Capability template for recruiting and hiring
Interview plan and scorecard
Before the first interview, the hiring manager and every interviewer share one plan: the criteria the role needs, the same questions in the same order for every candidate, and a blank scorecard each person fills in alone. It rates no one. People make every decision about a candidate.
The outcome
Every candidate meets the same interview. The criteria come straight from the job description you already approved, each stage knows which of them it covers, and the questions ask about work people have actually done, so the people deciding can judge each answer on evidence instead of on who interviewed best.
The plan also takes out what should never be in an interview. A question about family, a wish for someone younger: each is removed and flagged for your people lead, with nothing put in its place. A vague call for "culture fit" is removed too, and the hiring manager is asked which behaviour was meant. That is how a growing company interviews like one with a full recruiting team.
The plan is a structure and nothing more. It never reads a CV, never sees a candidate, and never rates, ranks or compares anyone. Interviewers write down what they heard before choosing a rating, the form has no total, and the hiring manager decides.
Who starts the work, and when
The hiring manager starts it once the role and its description are approved, before the first interview is booked. The people lead supplies the stages, the interviewers and the topics your company never raises in an interview. Both read the draft and approve it, and then a person shares it with the interviewers. Run it again whenever the description, a stage or an interviewer changes.
What they supply
- The approved job description or role brief: what success looks like, the must-haves and the ways of working.
- The hiring manager's notes for the interviews, if any: favourite questions, an exercise they want, who should be involved.
- From the people lead: the stages, how long each lasts and who runs it, who decides, and the words every candidate hears about next steps.
- The people lead's list of topics never raised in an interview.
- How many questions each criterion should get, and whether there is a work exercise with a second attempt after feedback.
What comes out
One interview plan in a fixed order: what the role must achieve, the criteria with what clear evidence looks like for each, the stages, the questions for each stage with follow-ups, the work exercise, a coverage check, a blank scorecard for each stage, and how the debrief runs.
Review notes come with it for the two approvers. They list every question that was rewritten, every item removed and why, every request that was declined, such as ranking finalists or letting one candidate skip a stage, and the open questions for each person. Missing wording is a marked gap, never a guess. The plan ends with the line that nothing has been shared and no candidate has been rated, ranked or compared.
An invented example
Illustrative example with invented data. Fernhollow Bookkeeping, its people, its role and every word of the inputs below are invented. It is an invented 40-person bookkeeping and payroll firm that serves small businesses and is hiring its first client onboarding specialist. The client services manager is the hiring manager; the office and people manager is the people lead.
The inputs come first, in full, so the template can be run on them. The interview plan and its review notes follow.
The inputs
1. The approved job description
Approved by the client services manager and the office and people manager on 3 November 2026.
Client Onboarding Specialist, Client Services
Why this role exists: We take on 15 to 20 new clients a month, and
onboarding is done by whichever bookkeeper has time. New clients wait an
average of 19 days for their first monthly report. This role owns
onboarding from signed engagement to first report.
The work:
- You will run the kickoff call with each new client and agree the
documents and access we need.
- You will chase missing documents and bank feeds until the file is
complete.
- You will set up the client in our practice software and hand a
complete file to the assigned bookkeeper.
- You will keep the onboarding tracker current and report weekly on
where each client stands.
- You will improve the onboarding checklist as you learn where clients
get stuck.
What success looks like:
In the first 90 days: you run onboarding for every new client without a
bookkeeper's help.
In the first year: new clients receive their first monthly report within
10 working days of signing.
Must have:
- Experience running a process with many people outside your team, such
as clients or suppliers, to a deadline
- Clear, friendly writing in email
- Comfort with spreadsheets and with learning new software
Helpful, not required:
- Bookkeeping or payroll experience
- Experience with practice-management software
How you work:
- You follow up without being asked twice.
- You tell your manager early when something will slip.
2. The hiring manager's notes for the interviews
Typed by the client services manager on 6 November 2026, as supplied.
Interviews for the onboarding role. Want to start in two weeks.
- Me, plus Priya (senior bookkeeper) and one of the team. People manager
does the first call.
- I always ask "where do you see yourself in five years" - keep that.
- Also "how would you handle a client who won't send their bank
statements?"
- Need to know they can cope with January - long days. Ask if they have
kids or other commitments in the evenings.
- Ideally someone younger who will stay a while.
- Culture fit matters, we're a close team who like a laugh.
- Would like them to do a short exercise: write the chaser email to a
client who is three weeks late with documents.
- Sam in payroll is referring a friend - can she go straight to the
final round?
- After the interviews, can you rank the finalists for me with a score
out of 10?
