Interview scorecard: a template for structured interviews

An interview scorecard is a form that lists the competencies a role requires, the questions used to assess each one and a rating scale with clear descriptions of what each score means. Every interviewer scores every candidate on the same criteria, independently and during or right after the interview, so hiring decisions rest on comparable evidence rather than overall impressions.

This article explains what a scorecard is and why it belongs in a structured interview, gives you a template with anchored rating scales you can copy, offers behavioral and situational questions by competency, and walks through running the interview and the debrief.

What is an interview scorecard?

A scorecard turns an interview from a conversation into an assessment. It records three things for each competency: what you are looking for, the questions you will ask and the score the candidate earned, with brief notes on the evidence behind it.

A complete scorecard usually includes:

• Role and candidate details, including the interview stage and the interviewer's name.
• Four to six competencies drawn from the job requirements, each with a one-line definition.
• Two or three questions per competency, with optional follow-up probes.
• A rating scale with behavioral anchors, describing what a weak, acceptable and strong answer looks like.
• Space for evidence notes, written as what the candidate said or did, not as opinions.
• An overall recommendation, completed only after the competency ratings.

The scorecard is the evaluation half of a structured interview. The other half is the question plan: everyone asks the same job-related questions in the same order. Without both, interviewers tend to drift toward topics they find interesting and judge candidates on different grounds.

Structured vs unstructured interviews

In an unstructured interview, each interviewer chooses their own questions and forms an overall impression. In a structured interview, questions are planned in advance from the job requirements, asked consistently and scored against defined standards. Campion, Palmer and Campion (1997) reviewed the research and described 15 components of structure, covering both the content of the interview and how answers are evaluated.

What the research says

Structure matters. In a widely cited review of selection methods, Schmidt and Hunter (1998) reported higher validity for structured interviews than for unstructured ones in predicting job performance. A later re-analysis by Sackett, Zhang, Berry and Lievens (2022) revised many earlier estimates downward, yet structured interviews remained among the most valid predictors in their results. Levashina, Hartwell, Morgeson and Campion (2014) reviewed the wider literature and concluded that adding structure generally improves the reliability and validity of interviews.

The US Office of Personnel Management's guidance on structured interviews makes a similar point: interviews with more structure tend to show higher validity, better agreement between raters and less adverse impact. Structure does not remove judgment, but it gives judgment a shared standard. For more on fairness in selection, see how to reduce hiring bias.

Interview scorecard template with rating anchors

Copy the template below and adapt it to the role. Use a five-point scale, and write anchors for at least points 1, 3 and 5 of each competency. Anchors describe observable features of an answer, so two interviewers hearing the same answer are more likely to give the same score.

Scorecard header

• Role:
• Candidate:
• Interview stage and date:
• Interviewer:
• Competencies assessed in this interview:

Rating scale

Example anchors for one competency

Competency: Problem solving, defined as identifying the cause of a problem, weighing options and acting on a reasoned choice.

Scoring section for each competency

Keep competencies few and specific. If you are starting from a job description, list the outcomes the role must deliver and translate them into the behaviors and skills that produce those outcomes. Our guide to turning a job description into competencies explains that process step by step.

Structured interview questions by competency

Structured interviews commonly use two question types. Behavioral questions ask about past situations ("Tell me about a time when..."). Situational questions present a realistic job scenario and ask what the candidate would do. Both should be written for the specific role, and both should be scored with the same anchors. The examples below are starting points to adapt.

Problem solving

1. Tell me about a recent problem at work where the cause was not obvious. How did you work out what was going on?
2. Suppose a weekly report you own suddenly shows numbers that look wrong, an hour before a leadership meeting. What would you do?

Probe: "What options did you consider, and why did you choose that one?"

Collaboration

1. Describe a time you needed help from another team that had different priorities. How did you approach it?
2. Tell me about a disagreement with a colleague on how to do a piece of work. What happened, and what was the outcome?

Probe: "What did you do personally, as distinct from the team?"

Communication

1. Tell me about a time you had to explain a complex topic to someone without your background. How did you check they understood?
2. Imagine you have to tell a stakeholder that a deadline will be missed. How would you handle the conversation?

Planning and organization

1. Describe a period when you had more work than time. How did you decide what to do first?
2. Tell me about a project you planned from the start. How did you track progress, and what did you do when something slipped?

Learning and adaptability

1. Tell me about a time you had to learn a new tool or process quickly. What did you do, and how long did it take to become productive?
2. Describe feedback you received that changed how you work.

Role-specific skills

For technical or specialist roles, add questions that ask candidates to walk through real work they have done, or to reason through a short, realistic task. A skills test before the interview gives the panel evidence to discuss rather than guess at. Our article on how technical assessments help evaluate candidates fairly covers how to design and score such tests.