The Who Method Hiring Framework
A structured hiring process adapted from the "Who" method by Geoff Smart and Randy Street. A written scorecard defines what success in the role looks like before sourcing begins, a fixed sequence of five interviews each does one job, and candidates are assessed on evidence of past performance rather than interview-day rapport. This page covers how to build the scorecard, run the interviews, and turn the results into a decision.
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.
How we run hiringWhat 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.
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.
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.
Build the hiring scorecard
GoalBefore 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.
Example scorecard (illustrative)
Measurable outcomes
- 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
- Problem-solving & analytical thinking
- Effective written & verbal communication
- Collaborative teamwork
- Adaptability & resilience
- Proactive initiative
- Strategic planning & execution
Company values
- 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.
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.
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.
Phone Screen
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.
The questions
- Q1Give me your quick background and why you're great in less than 90 seconds.Listen for: clarity, prioritization, what they choose to lead with.
- Q2When 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.
- Q3What are you looking for in your next position?Listen for: alignment with what you can actually offer.
- Q4What are one or two things you're working to improve on professionally?Listen for: real self-knowledge — not humblebrags.
- Q5How 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.
- Q6Any role-specific qualification questions you want to ask up front.Optional. Use sparingly — save depth for the focus interviews.
First Focus Interview
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.
"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.
"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.
The WHO Interview
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.
For each role, ask
- Q1What were your responsibilities?Anchor scope and context before getting into outcomes.
- Q2What were your biggest accomplishments?Force specifics. Numbers, scope, what they personally drove.
- Q3What were your biggest mistakes?If they can't name any, you've found one.
- Q4Why did you leave?Listen for the gap between their story and the patterns across roles.
- Q5Who 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.
The Remaining Focus Interview(s)
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.
"What were your biggest accomplishments related to [focus area]?"
New competency, same probe. Specifics and measurable results.
"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.
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.
Completing the Picture
The final pass exists to verify what the previous four interviews surfaced — not to discover something new. It has three parts.
Skill Assessment
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.
Reference Verification
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.
Team Debrief Meeting
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.
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
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.
1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
Every band on the scorecard should trace to something an interviewer observed, not to an overall impression.
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
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.