Interview Evaluation Form Template & Guide [Free Download]

An interview evaluation form serves as a filter, sifting through the noise to focus on the most important qualifications and skills that truly matter for the role. That way, interviewers can make decisions based on substance rather than distractions.

Using interview evaluation forms makes the hiring process more effective, fair, and consistent. They help streamline interviews and allow for an objective assessment of all candidates. This helps reduce interviewer bias 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 hire and build a diverse, qualified workforce.

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.

What is an interview evaluation form?

An interview evaluation form is a structured document used during the hiring process to record and assess a candidate’s performance in the interview. It provides a systematic way to assess a candidate’s suitability for a particular job role based on their performance during an interview. The form typically contains various evaluation criteria, including technical skills, communication skills, experience, problem-solving abilities, cultural fit, and other role-specific parameters.

This document allows HR professionals and hiring managers to objectively assess a candidate’s skills, experience, and fit within the organization’s culture and job requirements without bias. This evaluation is key to making informed hiring decisions, reducing errors, and ultimately improving the quality of the workforce.

Why use an interview evaluation form

Here is a more detailed overview of the benefits of interview evaluation forms in the hiring process:

Objectivity and standardization

Using interview evaluation forms is essential for bringing objectivity and standardization to the hiring process. When HR professionals and hiring managers apply a consistent set of criteria across all interviews, they create a level playing field where every candidate is evaluated in the same way.

These forms help keep interviewers focused on the relevant criteria, ensuring that discussions and evaluations remain centered on the skills, experience, and qualities that are directly related to the job. This focused approach not only enhances the fairness of the process but also helps in identifying the candidates who are truly the best fit for the role.

Minimizing bias and promoting diversity

Despite the push for objectivity, unconscious bias often creeps into hiring decisions, undermining efforts to build a diverse workforce. A structured interview evaluation form can counteract this by focusing assessments on relevant job criteria rather than personal biases or preconceptions.

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 those unconscious biases, and the result is often a lack of diversity or hiring the best candidates for the role.

A Yale University study found that even after training on objective hiring practices, scientists still preferred male candidates over equally qualified female candidates, offering them higher salaries as well. Similarly, a study by Princeton and Harvard researchers showed that symphonies using blind auditions saw a 50% increase in female musicians advancing to the next round, highlighting the impact of removing visual bias. These examples highlight the importance of structured and objective evaluation methods in promoting diversity and ensuring that the best candidates are chosen based on merit.

Efficiency and improved decision-making

Beyond promoting fairness, interview evaluation forms also make the hiring process more structured and efficient. With a clear process to follow, interviewers can make faster decisions without compromising on quality. This streamlined approach saves time and helps ensure that the best candidates—those who can positively impact the bottom line—are hired.

Improved candidate experience

Using an interview evaluation indirectly impacts candidate experience, too. It allows interviewers to provide candidates with clear, specific feedback based on their performance during the interview.

This structured feedback helps candidates understand their strengths and areas for improvement, making the experience more valuable for them. Offering transparent and constructive insights leaves a positive impression even if the applicant is not selected for the role, improving the overall candidate experience.

Key features of 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.

1. 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.
2. Role alignment: 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. 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.

Best practices for using 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.

1. Implement the form early on in the recruitment process

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.

2. Tailor the form to the specific job role

Customize the evaluation form to reflect the specific requirements and responsibilities of the job role you’re hiring for. By tailoring the form, you ensure that the questions and criteria are directly aligned with the key skills and experiences needed for success in that particular position.

3. Train the interviewers

It is crucial that all interviewers are familiar with the form and understand how to use it effectively. This includes understanding the purpose of each question or prompt on the form and the scoring system, what each point on the scale represents, and how to record their impressions and recommendations.

While the form serves as a guide for conducting the interview, explain to the interviewers that it’s not there to 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.

HR pro tip

• Communication skills: “The candidate effectively communicated their ideas and provided clear, concise responses to the questions, demonstrating strong verbal communication skills that are essential for this role.”
• Problem-solving abilities: “The candidate showed excellent problem-solving skills, offering creative and practical solutions to the hypothetical scenarios presented during the interview, which aligns well with the demands of the position.”
• Cultural fit: “The candidate displayed a strong understanding of our company values and culture, and their approach to teamwork and collaboration suggests they would integrate well with our existing team.”

4. Give the form a good use in the interview process

• 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.
• 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.
• 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.

5. 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.

6. Improve the recruitment & interview processes

Candidate 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.

When looking at the candidate scores, 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 candidate 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.

7. Use the forms to document your interview 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.

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 template

Here’s an example of an interview evaluation form that will help you create the ideal form for your organization’s needs:

A final word

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.

FAQ

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.