Taking Notes and Scoring in Interviews

Notes should be taken during the interview by all members of the panel
based on what the candidate says. Additionally, each member of the
panel should assign a rating to the candidates answer for every question.
Immediately after the interview, these notes should be used by the panel
to deliberate and discuss the candidate then come to an agreed score.
This makes the scoring objective, as it is done based on evidence and the
panel must agree.
Why should I do this?
There are three main reasons why it is important to take notes and to use
a scoring system during an interview:
1. To ensure good practice, as decisions are based on objective
evidence and not subjective judgements
2. To protect the organisation from discrimination claims
3. To provide appropriate feedback to unsuccessful candidates
Benefits of Note-taking and Scoring

Helps the interviewer to be more objective and fair

Gives the interviewer a level of security and confidence in their
decisions
Prevents snap decisions and stereotyping
Helps to ensure all candidates are assessed equally

Legal Issues

The Data Protection Act 1998 means that candidates have the right
to see notes made about them during interview
There is lots of Equality legislation that says employers selection
decisions cannot be based on subjective decisions, but must be
based on objective evidence

How do I score a candidate?

The candidate must be scored for each part of the interview. This makes it
easy to see why the candidate should or should not be hired. It is
important that all members of the panel understand when to use each
rating, to ensure that they reach an agreed score, but also in the future,
for other interviews. An excellent candidate for one role needs to be the
same standard as excellent candidates in other roles. Also, the rating of
excellent must only be given when the candidate actually is excellent! It
is not useful to rate a candidate this way when it is not an accurate
reflection of their competencies.

There are five ratings on each scale:

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

No evidence
Limited
Moderate
Good
Excellent

It is easier to see the difference between candidates at either end of the

scale but it is harder to differentiate between candidates that are rated
next to each other. For example, how do we know if the candidate is
moderate or good? Here are some guidelines on using the ratings. We
have used one of the questions from the Friendly and Fun to assess the
candidates behaviour and a suggested answer from each rating. The
question is:
Can you give an example of a time that you have gone out of your way
to be friendly to someone?
1. No evidence
This rating should be used when the candidate is unable to
provide any examples, evidence or previous experience of the
behaviour or competency in question.
It is important that it is also used when the candidate doesnt
actually answer the question. For example if you ask for an
example of when they displayed excellent teamwork skills,
and they tell you what an amazing leader they are, even
though what they say may be really good, it isnt what you
asked for. Therefore you still dont know enough to assess
their teamwork skills. In this instance, it would be appropriate
to encourage them to answer regarding their teamwork
experience, but if they still didnt provide an example, they
would receive a no evidence score
In my role of being the college newspaper editor, I had to be very
organised and often had to stay up late to ensure that each edition was
ready for printing

Although this may be impressive, the candidate is being

assessed for being friendly and fun. From this answer, we
cannot tell if this is the case as they have given no evidence

2. Limited

This rating should be used when the candidate gives a weak

example, for example if the evidence loosely demonstrates
the behaviour or competency being asked
It is also appropriate to give this score when they cannot
provide more than the one weak example when asked to
expand or provide more evidence

I sometimes smiled at customers at the restaurant where I worked as a

waitress

Although smiling is technically friendly and fun, it is a very

small action, and isnt a strong example, particularly as the
candidate says she only sometimes did it! Also, the question
asks for an example where the candidate has gone out of their
way, and occasionally smiling doesnt really fit into this
category.

3. Moderate
This score is used when the candidate provides an example
that is neither weak nor strong. Remember that this is the
middle score, therefore should represent a candidate that is
halfway between providing no evidence and being excellent.
For this score to be given there must be something about the
answer that stops it from being good or excellent. This
could be many things, such as it being a common behaviour
that the candidate says they only performed once, or in a
situation where much more could have been done to be truly
friendly and fun, or they didnt particularly go out of their way.
One time I spoke to a new student waiting at the college reception as
they looked lost

This is a friendly thing to do, however if this is the best

example the candidate has then it isnt very much. Although
the candidate went out of their way, they could have done
more, such as offered to show them around etc

4. Good
This score is used when the candidate provides an answer that
demonstrates they have the experience/behaviour in
question, but they dont provide enough detail, or any logic
behind their actions
I organised a leaving-do for someone at my old work.

Even though this is friendly, and the candidate went out of

his/her way, there is not enough detail, and the candidate
doesnt give the reasons behind the behaviour.

5. Excellent
This score should be given when the behaviour is fully
demonstrated and the candidate provides plenty of detail as
well as logic behind the actions.
At my old job, a well-loved member of staff left to go to university, so I
organised a surprise leaving party, complete with karaoke and party food!
I made sure the room was decorated with banners and balloons and I
asked everyone to come along. I also arranged to give her a huge card
signed by all the staff, with some chocolates to say goodbye and good
luck.

This example is full of detail and gives a rationale behind the

behaviour. The example is very friendly, and also shows that
the candidate went out of his/her way to make a good party.