Interview Feedback Form

Hiring Success Glossary
SmartJobs

Table of Contents

What is an interview feedback form?

Interview feedback forms are used to standardize the way in which a hiring team evaluates a candidate. Interview feedback helps keep interviewers objective, and provides them with guidelines on what are important aspects of said role that need to be evaluated. Lastly, interview feedback forms allow for faster documentation, easier training of hiring managers, and reduced unconscious bias in the hiring process.

How to create an interview feedback form

Interview feedback forms include some standardized information and some items that will vary based on the organization. Below is what generally should be included in your form for interview feedback:
  • Organizational values: Education, work experience, and communication skills.
  • Interviewer or interviewers names
  • The role the candidate is interviewing for
  • Standard candidate information: date of interview, candidate name, role candidate is applying for, interviewer name, interview stage
  • Candidate evaluation: relevant experience, educational background or certifications, general skills, level of proficiency in skills valued by your organization or needed for this role, candidates match to company values and culture
  • Hire: why should the candidate be hired, provide X, Y, & Z reasons
  • Hold: Why we should wait for other candidate or put said candidate through more testing, provide X, Y, & Z reasons
  • Proceed no further: Why the candidate is not suited for the position and detail if we should consider them in the future or for another role, provide X, Y, & Z reasons

Why use an interview feedback form

Interview feedback forms make it easier to train and hire new managers. When interviews are based on a standardized form, new managers can effectively run interviews based on company values without undergoing extensive training. Interview feedback forms allow for vast documentation and are customizable and storable in a good applicant tracking system. This way documentation can be stored and shared with relevant team members at varying degrees of access. In addition, it permits the final stages of the hiring process, such as a hiring manager interview, to take place with complete information about the candidate's journey. Interview feedback forms reduce unconscious hiring bias in the interview process. Interviewers often unknowingly are drawn to candidates that mimic them and have significant similarities. Interview feedback forms are a great way to limit this bias by keeping interviews to a set evaluation criteria.

How to use an interview feedback form

Use an interview feedback form based on the instructions provided on the document. Be sure to pay close attention to the rating scale as sometimes a scale of 1-5 can vary between 1 or 5 being the best rating.

Best practices for interview feedback

Documenting an interview is essential to giving clear, specific feedback to be shared with your team. This allows the hiring team to make informed decisions based on the interview instead of objective gut feelings after the fact. When recommending a candidate to either move forward or be removed from the interview process it's important to make the hiring team justify their recommendation. Ask them to give X, Y, & Z reasons with their recommendation. Have the hiring team pay specific attention to skills and behaviors and have them list them in their recommendations of concerns. For example if they are overqualified, have the team cite this instead of saying how they aren't sure they would be motivated. Have the team focus on objective information while not neglecting other information. If a candidate has all the requirements for a role and has a great resume yet the team feels as if the candidate was disrespectful, it's still important to note this information. Have them detail the encounter so it can be dissected later. It is also vital to employ the latest recruiting technology to efficiently document the interview process. Utilizing a platform that allows for collaborative hiring is key to keeping organized internal data throughout the hiring process. Look for an applicant tracking software that allows for:
  • The engagement of all decision-makers, notes, and communications in one place
  • The retention of a centralized repository of hiring actions, tasks, and feedback
  • The sharing of resumes easily and securely within the platform
  • The monitoring of a hiring teams productivity and candidate progression in real time
  • Star ratings
  • Interview evaluation forms

Sample interview feedback form

Now that you have read all about the importance of interview feedback forms, we thought it would be optimal to provide you a sample interview feedback form that you can use as a template during your own hiring processes. Enjoy! Interview feedback form Interviewer's name: Candidates name: Date of interview: Role interviewing for: Interview stage: KEY: A candidate should be rated on a scale from 1 to 5. 5. Exceeds requirements 4. Above average 3. Average 2. Below average 1. Far below average Relevant experience 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Comments: Educational background or certifications 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Comments: General skills 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Comments: Level of proficiency in skills valued by your organization or needed for this role 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Comments: Verbal communication 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Comments: Candidate Enthusiasm 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Comments: Knowledge of company 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Comments: Working collaboratively 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Comments: Planning and Organizing Projects 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Comments: Candidates match to company values and culture 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Comments: Further action and recommendations 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Comments: Hire: Why should the candidate be hired, provide X, Y, & Z reasons 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Comments: Hold: Why we should wait for other candidate or put said candidate through more testing, provide X, Y, & Z reasons 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Comments: Proceed no further: Why the candidate is not suited for the position and detail if we should consider them in the future or for another role, provide X, Y, & Z reasons 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Comments:
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