This scorecard evaluates whether {{Candidate name}} demonstrates the behaviors behind {{Company name}}'s stated values — not whether you would enjoy having lunch with them. The question is never do they fit in; it is would they raise our standard on the things we say we value, and bring perspective we lack. Fit-based scoring reliably filters for sameness and calls it culture.

Before the interview

• Replace each abstract value with one observable behavior. If your value is {{Company value 1}}, write down what someone doing it under pressure actually looks like — that sentence is your anchor, not the slogan.
• Assign each value to exactly one interviewer in the loop. Everyone scoring vibes on everything produces five copies of the same first impression.
• Use the same question stems for every candidate for this role.

Scoring matrix

Recommendation

What this round must never score

• Social ease. Comfort in interviews correlates with class background and native-language advantage, not with integrity or collaboration.
• Shared interests. Same sports, same stack of hobbies, same jokes — irrelevant, and the single most common contaminant of culture rounds.
• Enthusiasm for the company. Researching you is diligence; loving you already is neither possible nor required.
• Communication style preferences. Direct versus warm, fast versus deliberate — style differences are what values add looks like up close. Score the underlying behavior, not the accent it arrives in.

If after the interview your notes contain more adjectives about the person than quotes from the person, discard the adjectives and score only the quotes.