Free templates
Startup hiring toolkits
Six working documents for the parts of hiring that go wrong quietly: defining the role, designing the interviews, deciding, briefing candidates and handing over to onboarding. Use them whether or not you ever speak to us.
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The templates
They are designed to be used in this order, but each one stands alone.
Role scorecard template
A one-page template that turns a job title into outcomes, must-have evidence and a shared definition of a good hire.
Owner: Hiring manager, agreed with the founder or budget holder.
Effort: Half an hour with the hiring manager, then ten minutes with whoever signs the offer.
Open the templateStructured interview plan
A template for designing an interview process where every stage has an owner, a purpose and something it uniquely tests.
Owner: Hiring manager, with whoever schedules and whoever runs each stage.
Effort: About an hour once per role type, then reusable.
Open the templateInterview question and evidence matrix
A grid mapping each must-have capability to the stage that tests it, the question asked, and the evidence that would satisfy you.
Owner: Whoever owns the technical bar for the role.
Effort: Thirty to forty minutes, reused across every candidate for the role.
Open the templateHiring decision scorecard
A structured debrief record: evidence per capability, each interviewer's recommendation, the risks accepted and the decision made.
Owner: Hiring manager, completed with the full panel present.
Effort: Ten minutes per interviewer, twenty minutes in the debrief.
Open the templateCandidate briefing checklist
Everything a candidate should know before, during and after your process — so they can decide properly and you are not the reason they drop out.
Owner: Whoever speaks to candidates first — founder, hiring manager or recruiter.
Effort: Thirty minutes to write once per role, then reused verbatim.
Open the templateFirst 30 days onboarding handoff
A handoff from hiring to onboarding: what the process revealed, what the new starter needs in week one, and how you will know it is working.
Owner: Hiring manager, handed to whoever runs onboarding.
Effort: Twenty minutes at offer acceptance, reviewed weekly for a month.
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How these fit together
Hiring goes wrong at the joins: the interview does not test what the scorecard asked for, the decision forgets what the interview found, onboarding never hears about either.
- 1. Define. The role scorecard fixes the outcomes and the must-haves.
- 2. Design. The interview plan and the evidence matrix turn those must-haves into stages and questions.
- 3. Decide. The decision scorecard records the evidence, the risks accepted and who decided.
- 4. Hand over. The briefing checklist keeps candidates properly informed throughout, and the first-30-days handoff carries what you learned into onboarding.