What structure adds to hiring
Without a shared standard, interviewers tend to favor the candidate they personally connect with, and separate interviews re-cover the same ground. The Who Method replaces that with a shared scorecard, a fixed sequence of interviews, and questions coordinated across the whole loop. The scorecard, the interview set, and the reverse-chronological interview come from the source method; the ordering, scoring presentation, and inclusion guardrails here are adapted for this context.
Unstructured
Hiring without a shared standard.
- Interviewers judge candidates against a personal, unwritten picture of the “ideal” hire.
- Impressions and likability carry more weight than evidence.
- Each interviewer brings their own improvised questions.
- The same ground gets re-covered across interviews, and useful signal is missed.
The Who Method
Hiring against a scorecard.
- Decisions anchored to a single written scorecard.
- A standard process that lets you compare candidates on the same criteria.
- No question is repeated across interviewers, so each interview earns its time.
- Decisions weighted toward evidence of past performance, the method’s central premise.
- A values check scored on observable behavior, kept inclusive.
- The scorecard and questions drop straight into your ATS.
This process weighs decisions toward evidence of past performance rather than interview-day rapport, and runs the same way for every candidate so they are compared against one scorecard.
Build the hiring scorecard
Goal. Before a single resume hits the inbox, the recruiter and the hiring manager align on what success looks like, in writing. Owner: Hiring manager + recruiter.
Run an intake meeting
Get the recruiter and the hiring manager (and anyone else who’ll be involved) in the same room. Map the position together. The output is a scorecard, not a job description.
Define the mission
Articulate exactly how this role contributes to company objectives and why it exists. If the mission can’t be written in one sentence, the role isn’t defined enough to interview against yet.
Specify measurable outcomes
List the concrete results the hire will deliver. Outcomes are quantified, time-bound, and unambiguous.
e.g. “Grow sales revenue by $3M within 12 months,” not “drive growth.”Identify required competencies
List the skills, attributes, and behaviors needed for success in this specific role. Pick the fewest that actually matter: every competency you add becomes interview surface area.
Add company values
List your company values explicitly: they get scored alongside outcomes and competencies. Score values on observable behavior, not on cultural sameness, and keep them inclusive.
An example scorecard (illustrative)
Role: Director of Customer Success. Hiring manager: COO. Target close: 6 weeks.
Measurable outcomes 3
- Increase customer retention by 15% within 12 months.
- Launch new product feature by Q3 2024 with 90% user satisfaction.
- Achieve a 10% team productivity increase via process optimization.
Required competencies 6
- Problem-solving & analytical thinking
- Effective written & verbal communication
- Collaborative teamwork
- Adaptability & resilience
- Proactive initiative
- Strategic planning & execution
Company values 4
- Customer focus
- Innovation & continuous improvement
- Integrity & accountability
- Empowerment & growth
The five-band scoring scale
Every line item on the scorecard is rated on the same five-band scale. You may not pick “n/a” unless you genuinely gathered no data on that topic: it forces the interviewer to ask, not punt.
| Band | What it means |
|---|---|
| Strong no | Clear evidence of a gap or red flag. |
| No | Below the bar; reservations outweigh strengths. |
| N/A | No data gathered. Use sparingly, only when truly unavailable. |
| Yes | Meets the bar. Solid, evidence-backed performance. |
| Strong yes | Clear, repeated evidence above the bar. Hire enthusiastically. |
The five-interview structure
Five interviews, one specific job each. No interview repeats another’s questions. Order, length, and number flex with the seniority of the role, while the core sequence stays the same. An earlier sourcing step, run by the recruiter or sourcer, feeds qualified candidates into Interview 01.
Phone screen
Find any blockers fast.
30 min, CEO for senior rolesFocus interview
Two competencies, deep.
Most-trusted interviewersThe WHO interview
Chronological deep dive.
Hiring manager + ride-alongFocus interview
Two more competencies.
Two new interviewersCompleting the picture
Skill, references, debrief.
