Why Structured Feedback Matters

A good hiring process is a rigorous and disciplined affair. Recording the interviewing team's opinions of the candidate, derived from a consistent set of questions, is key to evaluating your interviewing prowess, or lack thereof. Immediately recording opinions, before debriefing and persuasion, is important. With objective ranking of candidates you can determine the quality of your interviewers.

How to Implement the System

  1. Create a Google Form (here is a sample) for collecting interview feedback which each interviewer completes before discussion. Edit the form to suit your criteria.
  2. Discuss the reasons why each interviewer subjectively ranked the candidate as they did. Use the form results to keep the discussion on track.
  3. Calculate the best possible ranking score (say 50, for example), divide by their score, and give the candidate a letter grade.
  4. If you hire the candidate, retrospectively compare their performance to the impressions developed in the interview and tweak your process accordingly. You may realize you need to ask more or better questions in a certain area.
  5. Retrospectively track who evaluates the candidate most accurately. These people are most adept at asking questions and being perceptive about motivation and character. Reinforce their participation in interviews and coach underperforming interviewers.

In This Series

  1. Why written feedback has to come before the debrief

    The most confident voice in a debrief overwrites everyone else’s read. Require written feedback before anyone talks, and the same forms become the spine of the conversation.

  2. Eliminating Interview Groupthink

    Interview groupthink starts the second the debrief opens and the senior voice anchors the verdict. The AIM restores independent judgment before the panel converges.

  3. A Disciplined Interview Feedback System You are here

    Record each interviewer's score before any debrief and you eliminate the loudest-voice problem. Comparing those scores to actual performance over time is how you improve your interviewers.

  4. Interview Ratings Don't End at the Interview

    The four-point feedback scale requires behavioral evidence. Vague ratings like 'seems like a good leader' are impressions, not data, and don't survive group review.

  5. 40 Post-Interview Questions That Matter

    Post-interview gut feel is unreliable. These 40 reflection questions give teams a structured way to assess candidates on skills, fit, and leadership.

  6. Reflect Before You Hire

    Before extending an offer, ask whether the candidate showed they can handle the specific scope they're walking into. Impression isn't the test.

  7. 7 Things to Confirm Before You Send the Offer Letter

    Bad hires fail across seven dimensions: ability, attitude, accountability, alignment, ambition, affect, application. Know which one before the offer letter goes out.

  8. Cut Late Without Guilt

    A late disqualification isn't a failure. It's proof the process worked. Sunk cost thinking and frustration are what turn a defensible call into a bad hire.

Questions, answered

The short version.

Why record interview scores before the debrief?
Recording each opinion before discussion and persuasion keeps every interviewer's read independent. It also gives you an objective ranking of candidates and, over time, a read on the quality of your interviewers.
How do you build an interview feedback system?
Use a form each interviewer completes before any discussion, edited to your criteria. Discuss the reasoning behind each ranking afterward, using the results to keep the conversation on track, then convert each score against the best possible score into a letter grade.
How do you improve your interviewers over time?
Compare a hire's actual performance against the impressions formed during the interview and adjust the process, which may mean better questions in a particular area. Track who evaluates most accurately, reinforce their participation, and coach the ones who miss.