Free to use. No email required. Open the template in your spreadsheet app and adapt it to the role.
How to use the scorecard
- Define the brief. Write down the role’s outcomes, decision authority, systems responsibilities, and support available.
- Choose the essential criteria. Add requirements specific to your environment. Decide what must be demonstrated and what can be developed.
- Gather comparable evidence. Use the same core questions for candidates applying to the same role, with follow-ups based on their answers.
- Record observations before discussion. Note the candidate’s own work, the evidence for it, and what remains unverified.
Evaluation criteria
This is a starting framework for an operations role, not a validated assessment instrument. Adapt it to the level and work in your brief.
| Area | Sample question | Evidence to look for |
|---|---|---|
| Lifecycle and systems judgment | Walk us through a lead-to-customer process you owned. Where did definitions or exceptions cause problems? | Explains data flow, ownership, exceptions, system constraints, and the effect on reporting. |
| Analysis and business reasoning | Describe an analysis that changed a business decision. How did you check your conclusion? | Names the decision, baseline, assumptions, data checks, and competing explanations. |
| Execution and reliability | Tell us about a process change after it went live. How did you know it kept working? | Describes testing, monitoring, documentation, adoption, and recovery when something failed. |
| Cross-team collaboration | Describe a disagreement about lifecycle ownership or operating priorities. What did you do? | Separates stakeholder needs, explains tradeoffs, identifies decision owners, and follows through. |
| Scope and prioritization | How did you decide which operations requests to work on and which to defer? | Connects work to business outcomes, weighs dependencies, and makes capacity limits explicit. |
Rate the evidence against the brief
Record a rating, the specific observation that supports it, and a follow-up question. Use “Not assessed” when the candidate has not had a chance to demonstrate a skill.
Not assessed
There is not enough evidence yet. Identify the follow-up needed.
1 — Gap demonstrated
The evidence shows a gap against an essential requirement of this specific role.
2 — Support needed
Some relevant capability is demonstrated, with support or development still needed.
3 — Meets the brief
The evidence supports the level of independent ownership required for this role.
4 — Greater depth
The evidence shows depth beyond the brief. Check that the scope still fits the candidate’s goals.
A total score should not decide the hire. Review essential requirements individually and discuss whether the evidence supports the actual level of ownership needed.
Run an evidence-based debrief
Compare observations before sharing an overall recommendation. When interviewers disagree, identify whether they heard different evidence, used different criteria, or interpreted the role differently.
- What has the candidate demonstrated that matters to this role?
- Which essential responsibilities remain unverified?
- What support would the candidate need, and can the team provide it?
- What focused follow-up would resolve the remaining uncertainty?
Keep candidate notes within your hiring team’s approved systems. The downloadable template is blank; this page does not collect candidate assessments.