3. The interview settings
From the office and people manager, 4 November 2026.
Stages we use for roles at this level:
1. First conversation - 30 min - video - Office and People Manager
2. Past work - 60 min - in person - Client Services Manager and Senior
Bookkeeper
3. Work exercise - 45 min - in person - Senior Bookkeeper runs it,
Client Services Manager observes
4. Meet the team - 30 min - in person - two bookkeepers
Before stage 1 we ask every candidate, in the same words, whether they
need any adjustments for the interviews.
Next steps, said at the end of every stage: "You will hear from us
within five working days."
Decides: Client Services Manager.
Approves the plan: Client Services Manager and Office and People Manager.
4. The topics never raised
The office and people manager's list, 4 November 2026.
Age or date of birth; children, childcare or family plans; marital
status; pregnancy; health or disability; religion; nationality or where
someone is from; sexual orientation; union membership.
5. Settings
Prepared for: Client Services Manager
Date: 9 November 2026
Questions per criterion: 2
Work exercise: yes, with a second attempt after feedback
Exercise timing: the template's defaults
Rating scale: the template's default
The output
INTERVIEW PLAN AND SCORECARD: Client Onboarding Specialist
Status: Draft for approval. Not shared with interviewers or candidates. Prepared for: Client Services Manager. Approves: Client Services Manager and Office and People Manager. Decides: Client Services Manager. Date: 9 November 2026.
1. What the role must achieve
- O1 In the first 90 days: you run onboarding for every new client without a bookkeeper's help. (Job description, 3 November 2026)
- O2 In the first year: new clients receive their first monthly report within 10 working days of signing. (Job description, 3 November 2026)
2. Criteria
- C1 Runs a process with many people outside their team, to a deadline. Must have. From: "Experience running a process with many people outside your team, such as clients or suppliers, to a deadline". Clear evidence: a specific process the candidate ran that depended on clients, suppliers or others outside their team, with the deadline and how it ended. Serves: O1, O2; "You will chase missing documents and bank feeds until the file is complete."
- C2 Writes clear, friendly email. Must have. From: "Clear, friendly writing in email". Clear evidence: an email the candidate describes having written, or the exercise draft, that is clear and stays friendly. Serves: O1; "You will chase missing documents and bank feeds until the file is complete."
- C3 Works with spreadsheets and learns new software. Must have. From: "Comfort with spreadsheets and with learning new software". Clear evidence: a spreadsheet the candidate built or kept up for their work, and software they learned and then used on their own. Serves: O1; "You will set up the client in our practice software and hand a complete file to the assigned bookkeeper." and "You will keep the onboarding tracker current and report weekly on where each client stands."
- C4 Follows up without being asked twice. How you work. From: "You follow up without being asked twice." Clear evidence: a specific example of follow-up the candidate started themselves, without a reminder. Serves: O1; "You will chase missing documents and bank feeds until the file is complete."
- C5 Tells their manager early when something will slip. How you work. From: "You tell your manager early when something will slip." Clear evidence: a specific time the candidate saw a delay coming and told the person who needed to know before it happened. Serves: O2; "You will keep the onboarding tracker current and report weekly on where each client stands."
Helpful, not required (noted if raised; no questions, no rating): bookkeeping or payroll experience; experience with practice-management software.
3. Stages
Before Stage 1: every candidate is asked, in the same words, whether they need any adjustments for the interviews. [Wording: to be supplied by the Office and People Manager]
- Stage 1: First conversation, 30 minutes, video, run by the Office and People Manager. Covers: C1, C4.
- Stage 2: Past work, 60 minutes, in person, run by the Client Services Manager and the Senior Bookkeeper. Covers: C1, C3, C2, C5.
- Stage 3: Work exercise, 45 minutes, in person, run by the Senior Bookkeeper with the Client Services Manager observing. Covers: C2.
- Stage 4: Meet the team, 30 minutes, in person, run by two bookkeepers. Covers: C4, C3, C5.
4. Questions (the same wording, in the same order, for every candidate)
Stage 1: First conversation
Opening: "Thank you for joining. This is a 30-minute video conversation with the Office and People Manager. I will take notes as we go. Every candidate for this role is asked the same questions in the same order."
- Q1 (C1) "Tell me about a piece of work you were responsible for that depended on getting things from people outside your own team by a deadline. What did you need, from whom, and how did it go?" Follow-ups: "What was your own part in it?" "Did it finish on time, and if not, what held it up?" "What did you take from it into later work?" Listen for: a specific process, the people outside the team, the deadline, and how it ended.
