A scorecard is not a list of skills. It is a plan for what proof you will collect, from where, and what counts as good enough — written down before you meet anyone.
Why bother
Two reasons. It makes two interviewers mean the same thing when they say someone was "strong". And it gives you a record of why a decision was made.
Both matter more once AI is involved, because the scorecard is where your screening rules come from in Module 4. A vague scorecard gives you vague rules, which give you a shortlist you cannot explain.
Write things you could actually watch someone do
The test for any line: could two people watching the same interview agree, on their own, whether it happened?
| Not this | This |
|---|---|
| Strong communicator | Explains a technical trade-off to a non-technical colleague without losing the detail |
| Team player | Describes a disagreement with a colleague and what they changed afterwards |
| Detail oriented | Spots the error in the sample data and says what they would check next |
| Self-starter | Has built something nobody asked for, and can explain why they chose it |
| Cultural fit | Delete this line. It measures nothing and it is where bias hides |
The right-hand column is longer, and that is the point. If you can describe something in two words, you have not defined it.
Decide what each score means, in advance
Use four levels, not five. An odd number collects a pile of middles. And write a description for each level that is specific to this job, not a generic word.
| Score | Means |
|---|---|
| 1 — No proof | Did not show it, or showed the opposite |
| 2 — Partly | Some proof, but smaller scale or with help |
| 3 — Yes | Clear proof at the level this job needs |
| 4 — Beyond | Clear proof beyond what this job needs |
Write down what a 3 looks like for each item before the first interview. That single sentence does more for consistency than any amount of interviewer training. It is also the sentence you will reuse as a screening rule later.
Every item needs a place to be checked
Decide where each thing will be assessed, and be honest about what each stage can actually show.
| Stage | Can show | Cannot show |
|---|---|---|
| Reading the CV | Scale, industry, tools, what they have shipped | Anything about how they behave |
| Interview | Reasoning, past behaviour, judgement under questioning | Whether the work stays good over months |
| Work sample | Whether they can actually do the task | How they work with others over time |
| Reference | Patterns over time, working style | Anything the referee did not see |
The rule: if nothing in your process can check it, cut it. It is not a requirement then. It is a preference, and it will get applied inconsistently and invisibly.
How long should it be
Five to seven items. Beyond that, interviewers stop scoring and start writing summaries, and the scorecard becomes decoration. If your list is longer, most of the extra items are either learnable on the job or impossible to measure — both good reasons to remove them.
Download the scorecard template · all templates
This feeds Module 4
The scorecard items you can check from a CV become your screening rules, almost word for word. Write them with that in mind: concrete, based on proof, checkable against a document.