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 candidate’s 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
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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
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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 doesn’t
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 isn’t what you asked for.
Therefore you still don’t 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
didn’t 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 isn’t 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 doesn’t 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 didn’t particularly go out of their way.
“One time I spoke to a new student waiting at the college reception as they
looked lost”
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This is a friendly thing to do, however if this is the best example
the candidate has then it isn’t 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 don’t 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
doesn’t 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.