An interview evaluation form helps interviewers provide detailed and structured candidate feedback following an interview. Standardized interviewer feedback ensures all candidates for a given role are being evaluated on the same criteria so you can make apples to apples comparisons. This, in turn, helps hiring managers make well-informed decisions about which candidates to move forward in the recruitment process and, ultimately, hire.
Begin with a kickoff meeting
For each job posting, hold a kickoff meeting with the hiring manager to determine the criteria for evaluating candidates and to define the interview process that will suss out the required qualifications. For example, an engineering role will require hard skills that can be assessed through a technical interview, while a management candidate should undergo an interview to assess leadership abilities. Each role may need a unique interview process to find the right candidate, and your interview evaluation forms should accommodate that.
Create interview evaluation forms
Once you’ve agreed on how to assess candidates, you can create interview feedback forms (usually from within your applicant tracking system, if you have one) for each type of interview. Include the goal of the interview (i.e. to assess technical ability or culture fit), any necessary instructions, specific questions the interviewer should ask, and which qualifications the interviewer should be looking for. This will ensure all candidates have the same experience and are evaluated on the same criteria. Also ask for a rating on each interview evaluation form so the interviewer can recommend either hiring or passing on the candidate. Using a four-point rating system (i.e. strong hire, hire, no hire, strong no hire) is a good way to rate candidates, without allowing interviewers to be neutral — you do need their help to make hiring decisions, after all. Send your interview evaluation forms to your interviewers ahead of time so they can read them over, ask any questions they may have, and prepare for their interviews.
Collect feedback quickly
It’s important to get interview feedback forms back quickly so you can make a decision on next steps before your top-choice candidate gets scooped up by a competitor. Even if you’ve set the expectation for quick feedback with your interviewers, they may still get busy doing other things. Remember, interviewing isn’t their full-time job. To help you get feedback as quickly as possible following an interview, consider blocking off time on your interviewer’s calendars. Feedback blocks can be scheduled either immediately following their interview, or preceding a team feedback discussion. Just make sure that your interviewers provide their individual feedback before discussing the candidate with other interviewers — you want to avoid groupthink. If scheduling calendar time doesn’t work, an applicant tracking system like Lever can send interviewers automated reminders until they’ve completed the interview evaluation form.
Conclusion
Collecting feedback from interviewers is a crucial component of your recruitment process. Interview evaluation forms help you collect detailed and structured feedback that your hiring manager can use to determine which candidate to hire. Get the most out of them by discussing how you will be evaluating candidates for a given role, tailoring the evaluation forms to each stage of the interview process, and collecting them in a timely manner.
To see how Lever helps you manage your interview process with robust and customizable interview evaluation forms and kits, read here.