Interview Questions Library / Interview Evaluation Form (Free Template)
Updated: August 2026 · By Álvaro Arrescurrenaga · CEO of Voicit- Free download
- Scoring rubric 1–5
- Updated August 2026
An interview evaluation form is the one-page document an interviewer fills in after each interview: the criteria for the role, a rating for each on the same scale, the evidence behind the rating, and a recommendation. Its job is to make candidates comparable and decisions defensible. Download ours below in Word, Excel or PDF, and use the same form for every candidate for the role.
Most companies have an interview evaluation form and most interviewers fill it in from memory, two days later, with a number and no evidence. The form is not the problem; how it is used is. This page gives you a form that works — criteria, a written 1-5 scale, an evidence column and a recommendation — and explains how to fill it in so that the debrief compares facts instead of impressions.
Download the interview evaluation form
Three formats, same content. The Excel version calculates the average rating and validates the 1-5 scale; Word and PDF are for editing the criteria or filling in by hand during the interview.
Interview evaluation form. Candidate details, seven criteria with a 1-5 rating, an evidence column, the written rating scale, overall rating and a hire / no-hire recommendation. No sign-up, no email. Better still: tell Voicit which form you use and it fills it in for you after every interview, with the candidate’s literal answers. See how it works.
What is on the form, and why
Every field on the form exists to make a later comparison possible. If a field does not help you compare two candidates or explain a decision to someone who was not in the room, it should not be there.
| Section | What goes in it | Why it matters |
| Candidate details | Name, position, interviewer, date, stage | Forms from different rounds and interviewers get matched later |
| Criteria (7 rows) | The competencies and skills the role actually needs | The same rows for every candidate is what makes scores comparable |
| Rating 1-5 | A number against the written scale, not a gut feeling | Numbers without a shared definition are opinions with decimals |
| Evidence | What the candidate said or did, in their words | This is what the debrief will actually discuss |
| Overall rating and recommendation | Strengths, concerns, a 1-5 overall, hire / no hire | Forces a decision instead of a summary |
How to fill in an interview evaluation form
Five rules that separate a useful form from paperwork. They take less time than they sound, because most of the work happens during the interview rather than after it.
| Rule | In practice | What goes wrong otherwise |
| Decide the criteria before the interview | Pick the seven rows from the role’s requirements; delete the ones that do not apply | Criteria invented after the interview fit the candidate you liked |
| Write evidence during the interview | One line per criterion: the situation and what they did, in their words | From memory, two days later, everyone sounds the same |
| Rate against the written scale | Read the scale, find the row that matches the evidence, write the number | A 4 from one interviewer is a 3 from another |
| Score before the debrief | Complete the form alone, then compare | The first strong opinion in the room sets everyone’s scores |
| Recommend, don’t summarize | Strong hire / hire / no hire / strong no hire, with the one reason | «Good candidate, some concerns» helps nobody decide |
The rating scale, written down
The scale on the form is the same one we use across every guide in the interview questions library. The point is not the numbers; it is that everyone rates against the same definition of what a 3 looks like.
| Score | Meaning | Typical evidence |
| 1 | No example | Talks in the abstract; no real situation |
| 2 | Generic example | A situation, but their own actions are vague |
| 3 | Solid example | Specific situation, their actions, an outcome |
| 4 | Strong example | Above, plus the trade-off made and what they would change |
| 5 | Exceptional | Above, plus lasting impact on the team or the result |
How to write the evaluation: the evidence column
The evidence column is where most forms fail. A good line is short, specific and quotes the candidate: «Inherited a team of 6 with two people on PIPs; had both conversations in week two; one improved, one left.» A bad line is an adjective: «strong leader». If you cannot write the evidence, you do not have the rating. Voicit records the interview and fills this column with the candidate’s literal answers, which is the part interviewers skip when they are taking notes by hand.
Common mistakes with interview evaluation forms
Rating everything a 3 or a 4 to avoid a decision; filling in the form days later; changing the criteria per candidate; letting the hiring manager’s form carry more weight than the panel’s; and treating the overall rating as an average of the rows. The overall rating should be a judgment informed by the rows, and a single 1 on a must-have criterion should be able to sink an otherwise strong candidate. The form is a record of evidence, not a formula.
Evaluation form or scorecard?
They are the same idea at two levels of detail. The evaluation form on this page is one page per interview, seven criteria, fast to fill in. The interview scorecard template adds weights per competency, a weighted total and a second sheet with 30 questions by competency — use it when several interviewers assess the same candidate and you want a single comparable score. Start with the form; move to the scorecard when the process has more than one round.
Stop writing up interviews by hand. Voicit records the interview, transcribes it and fills your scorecard against the competencies you defined — so you can listen instead of typing.
Frequently asked questions
What is an interview evaluation form?
A one-page document the interviewer completes after each interview: the criteria for the role, a rating for each on a shared scale, the evidence behind each rating, and an overall recommendation. It exists so that candidates can be compared on the same basis and so that a hiring decision can be explained later.
How do you write an interview evaluation?
Decide the criteria before the interview, write one line of evidence per criterion during it (what the candidate said or did, in their words), rate each against the written 1-5 scale, and end with a recommendation and the single main reason. Do it alone, before the debrief, so your rating is not shaped by the room.
What criteria should an interview evaluation form include?
The four to seven things the role actually needs, decided before the interview: usually the core role-specific skill plus a handful of competencies such as problem solving, communication, collaboration, adaptability and accountability, and motivation for this role. Delete rows that do not apply; do not add rows after meeting the candidate.
How do you write an interview assessment report?
Take the completed forms from every interviewer and summarize them by criterion, not by interviewer: where the panel agreed, where it disagreed and why, the strongest evidence on each side, and the recommendation with its main reason. Attach the forms. A report that reads as a list of opinions has skipped the evidence step.
Should the candidate see the interview evaluation form?
In most jurisdictions candidates can request personal data held about them, and in the EU under GDPR that includes interview notes. Write the form as if the candidate will read it: evidence and observations, not personal remarks. It is also simply better feedback if you decide to share it.
Keep reading
Voicit records interviews and meetings, transcribes them and writes the report against the template each team defines. These question sets come from working with recruitment consultancies and in-house talent teams across Europe.