Team meeting + decisionA note on sequencing. The order here is a modification of the canonical Who sequence: cheap, fast filters first, the deepest interview in the middle, and references and assessment last so they validate or contradict what you’ve already learned. Cut focus interviews for junior roles. The WHO interview can run longer or shorter, but it stays in every version of the flow.
The interviews, one by one
Each interview has one job. Don’t let it grow to do everything.
Interview 01: phone screen
- Length
- 30 minutes
- Run by
- CEO, for Mgr+ roles
A short, structured 30-minute screen designed to find any blockers (comp expectations, location, motivation, glaring resume mismatches) before the longer process begins. Early-stage CEOs should run this themselves for any manager-level-or-higher role; the calibration it gives the founder is worth the time. The questions below are one example approach but make this your own. The important part is that you are asking follow up questions to get at the objectives, skills, and past performance at a high level.
Give me your quick background and why you’re great in less than 90 seconds.
Listen for: clarity, prioritization, what they choose to lead with.When you think about the apex of your career, what does that look like?
Listen for: ambition, self-awareness, whether this role is a step toward it.What are you looking for in your next position?
Listen for: alignment with what you can actually offer.What are one or two things you’re working to improve on professionally?
Listen for: real self-knowledge, not humblebrags.How would you rate your performance in your last two roles, from 1 to 10?
Listen for: the number, the rationale, and how candidly they explain a gap below 10.Any role-specific qualification questions you want to ask up front.
Optional. Use sparingly; save depth for the focus interviews.Interview 02: first focus interview
- Covers
- 2 competencies
- Run by
- 1–2 trusted interviewers
Run by your 1–2 most trusted interviewers to quickly screen out candidates before the longer process. It deep-dives into two critical areas (outcomes or competencies straight from the scorecard) and allows for a concentrated, in-depth discussion. Each topic uses the same two core questions with probing follow-ups.
Pattern A: accomplishments
“What were your biggest accomplishments related to [focus area]?”
Probe for specific details and measurable results. Push past “we”: what did they do?
Listen for: scope, ownership, the metric, and the hard part they had to overcome.
Pattern B: failures & challenges
“What were your biggest failures or challenges in [focus area], and what did you learn?”
Focus on resilience and growth from mistakes. Real failures come with concrete consequences.
Listen for: self-attribution, what they actually changed, whether the lesson is portable.
Interview 03: the WHO interview, the keystone
- Run by
- Hiring manager + ride-along note-taker
- Length
- 1–3 hrs
The chronological deep-dive: the heart of the method. Walk the candidate’s career history in reverse chronological order, typically the past 2–4 roles. Run by the hiring manager, with a ride-along to take notes so the manager can stay present. Length scales with the importance of the role: a fast hour for a junior hire, a three-hour slog for a key senior leader. Always ask for the names of people mentioned: those names become your reference list.
Walk backwards, from now to earlier in the career.
| When | Role | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Most recent | Current / last role | Start here: fresh details |
| N − 1 | Previous role | Patterns start to emerge |
| N − 2 | Role before that | Confirm or break the pattern |
| N − 3 | Earlier role (if relevant) | Cap at 2–4 roles total |
For each role, ask:
What were your responsibilities?
Anchor scope and context before getting into outcomes.What were your biggest accomplishments?
Force specifics. Numbers, scope, what they personally drove.What were your biggest mistakes?
If they can’t name any, you’ve found one.Why did you leave?
Listen for the gap between their story and the patterns across roles.Who was your supervisor, and how would they rate your performance, out of 10?
The “TORC” question. Their answer sets the bar references will be measured against.Interview 04: the remaining focus interviews
- Covers
- 2 new competencies
- Run by
- 2 new interviewers
Same shape as Interview 02, but with two new interviewers and two different competencies or outcomes. Run more or fewer of these depending on the role and your target time-to-close. Identify the fewest competencies and outcomes needed to confidently choose the best candidate; everything beyond that just adds latency.
