, or an in-person interview.
Integrating interview evaluation forms into the hiring process
1. Before the interview: The forms should be prepared and reviewed before conducting the interviews. Interviewers should understand the requirements of the role and the purpose of each question or prompt on the form.
2. During the interview: Ensure the form serves as a guide for conducting the interview. It has been designed to include all relevant topics and to make sure all candidates are evaluated against the same criteria. However, train interviewers to not let the interview evaluation form restrict the natural flow of the interview; rather, it should facilitate a comprehensive discussion of the candidate’s qualifications, skills, and fit with the organization.
3. Post-interview: Interviewers should complete the form promptly after each interview while their impressions are still fresh. The hiring team should then compile, discuss, and analyze these evaluations to make informed decisions about which candidates to move forward in the hiring process.
4. After the hiring process: Interview evaluation forms should be retained as part of the organization’s HR records. They can serve as useful references for future hiring processes, and performance reviews and can provide evidence in case of legal disputes related to hiring.
Using the interview evaluation form effectively
Using an interview evaluation form effectively requires some practice and awareness. Here are some tips and common mistakes to keep in mind:
- Understand the form: Before conducting the interview, thoroughly understand the form, the evaluation criteria, and the scoring system. This ensures consistency in evaluation across different interviewers and candidates.
- Stay objective: Use the form to maintain objectivity during the interview. Avoid making snap judgments and evaluate the candidate based on their responses and behavior during the interview, as well as their final scores, rather than personal feelings or biases.
- Take notes: Jot down key points from the candidate’s responses during the interview. This will help you remember important details when completing the form after the interview.
- Complete the form promptly: Fill out the evaluation form as soon as possible after the interview, while your impressions are still fresh. This ensures a more accurate and comprehensive evaluation.
- Review the form: Review the completed form for completeness and consistency. Ensure all sections are filled out and the scores accurately reflect the candidate’s performance.
Common mistakes to avoid in interview evaluations
- Rushing through the form: Take your time to thoughtfully consider each criterion and score. Remember that your evaluation will contribute to a potentially life-changing decision for the candidate and can impact the success of your organization.
- Neglecting the comments section: The comments section provides an opportunity to note observations, insights, or concerns that aren’t captured by the numerical scores.
- Avoid bias and stereotyping: Be aware of your unconscious biases and avoid letting them influence your evaluation. Focus on the candidate’s skills, experience, and fit with the organization.
- Be mindful of halo and horn effects: Avoid the ‘halo effect’ (overlooking weaknesses due to one strong area) and the ‘horn effect’ (overlooking strengths due to one weak area). Each criterion should be evaluated independently.
- Avoid comparison bias: Evaluate each candidate against the job criteria, not against other candidates. Each evaluation should stand on its own. If no good candidate is found, start the process again rather than selecting the best candidate in that interview round.
Interview evaluation form example
Here’s an example of an interview evaluation form that will help you create the ideal form for your organization’s needs.
How to effectively use the interview evaluation forms results
Once the interview evaluation forms are completed, their data can be utilized in several meaningful ways to optimize your organization’s hiring process and make more informed decisions.
1. Make hiring decisions based on evaluation forms
- The scores and comments on the evaluation forms provide a quantifiable measure of each candidate’s performance in the interview. These can be used to objectively compare candidates and identify the ones most suitable for the role.
- Review the scores across different criteria to understand the candidate’s strengths and weaknesses.
- Discuss the evaluations in the hiring team meetings to get different perspectives on the candidate’s suitability.
- Use the evaluations to decide whether to move the candidate to the next round, make a job offer, or discontinue their candidacy.
2. Improve interview processes
- Identify any criteria that consistently yield low or high scores across different candidates. This may suggest that the questions or tasks related to these criteria are too easy, difficult, or unclear.
- Review the comments section to see if interviewers note similar observations or concerns across different candidates. This could indicate a need to modify the interview process or the evaluation form.
- If multiple interviewers are involved, compare their evaluations to check for consistency. Significant differences might suggest a need for more training or clearer guidelines.
3. Identify trends or patterns in applicant’s responses
- The evaluations can help identify common themes or trends in the candidate pool that could inform future recruitment strategies.
- Are there certain skills that many candidates are lacking? This could suggest a need to focus more on these areas in the job ads or screening processes.
- Are candidates generally scoring high on certain criteria? This might indicate that these areas are not as challenging or differentiating as expected, and the criteria or questions could be revised.
- Are there any patterns in how different demographic groups score on the form? This could help identify potential biases in the interview process and inform diversity and inclusion initiatives.
Leverage employment interview evaluation forms
Creating an effective interview evaluation form may take time and effort. Still, the return on investment can be significant in terms of hiring the right people, reducing bias in the hiring process, and maintaining a high-quality workforce. By using the results of the interview evaluation forms effectively, organizations can make more informed hiring decisions, continually improve their recruitment processes, and gain valuable insights into their candidate pool.
FAQs
An interview evaluation form is a structured document used by interviewers to assess a candidate’s performance during a job interview. The form typically contains sections for capturing basic information about the candidate, rating their skills, qualifications, and cultural fit with the company based on predefined criteria, and noting the interviewer’s overall impressions and recommendations. The purpose of the form is to standardize the interview process, minimize biases, and enable fair and objective comparisons between candidates, thereby aiding in the selection of the most suitable candidate for the job role.
Interview evaluation is a systematic process that involves assessing a candidate’s suitability for a job role based on predefined criteria. This process begins by understanding the job requirements, including necessary skills, qualifications, and experiences. During the interview, the interviewer gauges the candidate’s responses and behaviors, mapping these against the job requirements. An interview evaluation form is typically used to document this process, capturing essential details, ratings on various criteria, and the interviewer’s overall impressions. Post-interview, the hiring team reviews and discusses these forms to make informed hiring decisions, providing an objective and structured approach to candidate assessment.
Writing an evaluation report for an interview starts with a review of the interview evaluation form filled out during the candidate’s interview. The report should begin with the candidate’s basic information and the job role for which they were interviewed. Next, present a summary of the candidate’s ratings on various criteria such as skills, experience, job relevance, and cultural fit. Include specific examples or quotes from the interview to support these ratings. Don’t forget to include the interviewer’s overall impressions, highlighting both strengths and areas of concern. The report should conclude with a recommendation on whether to move forward with the candidate based on the evaluation and any next steps, such as further interviews or assessments. It’s crucial to maintain objectivity throughout the report to ensure a fair and unbiased evaluation.
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