When you’re sourcing and interviewing dozens of candidates, it can be difficult to keep track of who is who. At some point, candidates with similar backgrounds all blur together. You need some way to organize them, review their qualifications, and store information about their interviews.
Use a candidate evaluation form when you conduct interviews to keep track of candidates.
Why you should use a candidate evaluation form
If you don’t currently use a candidate evaluation form, you might want to start.
Job candidate evaluation forms can help you assess someone’s qualifications for a job. On the form, you record how well the candidate’s skills, education, and experience match the open position.
You will use the same form for all the candidates you interview for a certain position. This way, you record information and evaluate the candidates in the same way. This helps you easily compare candidates. You can look at forms side by side to see who is the best candidate in each area and overall.
By using candidate evaluation forms during interviews, you can easily record information in your ATS recruiting software. You don’t have to worry about remembering what the candidate said by the time you get around to entering information in the software. Everything you need is on the form. Add the scores and your comments to the candidate’s profile.
Even if the candidate isn’t a good fit for the open position, your notes might help you place the candidate in the future. When other positions open up, compare the candidate’s previous evaluation to the expectations of the new positions. A negative rating or comment for one position might not apply to another position.
What to include on a candidate evaluation form
The candidate evaluation form will start with information about the candidate and the interview. List the candidate’s name, the position they are interviewing for, and the interview date. If there are multiple recruiters at your agency, you might want to include the interviewer’s name, too.
For a simple way to create a job interview rating sheet, use an interview scorecard. An interview scorecard lists interview questions and candidate qualities that you want to grade the candidate on. With each criteria, there is a one through five scale that you use to rate how well the candidate meets what you are looking for. Often, one is the worst rating and five is the best rating. There should also be room for comments after each rating. This lets you give more details beyond a numerical rating. For example, you might explain why you gave a particular rating. Or, you might note that the candidate received a low rating because they don’t fit the position, but they are still a skilled candidate.
You can create a standard candidate evaluation form template to use for all interviews. You might want to include ratings for the following items on your candidate interview evaluation form:
- Interview questions
- Cultural fit
- Teamwork skills
- Education
- Work experience
- Job-specific skills
- Supervisory skills
- Leadership skills
- Interpersonal skills
- Time management
- Customer service skills
- Motivation
- Problem-solving skills
- Overall recommendation
You might need to swap out questions and evaluation criteria based on the position the candidate is interviewing for. For example, if a candidate is interviewing for a management position, you should include more questions and qualities related to being a manager on the form.
Want to see what a candidate interview form looks like? Check out the sample below.
