# Interview scorecard template, with a rating scale > What an interview scorecard is, a template with a four-point rating scale and behavioural anchors, and how to rate on evidence and keep bias out. Source: https://octrahire.ai/guides/interview-scorecard Decide what good looks like before you meet anyone, rate each skill on what the candidate said, and keep the evidence. ## What an interview scorecard is An interview scorecard is the form each interviewer fills in for a candidate. It lists the skills the role needs, a rating scale for each, a description of what each rating means, and space for the evidence behind the rating. It is written before interviewing starts, and every candidate for the role is rated on the same card. Scorecards are a core part of a structured interview. The US Office of Personnel Management describes structured interviews as ones where all responses are evaluated with the same rating scale and the same standards for acceptable answers. The scorecard is where those standards live. ## Why use one - Every candidate is judged against the same standard, not against whoever came before - Each rating is tied to something the candidate said or did - Interviewers rate independently before they discuss, so one strong opinion does not decide for the panel - You keep a record of why each decision was made - Gaps become visible: if nobody tested a skill, the card shows it ## Step 1: choose four to six skills Start from the work, not from a generic list. Ask the hiring manager what someone in the role must do well in the first six months, and turn that into four to six skills. More than that and interviewers stop rating carefully. Write a one-line definition for each skill, so everyone rates the same thing. For example, for a customer support lead: problem solving (finds the cause, not only the fix), communication (explains clearly to customers and to engineers), ownership (follows an issue through to the end) and coaching (helps others improve). Avoid vague entries such as “culture fit” or “attitude”, which invite bias. Then decide which interview round covers which skill, so nothing is tested twice and nothing is missed. ## Step 2: a rating scale with behavioural anchors Use a short scale, such as one to four. An even number avoids a safe middle score. For each skill, write anchors: a sentence or two describing what an answer at each level actually sounds like. Anchors are what make two interviewers give the same rating for the same answer. Here is an example for problem solving: - 1, weak: describes the problem but not what they did, or answers with what they would do in theory - 2, partial: describes the steps they took, but not why, or the result is unclear - 3, solid: clear steps and reasons, checked whether it worked, and states the result - 4, strong: as 3, and also weighed alternatives, anticipated risks and shows a measurable result or a lesson applied later - Not assessed: the skill did not come up. Leave it blank rather than guessing ## A scorecard template you can copy - Header: candidate, role, round, interviewer, date - For each skill: name, one-line definition, the question or questions that test it - Rating: 1, 2, 3, 4 or not assessed, with the anchors printed next to it - Evidence: what the candidate said or did, in their words where possible, with the time if the interview was recorded - Overall recommendation: strong no, no, yes or strong yes, with one sentence on why - For the next round: what is still unclear and worth asking about ## Rate on evidence, not impressions Write down what the candidate said or did, not how it felt. “Rebuilt the onboarding checklist and cut setup from three days to one” is evidence. “Seemed confident” or “good energy” is not, and tends to reward people who are like the interviewer. Take notes during the interview and rate straight afterwards, against the anchors, before you talk to anyone else on the panel. If a skill did not come up, mark it as not assessed. A gap is useful information; an invented score is not. ## Keeping bias out - Rate each skill separately. One great answer should not lift every other rating - Compare the answer with the anchors, not with the previous candidate - Ignore accent, appearance, where someone studied and anything else the role does not need - Do not ask about family plans, marital status, religion or age. They are not job skills - Give every candidate the same core questions and the same chance to follow up - Look at outcomes across groups over time to see whether your process treats people fairly ## Running the debrief Collect every interviewer's ratings before the panel meets. Spend the debrief on the skills where ratings disagree, and ask each person what they heard. The hiring manager makes the decision and records the reason, so it can be explained later. ## How Octrahire helps Octrahire's notes and scorecards product writes the notes after each interview your team runs and puts what the candidate said next to each skill on your scorecard, with the moment it was said. Every line links to the transcript, and if a skill was not covered, the notes say so. Octrahire never fills in a rating: the interviewer does, with the evidence open. Its debrief pack then shows every round side by side, where the panel disagrees and which skills nobody tested, and makes no hire or no-hire call. For first-round interviews run by Octrahire's AI interviewer, every candidate for a role gets the same structured questions and rubric, and each score links to the answer behind it. ## What is an interview scorecard? An interview scorecard is a form each interviewer completes for a candidate. It lists the four to six skills the role needs, a short rating scale for each with behavioural anchors that describe what a weak, solid and strong answer sounds like, and space for evidence. Interviewers rate independently, straight after the interview and before the debrief, so every candidate is judged against the same standard and each rating can be explained. ## Questions ### What rating scale should an interview scorecard use? A short one, such as one to four, with written anchors for each level. An even number avoids a safe middle score, and anchors help interviewers give the same rating for the same answer. ### Should interviewers see each other's ratings before the debrief? No. Each interviewer should submit ratings independently first, so one strong opinion does not shape the others. ### Does Octrahire rate candidates on the scorecard? Not for interviews your team runs. Octrahire puts the evidence next to each skill, and your interviewers give the ratings. ## Sources - [US Office of Personnel Management: Structured interviews](https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/assessment-and-selection/structured-interviews/)