Creating an Interview Worksheet

Once again, I’d like to pick your brain.

I’m working on an “Interview Worksheet”. It’s a simple form that you’ll fill out while interviewing someone, and prepping for an interview with them. There is, of course, a section for questions you want to ask them, one for taking notes during your discussion, and one for the common “How would you rate yourself on skill X” questions. But, I’ve also got a section where you can quickly rate the person on various attributes that you tend to look for.

There are two things I’d like to hear from you:

1. Suggestions for other rateable attributes that you look for that aren’t in my list below.
2. A quick piece of advice for other interviewers: just one or two sentences, something you try and look for in a candidate that others should consider looking for too, or maybe something you do in an interview that reveals important details.

My idea is to collect the advice and put it on the back of the sheet. Better to have helpful suggestions from other smart interviewers than a field of white.

Here’s my current list of rateable attributes. Each will be presented on the form in such a way that you could fill them out whilst keeping the meaning of your actions hidden.

• Experience (how much?)
• Personality (how good?)
• Skills (how skilled are they?)
• Group Fit (you may love them, but how good will they be with the team?)
• Communication (you know, like… with the words ’n stuff)
• Passion (how passionate are they about the task you’re interviewing them for?)
• Additivity ( A measure of how many talents / skills they’d bring to your team that you don’t already have. I could really use a better word for this, and would love your suggestions.)

So, what do you look for? What tips do you have to share?