When a rejected candidate challenges a hiring decision, the first question is always the same: show me how you decided. Unstructured interviews produce no answer — just recollections and gut feel, which read as pretext in a charge investigation even when the decision was sound.
This form imposes structure. Every panel member asks the same questions, takes notes per candidate, rates each response on a defined 1–5 scale, and multiplies by the question’s assigned weight. The weighted total gives you a comparable score across candidates and a contemporaneous written record of why the winner won.
Who should use this form
- Hiring managers running panel interviews without a scoring system
- HR coordinators standardizing interviews across departments
- Municipal and nonprofit hiring panels that must defend selections
- Small businesses formalizing hiring before their next growth phase
What it helps prevent
- Hiring decisions with no written rationale when a charge is filed
- Panel members evaluating on different, unstated criteria
- Halo-effect scoring where one impression colors every rating
- Inconsistent questions that invite disparate-treatment claims
- Losing the best candidate to a process nobody could explain
What’s inside
- Interview details block — candidate, panel members, position, date
- Panel instructions for consistent, fair evaluation
- Weighted question table with 1–5 rating scale definitions
- Placeholder questions to replace with role-specific ones
- Weighted scoring math and total-score comparison
- Editable Word format for tailoring by position
Before you process payroll, terminate, classify, deduct, or respond to a claim, get the decision reviewed.
Faulkner HR Solutions helps Texas employers, nonprofits, municipalities, and growing businesses fix the people systems behind recurring workplace problems. If this resource raised a risk flag, do not guess your way through the next step.