Move ✌️  **Embedded recruiting for startups & scaleups

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🧩 Embedded Talent

🔍 Sourcing-as-a-Service

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How to use a scorecard

• Set your criteria 🎯: Start by defining the key traits, skills, and qualities you’re looking for in the role. This could be technical skills, teamwork, adaptability, problem-solving, etc.

• Score as you go 📝: During interviews or assessments, use the scorecard to rate each candidate on the criteria you’ve set. Be consistent in your scoring to keep things fair.

• Compare candidates 🤔: Once you’ve scored all candidates, compare their scores side-by-side. This helps you see who stands out and who might not be the best fit.

• Discuss with the team 🤝: Share the scorecard results with your team to get their input. It’s a great way to ensure everyone’s on the same page.

• Make a decision ✅: Use the scorecard as a guide to make your final hiring decision, focusing on the candidates who tick the most boxes for your needs.

CRITERIA DEFINITION QUESTIONS? INTERVIEWER INSIGHTS ANSWER GUIDELINE - Warning Signs 🚩 ANSWER GUIDELINE - Positive Signals 🟢
Customer/Stakeholder Centricity consistently prioritizing and addressing the needs, expectations, and experiences of customers or stakeholders in every decision and action Tell me about your most challenging customer/stakeholder? Remember, resist the urge to add "and what did you do to turn them around?". It's crazy how much more enlightening the answers will be if you leave this question hanging as is. Assigns blame and talks negatively about this person. Or more subtly, they roll their eyes and laugh with resignation about how difficult the person was but that they did their best to work with them nonetheless. These are signs of a lack of empathy/customer centricity. " Shows empathy towards this person and frames the problem through their eyes rather than their own. They understand that the person was frustrated with the situation and that this influenced their behaviour rather than it being due to a character flaw. (if they were abrasive, for example). The candidate takes ownership of the relationship and its outcomes and reflects positively.
Solution Orientation actively seeking and implementing effective solutions to problems, focusing on overcoming challenges rather than dwelling on obstacles. Could you tell me about a time you tried to fix or improve something, but it didn’t work? Some might think you're asking about a problem that was never fixed. However, the question actually seeks examples of where the candidate's attempted fix failed. This may mean she later found a successful solution. This question was designed intentionally to allow varying interpretations. N.B. The answers to this question are on a gradient from strong to weak as all interviewees will know that the desired response is some kind of attempted solution. Problem-solver personalities simply can’t bring themselves to think about a situation as a total failure. They need to keep trying and eventually solve it or at least salvage some useful lesson. And you will generally hear that underlying interpretation in the responses problem solvers provide, just as you’ll hear the opposite in the answers from the problem bringers.
Communication/Collaboration effectively sharing information and working together with others to achieve common goals, fostering teamwork and ensuring clarity and alignment. Tell me about a time you adapted your approach or communication style when working with a colleague? This question is designed to make it difficult to guess an A-star answer. Yes, it's about adapting to others, but the motivations underlying this adaptation are important, making it a good indicator of someone's awareness of others and their ability to make it work with them in a team setting. Vague answer or one that talks about the change being driven by self-preservation e.g. they tend to talk quite a lot so I need to be more assertive with them to get to the point
" Frames the reason for the change in comms style through the lens of the colleague, showing empathy. E.g. they're an introvert so I need to give them time to clarify any questions 'one-on-one' with me. Has a clear example to share with the overriding motivation being "what's best for the team"
Kindness treating others with respect, empathy, and consideration, fostering a positive and supportive environment through thoughtful and compassionate actions. Can you recall an instance when your actions positively impacted someone else's day? Remember, it's not just about what the individual did, but also the underlying thought process, their motivation, and how it aligns with the value of kindness. No example given or the example given was for something that incurred very minimal effort and/or sacrifice. Strong answers often reveal a deeper level of empathy, initiative, and a sustained commitment to helping others, even at the cost of personal comfort or convenience.
Ownership & Humility taking full responsibility for one’s work and outcomes, while also recognizing and learning from mistakes, valuing others’ contributions, and staying open to feedback. Could you tell me about a time you were working on a project that was behind on its targets? This question can cover 2 core areas, ownership & humility. What many candidates think you're asking is how they turned this project around and made it a success, which is only a small part. What it's really exploring is do they own the poor results? They palm the failures of the project off on others and position themselves as the knight in shining armour who turned the project around (lack of humility). They own the failure as well as the success of the project (ownership). They are able to reflect on what went wrong and show an internalisation of the learnings from this. Did they see the project through to completion and check in regularly post-completion to make sure things stayed on track?
