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Standardizing Interviews Using Templates

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Overview

A consistent interview process reduces bias while also providing a way to benchmark and compare candidates to get the right fit. To enable a consistent and structured interview process, interviewers need to ask similar questions to every candidate applying for a role and assess them on the same set of skills.
To incorporate this, HackerRank provides Interview Templates. Using the Interview Templates, Hiring Managers and Interviewers can ensure they ask the same questions to every candidate applying for a particular role. This article describes creating or adding questions to Interview Templates and viewing and editing them. 

Creating an Interview Template

  1. To create an Interview Template, go to the Interviews page in your HackerRank account and click the Templates tab.
  2. On the top right corner, click Create Template.create_template.png
  3. Select a Job role, enter a name for your template.  create_template_wizard.png
  4. Click Create. The template is created.add_qstn.png

Adding Questions to a Template

After you create a template, you will be directed to the Add questions page to add the specific questions based on the role you have selected for the Interview Template.

  1. Click Add question. You will be redirected to the HackerRank Library of questions.add_plus_icon.png
  2. Here you can either select the questions available in the HackerRank Library or questions created by your company from the My Company Questions tab.
  3. Click on the plus icon at the end of the question title to add that question to a template. Any question that is available in interviews can be added to a template.
  4. You may be unable to add some questions to the template because they may not be supported in Interviews.qstn_notsupprtd.png

You can remove a question from the template by hovering over the question and clicking on the delete icon. 

Adding Skills to a Template

After you add the questions to the template, you can add skills related to the job role from the Scorecard tab. These skills will be visible to the Interviewers inside the Interview scorecard.add_skill.png

The skills related to your job role are added to the template by default.

To add skills:

  1. Click Add skill. The Add skill window is displayed.
  2. You can select a pre-existing skill from the Choose skill drop-down.add_skill_chosen.png
  3. You can also add your own skill by entering the skill name in the Choose Skill text field.add_own_skill.png
  4. Add a description of that particular skill and click Add Skill to attach that skill to your template.

Note: If you do not add any skills to the template you created, then the default skills HackerRank adds for the Interviews are included.

Sharing an Interview Template (Explicit Sharing)

You can share an interview template with everyone, designated teams, or specific individuals.

  1. From the Templates tab of the Interviews Page

    Or while viewing an Interview Template
  2. Click the Share option to choose with whom you'd like to share the interview template.
  3. You'll then be able to share the template with everyone or select specific Team(s) and/or User(s)
    And then, assign them a level of access: Viewer or Editor.
    Access View Interview Template Edit Interview Template Use Interview Template Share Change Owner Delete Interview Template
    Viewer  X   X      
    Editor X X X X    
    (Owner) X X X X X X
    (Company Admin) X X X X x X

Note: Owners of an interview template and company admins also have the ability to change the owner or delete the interview template.

Interview Template Sharing FAQ

  • Who can share an interview template?
    • The owner, company admins, or other users/teams with editor access.
  • What does transferring ownership do?
    • If you transfer ownership to another user, the original owner will become an editor of the interview template, and the new owner will take control of the interview template. The current owner of a interview template will always have full access to the interview template. 
  • Can I remove access from someone I shared with?
    • Yes, within the sharing menu, if you click on a user or team you shared with, you will see an option to remove them.

Creating an Interview with the Template

After creating the template, you can use this template for Interviews with candidates.

  1. In the Interview list tab, click Create Interview.
  2. Once the interview is created, click on that interview from the list, and select the desired template from the Interview Templates dropdown.
  3. You can then proceed to Invite Participants or Save Without Inviting.  
  4. When you log in as an interviewer for this particular interview, the template will be available for you to use on the Interview screen. Note that if you have not selected any template when you have created the Interview, the default login screen for Interviews is displayed.templateinintrvs.png
  5. The questions you have added to the template are included in the template. You can use these questions for the Interviews.
  6. The skills you added to the Template are mapped into your Interview Scorecard.scorecard_skills.pngIf you have not added any skills to the template, the default skills provided by HackerRank are included.default_skills.png

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