When you’re evaluating candidates, your job isn’t just to “go with your gut”. Use clear, role-specific standards and real evidence to make fair, consistent decisions. Think of yourself as the person who brings structure and clarity to the hiring process, so every candidate gets a fair shot and your team can trust the results.

A rubric is a structured scoring guide that lists the skills and behaviors you’re evaluating, with clear descriptions of what strong, average, and weak performance look like.

Here are some scenarios you might come across when evaluating candidates:

• You need to use a role-specific rubric to make sure you’re focusing on what really matters for the job, not just general qualities.
• You’re deciding how to score a candidate and want to base your decision on specific evidence, not just your overall impression.
• You notice a rubric criterion and want to make sure it actually matches the real requirements of the job, so your evaluation is relevant and actionable.

A great rubric is like a map: it points you to the skills and behaviors that matter most for the role. Every criterion should map directly to a real job requirement, so your evaluations are always focused and relevant. For instance, if you’re hiring a backend engineer, your rubric might include “problem-solving,” “collaboration,” and “ownership.” Each criterion should spell out what strong, average, and weak performance looks like, so you know exactly what to look for.

Instead of writing, “Candidate seemed like a good fit,” you’ll be able to point to something concrete:
“Candidate explained how they automated cloud resource provisioning using Infrastructure as Code, demonstrating technical expertise and proactive problem-solving.”

Checklist: Is This Rubric Criterion Essential?

Before adding a criterion to your rubric, ask yourself:

• Does this skill or behavior directly relate to the job’s day-to-day responsibilities?
• Is it mentioned in the job description or highlighted by the team as critical?
• Will evaluating this criterion help us make a meaningful hiring decision?
• Is this a “nice-to-have” or a “must-have” for success in the role?
  (A “must-have” is essential for success in the role, while a “nice-to-have” is helpful but not required.)

What to Include vs. Exclude in Your Rubric:

Use this checklist to keep your rubric focused, relevant, and actionable.

Consistency and fairness come from scoring what you actually see and hear — not just how you feel. When you assign a score, always reference the rubric and cite specific behaviors. For example, if your rubric for “problem-solving” says, “Identifies root causes and proposes multiple solutions under pressure,” look for a story or example that matches.

If you catch yourself writing, “Seemed like a strong leader,” pause and dig deeper:
“Described mediating a conflict between two teammates by facilitating a structured discussion and following up with both parties.”

If you can’t back up your score with evidence, check your notes and make sure you’re not being influenced by style or delivery.

Here’s how this looks in a real conversation:

• Ryan: I just finished my evaluation, but I’m not sure if I’m being too subjective. I wrote, “The candidate seemed really confident and would be a great fit.”
• Natalie: That’s a common habit, but let’s look for specific behaviors. Did the candidate do anything that actually showed confidence or fit?
• Ryan: Well, during the system outage scenario, they calmly explained their process, coordinated with ops, and documented everything for the team.
• Natalie: Perfect. Instead of “seemed confident,” you could write, “Explained how they managed a system outage by calmly coordinating with ops and documenting lessons learned for the team.” That’s clear, evidence-based, and matches the rubric for collaboration and ownership.
• Ryan: That makes sense. I’ll update my notes to focus on what I actually observed.

Notice how Natalie helps Ryan move from a feeling—“seemed confident”—to a specific, observable behavior—“calmly coordinated with ops and documented lessons learned.”

In this lesson, you learned how to apply job-aligned rubrics and use specific evidence to make fair, consistent evaluations. Next, you’ll get to practice these skills in real-world tasks. You’ll apply a rubric to real candidate responses and see how evidence-based scoring leads to better, more consistent hiring decisions.