Self-awareness / Being Reflective understanding one’s own strengths, weaknesses, and emotions, and regularly reflecting on experiences to learn, grow, and improve. What was the most constructive bit of feedback you've been given in the last 6 months? Another one where it's super important you leave the question hanging. By having them rank the feedback, you're eliciting what they deem legitimate feedback (self-awareness), and depending on what they say next, you'll get insights on whether they adapted their approach based on the feedback (reflective) Can't think of anything. Lacks detail in answer. Says something generic like "they told me I'm a perfectionist and I'm being too hard on myself" Has a concrete example of feedback with a link to a subsequent change in approach. The feedback example given has some element of vulnerability.
Curiosity / Passion for industry / Growth mindset actively seeking knowledge, staying enthusiastic about the industry, and embracing challenges as opportunities to learn and grow. What's the most recent book or article you've read / podcast you've listened to about (INDUSTRY TOPIC)? AT THE END: Do you have any questions for me? These two common questions cover quite a lot of ground. Situational questions are less effective at evaluating curiosity as it's more difficult to ask about it directly compared to other traits. Hasn't read a relevant book/newsletter for a very long time and says things like "I didn't have time" or they can't name a relevant publication/author/newsletter. They have no questions for you at the end beyond generic ones like "how would you describe the culture here?" Can name several industry publications/books/ podcasts and talks knowledgeably about them. Show's intellectual curiosity about their area.
Business outcome focussed (not technology focussed) / Commitment to Excellence prioritizing the impact on business results over technical details, while consistently striving for the highest quality and performance in every task. What project are you most proud of? This common question is great for identifying what the candidate considers to be 'outstanding' work so it can give a good read on how high their standards are. It also sheds light on what they deem to be a 'successful' project. You'll need to follow up / dig deeper with questions if necessary to elicit the underlying reasons so don't skim over this question. The answer describes a project with limited business impact and focuses more on technical solution for its own sake. The project was BAU or seemingly quite simple. The project described is linked to business goals, the person can tie their work to ROI or business impact and they show a keen awareness of what the business objectives were. The project had some level of complexity and/or major obstacles such as time or technical constraints and they did more with less
Working in fast fast-paced environment efficiently managing time, adapting quickly to changes, and maintaining high performance under pressure in a rapidly evolving setting. What were the last 2 features or updates you shipped? What were you tasked with, who were you working with and how long did they take? This will give you a good indication as to the pace of work they are used to. Their language (body and spoken) will also indicate their level of comfort with these project parameters. The project was at a pace that is below the one needed for your company. (assuming similar stage of technology company in same or adjacent sector) The features or updates shipped were delivered in what you deem to be short timelines and with limited resource
Comfortable working in ambiguous situations without rigid processes/autonomy confidently navigating uncertainty, making decisions with limited guidance, and thriving in environments where processes are flexible or not well-defined. What first principles guide your work? (Better for more senior candidates) Do they have a guiding philosophy or framework? This gives insights into their decision-making process and how they would react in certain situations where guidance or SOPs are lacking. Don't have a guiding framework or one that is cobbled together on the fly They have first principles that they call upon that enable them to take reasoned action e.g. do things that have the highest impact at the lowest cost / align with business objectives / are connected to customer-related deadlines.
Comfortable working in ambiguous situations without rigid processes/autonomy NB - some questions criteria need a broader narrative, further unpacking this track how do you prioritise tasks? Again this question can give insights into their decision-making process and how they would react in ambiguous situations. Answer shows that they need lots of guidance and are not aware of wider objectives. e.g. Do things that have the highest impact at the lowest cost / align with business objectives / are connected to customer-related deadlines.
Comfortable working in ambiguous situations without rigid processes/autonomy/ Adaptability/flexibility thriving in uncertain environments by adapting quickly to changes, making independent decisions, and staying flexible in the face of shifting priorities and unclear processes.

NB - some question's criteria need a broader narrative | What type of environment do you thrive in? | This question is there to identify those who prefer structured, clearly defined roles and environments. It acts as a high-level filter | Answer involves liking a highly structured, process-laden environment with high levels of support and documentation | ****Talks about autonomy, having real impact and not being a cog in a wheel. Answer talks about flat structures and high levels of trust. ****Talks about loving variety of work and the urgency often requitred. **** |