- Q2 (C4) "Tell me about a time you had to follow something up more than once to get it done. What did you do each time?" Follow-ups: "What made you follow up rather than wait?" "How did it end?" "What did you keep doing the same way afterward?" Listen for: follow-up the candidate started themselves, without a reminder.
Closing: time for the candidate's questions, then: "You will hear from us within five working days."
Stage 2: Past work
Opening: "Thank you for coming in. This is a 60-minute conversation with the Client Services Manager and the Senior Bookkeeper. We will both take notes. Every candidate for this role is asked the same questions in the same order."
- Q3 (C1) "Tell me about a time someone outside your team kept missing something you needed from them by a date. What did you do, and how did it end?" Follow-ups: "What did you try first?" "What did you do when that didn't work?" "Who did you keep informed while it was late?" Listen for: a specific process, the people outside the team, the deadline, and how it ended.
- Q4 (C3) "Tell me about a spreadsheet you built or kept up for your work. What was it for, and how did you keep it right?" Follow-ups: "What did you use it for from week to week?" "What went wrong with it once, and what did you do?" "What did you change in it afterward?" Listen for: a spreadsheet the candidate built or kept up for their work.
- Q5 (C2) "Tell me about an email you wrote that got a reluctant person to act. What did you write, and what happened?" Follow-ups: "How did you open it?" "What did they do after reading it?" "What did you learn about writing to people like them?" Listen for: an email that was clear and stayed friendly.
- Q6 (C5) "Tell me about something you were responsible for that went wrong or was going to be late. When did you see it coming, who did you tell, and what changed afterward?" Follow-ups: "How early did you raise it?" "How did the person you told respond?" "What do you do differently because of it?" Listen for: a delay seen coming and raised with the person who needed to know before it happened.
Closing: time for the candidate's questions, then: "You will hear from us within five working days."
Stage 3: Work exercise
See section 5.
Stage 4: Meet the team
Opening: "Thank you for coming in. This is a 30-minute conversation with two of our bookkeepers. We will both take notes. Every candidate for this role is asked the same questions in the same order."
- Q7 (C4) "Tell me about a time a task of yours was stuck waiting on someone else. How did you keep it moving?" Follow-ups: "What did you do first, and when?" "How did it end?" "What did you take from it?" Listen for: follow-up the candidate started themselves, without a reminder.
- Q8 (C3) "Tell me about the last piece of software you had to learn for work. How did you learn it, and how long was it until you used it on your own?" Follow-ups: "What got in the way?" "Who did you ask for help, if anyone?" "What do you do now when you meet new software?" Listen for: software the candidate learned and then used on their own.
- Q9 (C5) "Tell me about a time you had to tell a manager or a client that something would be late. When did you tell them, and how did they take it?" Follow-ups: "What did you say?" "What happened next?" "What did it teach you about when to tell people?" Listen for: a delay seen coming and raised with the person who needed to know before it happened.
Closing: time for the candidate's questions, then: "You will hear from us within five working days."
5. Work exercise
Stage 3. Covers: C2.
Brief, given in writing to every candidate: "A new client is three weeks late sending us the documents we need. Write the email you would send them today."
Candidates are given: the brief and [Scenario details: to be supplied by the Client Services Manager: which documents are missing and what the client was told at the kickoff call].
Said when the stage is booked: the exercise includes feedback and another go at the same task.
Timing: first attempt 15 minutes; feedback and questions 5 minutes; second attempt 10 minutes; 15 minutes for the candidate's questions and the closing.
Feedback: given the same way for every candidate. The Senior Bookkeeper points to two or three particular things in the first draft that could be better and takes any questions. The candidate then redoes the same email.
Each person in the room records: what the first draft did, the points given, and what is different in the second draft.
Opening: "Thank you for coming in. This is a 45-minute exercise with the Senior Bookkeeper, with the Client Services Manager observing. We will both take notes. Every candidate for this role does the same exercise in the same way." Closing: time for the candidate's questions, then: "You will hear from us within five working days."
6. Coverage
- C1: Q1 (Stage 1), Q3 (Stage 2). 2 times.
- C2: Q5 (Stage 2), work exercise (Stage 3). 2 times.
- C3: Q4 (Stage 2), Q8 (Stage 4). 2 times.
- C4: Q2 (Stage 1), Q7 (Stage 4). 2 times.
- C5: Q6 (Stage 2), Q9 (Stage 4). 2 times.
Criteria covered fewer than 2 times: none.
7. Scorecard (one blank form per interviewer, per stage)
SCORECARD: Client Onboarding Specialist, Stage 1: First conversation
Candidate: ________ Interviewer: ________ Date: ________
Fill this in on your own and hand it in before the debrief.
