What our hiring rubric looks like

15 June 2023

The rest of this article is the reproduction of an internal document we share with hiring managers to help standardise the way in which candidates are assessed at TopHire. Feel free to steal it and incorporate into your company's interview process.

How to score candidates

Right after you are done with the interview, rate the candidate along these 9 parameters, on a scale of 1-5. 5 being Very High, and 1 being Very Low.

You don't have to necessarily stop at only giving a number from 1-5. On top of the rating, you can also share notes on why you think you are rating them a certain way. You could do this when there is something noteworthy to share. For example if the candidate was extra bad with their energy levels, you'd rate them 1/5 and then share a couple of sentences about how bad it was.

The reason it's useful to rate candidates along these parameters is because over time, you start keeping an eye out for these specific traits and characteristics while interviewing candidates. You might also end up steering the conversation or asking questions in a way that highlights them.

Parameters to Rate Them On

  1. Clarity of Thought
  2. Verbal Communication
  3. Energy Levels
  4. Intelligence
  5. Ability to Build Rapport
  6. Professionalism
  7. Level of Preparation
  8. Inclination towards HR
  9. Overall Rating

If you don't have enough information to rate them on a certain param, write "not sure". In most cases you should be able to rate everyone on everything in the list though

Notes on each Parameter

  1. Clarity of Thought - When they are answering your question or talking about themselves, do they express their thoughts clearly, in an organised fashion? When they answer a question, do they answer to the point or do they ramble. Before jumping into answering your question, do they pause to think? Extra points for candidates who say something like "Can I think for a minute". Do they grasp what you are trying to ask them? Or did they need clarifications? Did they seem lost in the interview every now and then?
  2. Verbal Communication - Do they speak clearly and articulately without being overly verbose or talkative. What is their fluency in English? Do they use well constructed sentences? Do they have a good vocabulary? Do they put across their ideas and thoughts well?
  3. Energy Levels - Dull & unintelligent people are usually low energy. If you find them boring during a call, they are probably also going to bore clients, candidates and the rest of us in the team. Low energy people make the call dreadful and you can't wait to get off of it. With high energy people, before you know it, 1 hour of the interview has gone by.
  4. Intelligence - Did they seem like someone who has some level of depth / rigour in their thinking. Do they come across as someone who can absorb new information quickly?
  5. Ability to Build Rapport - Did they make you feel comfortable on the call? Or did you struggle to make conversation? Do they smile, share funny anecdotes. Did they ask things like “how’s your day going” or “how was New Years for you”. At the end of the call do you feel like you just spoke to a robot or did you come away from it feeling energized?
  6. Professionalism - Did they speak in a professional manner? Were they dressed appropriately (we've had someone that interviewed with us in an oversized t-shirt. That person lasted a month or so before she left abruptly) Were they polite when answering the call? Or did they come across as too nonchalant. Were they on time for the call? If they were a minute or two late, did they apologize for being late and give a good explanation. Did they speak in a manner that didn't seem overly casual. Some level of being casual is fine because it does help build rapport. But being overly casual could underscore the fact they are unaware about how to present themselves forward in an interview.
  7. Level of Preparation - Do they have good idea of the role and the company and what we do and some of the people in our team.
  8. Inclination towards HR - Do they seem like they are randomly applying to any and all jobs out there? What is their answer to "why do you want to be in recruitment?"
  9. Overall Rating - Overall how excited are you about this candidate and how well do you think they will fit in with us? If this is a candidate you wish you had in your team cause they were that good you'd rate them 5. If they were terrible and you want the company to stay away from them, rate them 1.

A sample interview feedback for a hypothetical candidate

General Notes:
Deepika hasn't had any people management experience yet but i think she’ll be a good AM. High energy, entertaining. We spoke about what we did for new years eve. She seems like one of those people who you like having around in a team because they're fun to be with. Did some good research on us. She went and looked at our LinkedIn list, counted how many women we have and said that 55/70 is a good ratio of women to have and added that its because of how HR is a women dominated field so makes sense. I don't know about how her intelligence levels yet though. The Elitmus test will give us some idea about that.

One red flag though was that she was pretty negative about her previous company. Pretty much had nothing good to say about it. A reference check must be done.

Ratings:
Clarity of thought: 3.5/5
Verbal Communication: 4/5
Energy Levels: 4.5/5.
Intelligence: not sure (some parts she said smart things but other areas she said something nonsensical, i've elaborate on this in the section above)
Ability to Build Rapport: 4.5/5. Call went on for 1.5 hours and and didn't feel like it was that long.
Professionalism: 4/5
Level of Preparation: 4/5
Inclination towards HR: 2/5. She's from a customer success background and it does seem like she's applying to whatever interesting companies she finds. But didn't share anything substantial for why she wants to be in HR. She's also apparently applied to marketing and sales roles 🤨

Overall Rating: 4/5

My recommendation for next steps:
I think she's strong and we should prioritise her profile. I'd definitely want someone like her in my team and she'd be amongst the strongest people I've worked with.