Candidate evaluation form

What this form is for (and what it is not)

Interviewers fill in their own interview scorecard right after each conversation. The candidate evaluation form comes later. It is the recruiter's and hiring manager's summary of one finalist across the whole process: every interviewer's ratings, the skills test, references and the must-have checks, plus the decision and why it was made.

That distinction matters. If interviewers fill in this form directly, you lose the independent reads, because the third person to score can see what the first two wrote. Keep scorecards individual and private until the debrief; use this form to consolidate them.

When you have three or more finalists and need to compare them side by side, carry each total into a hiring decision matrix. The evaluation form is the per-candidate record; the matrix is the candidate comparison view.

A worked scoring example

Say you are hiring a branch operations supervisor. Before interviews, the hiring manager and recruiter agreed on five competencies: team leadership (30%), process and compliance (25%), customer escalations (20%), scheduling and staffing (15%) and communication (10%).

Three interviewers met Jasmine Clark. Leadership was rated 4, 3 and 3 (average 3.33). Compliance was rated 3 and 3 by the two who covered it (average 3.0). Escalations got 4 from one interviewer. Scheduling got 2 and 3 (average 2.5). Communication got 3, 3 and 4 (average 3.33).

Weighted total = (3.33 x 30 + 3.0 x 25 + 4.0 x 20 + 2.5 x 15 + 3.33 x 10) / 100 = 3.25.

A team using a 3.0 bar would advance Jasmine, but the form also forces the honest conversation: scheduling is her weakest area at 2.5, and she would be building rosters for 40 people. The hiring manager might still extend the offer and write "pair with workforce planning lead for first 60 days" in the development box. That note is more useful to the next manager than the number.

What to include and why

• Must-haves separate from scores. A license that is missing or a shift the candidate cannot work is a yes/no gate. Averaging it into a score hides it.
• Raw interviewer ratings, not just the average. A 3.0 average made of 4, 3 and 2 tells a different story than three 3s. The form asks you to list every rating and flag gaps of 2 points or more.
• A dissent field. Debriefs tend to drift toward the most senior voice. Writing down the minority view, and how it was settled, makes the decision more defensible and gives you something to check later if the hire does not work out.
• A job-related reason. "Strong fit" is not a reason. "Gave two detailed examples of turning around a low-performing team; scored 88% on the scheduling exercise against a 75% bar" is.
• A silver medalist option. Strong runners-up are your fastest next hire. Mark them so they stay visible in your recruitment tracker instead of disappearing into a rejected status.

Legal and record-keeping notes

This form is often the first document requested if a rejected candidate files a discrimination charge, so every comment should point to evidence about the job. Leave out anything touching age, pregnancy or family plans, religion, national origin, disability or other protected characteristics under Title VII, the ADEA and the ADA, including well-meant remarks.

Under EEOC rules (29 CFR 1602.14), private employers must keep hiring records for at least one year from the date the record was made or the decision was taken, whichever is later. Federal contractors covered by the veterans' (VEVRAA) or disability (Section 503) rules keep them for two years if they have 150 or more employees and a contract of at least $200,000 (VEVRAA) or $150,000 (Section 503), and records tied to a pending charge must be kept until it is resolved. Background checks belong after a conditional offer in many states and cities with fair chance laws, so only record the check status at the post-offer stage. Rules vary by state and country.

Adapting the form for high-volume hiring

A full evaluation form for every one of 200 warehouse or contact-center candidates a month is too much paperwork. Most volume teams use a short version: must-haves, the assessment score, one interviewer's ratings on three competencies and a decision. That fits on a single screen in an ATS and takes a supervisor under five minutes.

Keep the full form for supervisor roles and above, for any candidate where interviewers disagreed sharply, and for any decision that goes against the score (hiring below the bar or rejecting above it). Those are the decisions you will be asked to explain.

Once a quarter, pull 30 to 50 completed forms and compare the totals with 90-day outcomes such as quality scores, attendance or early attrition. If candidates scoring 3.4 and 2.9 perform about the same, your weights or competencies need work.

Common mistakes

• Filling in the form during the debrief from memory instead of from submitted scorecards.
• Letting the recruiter quietly adjust a rating that looks like an outlier. Record it and discuss it.
• Changing weights after interviews to fit the candidate everyone liked.
• Leaving the reason field as "best candidate." Write what made them best.
• Running the background check before the conditional offer in a jurisdiction that requires the reverse order.