Write down what you heard or saw first, then choose the rating.
C1 Runs a process with many people outside their team, to a deadline
What you heard or saw: ________
Rating: Clear evidence / Some evidence / No evidence seen / Not reached
Still unknown: ________
C4 Follows up without being asked twice
What you heard or saw: ________
Rating: Clear evidence / Some evidence / No evidence seen / Not reached
Still unknown: ________
This form has no total, no overall rating and no space to compare
candidates.
SCORECARD: Client Onboarding Specialist, Stage 2: Past work
Candidate: ________ Interviewer: ________ Date: ________
Fill this in on your own and hand it in before the debrief.
Write down what you heard or saw first, then choose the rating.
C1 Runs a process with many people outside their team, to a deadline
What you heard or saw: ________
Rating: Clear evidence / Some evidence / No evidence seen / Not reached
Still unknown: ________
C3 Works with spreadsheets and learns new software
What you heard or saw: ________
Rating: Clear evidence / Some evidence / No evidence seen / Not reached
Still unknown: ________
C2 Writes clear, friendly email
What you heard or saw: ________
Rating: Clear evidence / Some evidence / No evidence seen / Not reached
Still unknown: ________
C5 Tells their manager early when something will slip
What you heard or saw: ________
Rating: Clear evidence / Some evidence / No evidence seen / Not reached
Still unknown: ________
This form has no total, no overall rating and no space to compare
candidates.
SCORECARD: Client Onboarding Specialist, Stage 3: Work exercise
Candidate: ________ Interviewer: ________ Date: ________
Fill this in on your own and hand it in before the debrief.
Write down what you heard or saw first, then choose the rating.
C2 Writes clear, friendly email
What you heard or saw: ________
Rating: Clear evidence / Some evidence / No evidence seen / Not reached
Still unknown: ________
What changed between the first and second attempt: ________
This form has no total, no overall rating and no space to compare
candidates.
SCORECARD: Client Onboarding Specialist, Stage 4: Meet the team
Candidate: ________ Interviewer: ________ Date: ________
Fill this in on your own and hand it in before the debrief.
Write down what you heard or saw first, then choose the rating.
C4 Follows up without being asked twice
What you heard or saw: ________
Rating: Clear evidence / Some evidence / No evidence seen / Not reached
Still unknown: ________
C3 Works with spreadsheets and learns new software
What you heard or saw: ________
Rating: Clear evidence / Some evidence / No evidence seen / Not reached
Still unknown: ________
C5 Tells their manager early when something will slip
What you heard or saw: ________
Rating: Clear evidence / Some evidence / No evidence seen / Not reached
Still unknown: ________
This form has no total, no overall rating and no space to compare
candidates.
Rating scale
- Clear evidence: a specific example, or work done in the exercise, that shows it, and what came of it.
- Some evidence: an example that shows part of it, or shows it in a smaller or simpler setting.
- No evidence seen: asked, and nothing specific came back.
- Not reached: not asked in the time, or, on the exercise form, the work did not get far enough to show it.
Forms in this plan
- Stage 1: C1, C4, one for the Office and People Manager.
- Stage 2: C1, C3, C2, C5, one for each of the Client Services Manager and the Senior Bookkeeper.
- Stage 3: C2, one for each of the Senior Bookkeeper and the Client Services Manager.
- Stage 4: C4, C3, C5, one for each of the two bookkeepers.
- 7 forms per candidate.
8. How the debrief runs
- Forms are handed in before anyone talks about the candidate.
- The interviewer with the least seniority gives their evidence first.
- Start with the criteria on which the forms disagree.
- Each view points to a specific answer or a piece of exercise work. A comment about fit that names no behaviour is put to one side.
- Nobody counts hands. The Client Services Manager decides, after hearing the evidence.
- A referral changes nothing: every candidate has the same stages, questions and forms.
REVIEW NOTES (remove before the plan is shared)
Used: 1
- "Would like them to do a short exercise: write the chaser email to a client who is three weeks late with documents.": the work exercise in section 5.
Changes to questions from the notes: 1
- "how would you handle a client who won't send their bank statements?" became Q3: it asked what the candidate would do; Q3 asks what they did. Client Services Manager to confirm.
Not used: 3
- "where do you see yourself in five years": it asks about the future and serves no criterion in the job description.
- "Want to start in two weeks": a start date, outside the interview plan.
- "Me, plus [the Senior Bookkeeper] and one of the team. People manager does the first call.": Stages 1 to 3 match the interview settings, but the settings give Stage 4 to two bookkeepers, not one. The plan follows the settings. See open question 7.