Pattern A: accomplishments
“What were your biggest accomplishments related to [focus area]?”
New competency, same probe. Specifics and measurable results.
Pattern B: failures & challenges
“What were your biggest failures or challenges in [focus area], and what did you learn?”
Look for self-awareness and a real lesson, one they’ve already applied somewhere.
Coverage rule. Across Interviews 02 and 04, every measurable outcome and required competency on the scorecard should be covered by at least one focus interview. If a line item isn’t covered, the scorecard will have an n/a-shaped hole in it at debrief, and you’ll have to add another round.
Interview 05: completing the picture
- Parts
- Assessment, references, debrief
The final pass exists to verify what the previous four interviews surfaced, not to discover something new. It has three parts.
| Part | How to run it |
|---|---|
| Add one only if it’s genuinely needed. It must be quantitative, role-relevant, and not ask too much of the candidate’s time. If you can’t articulate why it’s necessary, skip it. | |
| In-depth conversations with former managers and colleagues, especially the ones the candidate named in the WHO interview. Use targeted questions that validate or contradict what you’ve already heard. | |
| Get every interviewer in one room. Round one: each person calls “thumbs up or down” overall, no debate. If it’s all down, move on. If it’s mixed or all up, then debate. |
The most important debrief rule. A focus interviewer may say thumbs down on a competency, while the WHO interviewer found enough evidence in the same competency, across the chronological dive, to override it. Weigh the fuller body of evidence over a single interviewer’s impression. That broader picture is the reason the WHO interview exists.
Reference call: questions worth asking
| Question | What you’re really listening for |
|---|---|
| “How would you rate their performance, on a scale of 1–10?” | The number itself, and how it compares to the candidate’s own self-rating. |
| “What were their biggest accomplishments while reporting to you?” | Whether the reference’s stories match the candidate’s stories: same outcomes, same metrics. |
| “What were their biggest areas for development at the time?” | Whether the reference’s growth areas match what the candidate said in the phone screen. |
| “Would you hire them again, on the same team, today?” | One of the most useful reference questions; a pause is itself information. |
| “Who else should I talk to who has worked closely with them?” | Branch the reference tree; often the most candid signal comes from a second-degree reference. |
Score, debate, decide
The scorecard is the deliverable. Every line (outcomes, competencies, values) gets a band rating from each interviewer who covered it. The team meeting turns those scores into a decision.
Round of thumbs
Every interviewer says thumbs up or thumbs down overall, before any discussion. Anchor in their own gut, but informed by the scorecard.
Read the room
If everyone is thumbs down, you’re done. Move on. No need to relitigate. If it’s mixed or all up, move to debate.
Walk the scorecard
Go line by line through outcomes, competencies, and values. Each interviewer reads their evidence (not their feeling) and the band they assigned.
The hiring manager calls it
The scorecard surfaces the data; the hiring manager owns the call. If you’re hiring this person and inheriting their performance, you make the decision.
Customization guidance
Junior & individual-contributor roles
Often you can collapse to a phone screen, one focus interview, the WHO interview, and a debrief. Keep the WHO interview shorter, about 60 minutes.
Senior leaders & executive roles
Add a second pair of focus interviews. Stretch the WHO interview to 2–3 hours and cover four roles. Branch references more widely.
Inside an ATS
The scorecard is the unit of integration. Drop outcomes, competencies, and values in as scorecard items in Greenhouse, Lever, Ashby, etc. Each interview kit attaches to a subset.
Inclusion guardrails
Values are scored on observed behavior, not on “fit” used as a stand-in for sameness. Calibrate language with the recruiter and revisit it annually.
A note for founders
Run the phone screen yourself. For any manager-level-or-higher role, the founder should personally run Interview 01. It’s 30 minutes, it sets the tone, and it gives you a calibration signal across the whole pipeline that no one else can give you. There may be a sourcing discussion before this that filters candidates to save your time.
Blueprint Who Method hiring framework, v1.0. Adapted from Who by Geoff Smart & Randy Street.