For founders and hiring managers
The Competency Scorecard
A bank of 101 competencies you select from, and a scorecard that turns five independent opinions into something you can compare. The working half of the Structured Interview System.

What is in it
- Competency Bank101 competencies across six groups, each with a TRUE/FALSE toggle and a running count of how many you have switched on. Pick four to six. The discipline is in what you leave out.
- Competencies + ScorecardYour selected competencies appear here automatically. Each is scored 0 to 5 by up to five interviewers, with the average, the standard deviation and a plain-English panel-agreement reading of Aligned, Some spread or Panel disagrees. Everything stays blank until scores exist. The +2 to −2 verdict block totals to a panel score and flags a hard no.
- How to useSix steps, in the file, including why to read the spread before the average.
How to use it
- Make a copy, then work through the Competency Bank and switch on four to six competencies. The counter tells you where you are, and more than six stops the loop discriminating.
- Assign each competency to a named interviewer before the loop starts, so every dimension has an owner and no candidate answers the same question five times.
- Every interviewer scores independently and before the debrief. A score entered after hearing someone else’s is not evidence.
- Read the standard deviation before the average. Wide disagreement on an essential competency is the conversation the debrief should start with.
- Keep the completed sheet. Twelve months on it tells you whether your scorecard predicted anything.
Who it is for
- Hiring managers designing an interview loop for the first time
- Teams whose debriefs are decided by whoever speaks first
- Anyone running the Structured Interview System
Related service
Critical Search
Executive and difficult individual hires
Related resources
For pre-seed to Series A founders
The Origin Team Guide
How to sequence your first ten to twenty hires so the company can still change direction at hire eleven.
In productionGet notifiedFor founders and hiring executives
The Engineering Leadership Reference Guide
Most reference calls are a formality run at the end of a process, with the candidate supplying the names and the questions inviting a positive answer. This is how to run one that actually tells you something.
Read the guideFor experienced operators considering the move
Moving Into Climate and Hard Tech
How to evaluate a climate or hard-tech company from the outside, before you take the risk of joining one.
In productionRead the guide