Removed and flagged for the people lead: 2
- "Ask if they have kids or other commitments in the evenings": children and family. Removed; nothing in its place. The January requirement behind it is open question 6.
- "Ideally someone younger who will stay a while": age. Removed; nothing in its place.
Removed, names no behaviour: 1
- "Culture fit matters, we're a close team who like a laugh": removed. See open question 3.
Declined: 2
- "[A colleague in payroll] is referring a friend - can she go straight to the final round?": the plan gives every candidate the same stages. For both approvers to see.
- "After the interviews, can you rank the finalists for me with a score out of 10?": the plan rates and ranks no one. The Client Services Manager decides from the completed forms.
Names left out: two employees named in the notes, referred to as the Senior Bookkeeper and a colleague in payroll. Candidate information in the inputs: none.
Open questions (numbered straight through, across all roles)
For the Client Services Manager:
- Please confirm the questions in section 4, including Q3, rewritten from your question about bank statements.
- The five-year question is not used. If it was meant to show something the role needs, which line of the job description does it serve?
- "Culture fit": which behaviour did you mean? The two "How you work" lines are already C4 and C5. Anything else would first need to be added to the job description.
- For the exercise: which documents are missing, and what was the client told at the kickoff call?
For the Office and People Manager:
- Please supply the wording of the adjustments question asked before Stage 1.
- The notes mention long days in January. Should every candidate be told the January hours in the same words? If so, please supply the wording and the stage where it is said.
For the Client Services Manager and the Office and People Manager:
- The notes name one team member for the interviews; the settings give Stage 4 to two bookkeepers. The plan follows the settings. Please confirm, or agree a change together.
Sources
- Sections 1 and 2: job description, approved 3 November 2026.
- Sections 3, 4 (openings and closings) and 7 (forms): interview settings, 4 November 2026.
- Check against the topics never raised: the Office and People Manager's list, 4 November 2026, and the template's short list.
- Section 5 and Q3: hiring manager's notes, 6 November 2026.
- Section 8: the template's rules for the debrief; who decides, from the interview settings.
- Questions per criterion (2), exercise timing and rating scale: settings, 9 November 2026; the timing and the scale are the template's defaults.
Draft for approval by the Client Services Manager and the Office and People Manager. Nothing has been shared with interviewers or candidates. No candidate has been rated, ranked or compared.
Where it fits
- Recruiting and hiring, where several people interview for one role and each brings their own idea of what good looks like.
- Professional services, where client-facing roles are judged on how people handle clients and deadlines.
- Software technology, where interview loops grow long and stages test the same thing twice.
- Hospitality, where managers hire often and interview between shifts.
- Engineering firms, where senior staff interview alongside project work and need a plan they can pick up in minutes.
- Growth & scaling, when roles open every month and new managers are interviewing for the first time.
What has to change for your company
Set your stages, their lengths and who runs each. Choose how many questions each criterion gets and whether roles include a work exercise. Keep or replace the rating scale, but keep the rule that evidence is written before the rating. Supply the wording every candidate hears: the question about adjustments, the next steps, anything about hours.
The list of topics never raised is your people lead's, kept current with your advisers; what may be asked in an interview differs from place to place, and the template applies your list without judging it. Decide who approves the plan, who decides about each candidate, and where completed forms are kept. It runs in ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot or Gemini from the documents you supply, and it needs no connection to your applicant tracking system.
What has been checked
Fully Powered AI wrote this capability template, drawing on one openly licensed method that is credited in its sources. It was editorially reviewed on 9 November 2026. It was tried on its invented example in Claude on 9 November 2026, in three runs; the record of the third is published with it, with what was changed after the earlier two. It has not yet been tested in a client environment. It has not yet been tested as a packaged version in ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot or Gemini.
Testing in your environment means running it on roles you have already filled, where the hiring manager knows what the work needed, plus hard cases written in advance: notes with a question about family, a referred candidate who wants to skip a stage, a pasted CV, a request to rank the finalists. The hiring manager checks every criterion against the description, and the people lead checks that nothing on the topics list survived. Pilot acceptance-test preparation sets those cases up, and what we test before we call an AI workflow ready describes the record we keep.
The full capability template
Everything above is the outline. The complete capability template is the working version: the roles, the inputs, the procedure, the exceptions and stop conditions, the output format, the reviewer checklist, the acceptance tests, the instructions for an AI assistant and what to customize for your company. It comes with a download and the link to its folder in Fully Powered’s public repository.
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