Hiring Criteria: How to Decide What Really Matters

By Don Georgevich

Phase One of the Scientific Hiring Method: The Blueprint

Good hiring criteria separate what the job truly requires from what merely feels familiar, impressive, or easy to screen.

Most companies have hiring criteria even when they have never written them down. They appear in comments such as, “I want someone with ten years of experience,” “They need to be polished,” or “They have to fit our culture.”

The problem is not that these ideas are always wrong. The problem is that they are often vague, untested, and disconnected from the work. One manager treats them as essential. Another treats them as preferences. A third changes the standard when an impressive candidate enters the room.

Begin with the role, not the candidate

The strongest hiring criteria are written before the team reviews candidates. Once résumés and personalities enter the process, it becomes much easier to bend the standard around someone the team likes.

Start with the business reason for the role and the outcomes the person must produce. Then work backward. Ask what knowledge, skill, judgment, experience, and behavior are necessary to produce those outcomes.

The U.S. Office of Personnel Management describes job analysis as the foundation for assessment and selection decisions. Job analysis connects the tasks performed in a job with the competencies needed to perform them successfully. That connection is what makes hiring criteria more than a list of preferences.

Separate four kinds of criteria

A useful hiring standard distinguishes between outcomes, entry capabilities, practical requirements, and preferences. Mixing them together makes every item appear equally important, even when it is not.

The first three categories may contain legitimate requirements. The fourth should remain a preference unless the company can explain why it is necessary for the work.

Only require what the person needs at entry

Some capabilities are important to long-term performance but can be learned after hire. They should not automatically become selection requirements.

OPM makes this distinction directly: only competencies applicants are expected to possess on the first day are appropriate for selection purposes. Competencies that employees are expected to learn through training or experience after selection should not be used as entry requirements. See OPM’s guidance on competencies appropriate for selection.

This is especially important in small businesses, where hiring criteria often grow from habit. A company may require experience with its exact software, industry, customer type, and reporting process even though a capable person could learn those things quickly.

Ask whether the company can teach the requirement within a reasonable period. If the answer is yes, it probably belongs under trainable capabilities rather than minimum qualifications.

Do not confuse credentials with capability

Degrees, certifications, titles, and years of experience can be useful signals, but they should not replace evidence of performance.

Ten years in a role does not automatically mean someone performed it well. A senior title does not prove the person held the same authority, complexity, or accountability your role requires. A degree may be valuable, but it does not always explain whether the candidate can produce the outcomes the business needs.

When a credential is required by law, regulation, safety, or the actual work, state it clearly. When it is simply a familiar shortcut, ask what capability the credential is supposed to represent and whether there are other ways a candidate could prove it.

Turn vague qualities into observable behavior

Terms such as leadership, communication, initiative, strategic thinking, executive presence, and culture fit appear in many hiring discussions. They sound meaningful, but different people may interpret them differently.

Translate the word into behavior connected to the role. Instead of saying the person must be strategic, explain that they must identify the main constraint, weigh tradeoffs, and recommend a practical sequence of decisions. Instead of requiring strong communication, explain who the person must communicate with, what they must make clear, and what should happen because of that communication.

Culture fit is especially risky when it means similarity, comfort, or personal chemistry. A better standard identifies work behaviors that matter in the company, such as keeping commitments, raising problems early, sharing information, treating people respectfully, or making decisions with limited data.

Decide what would truly disqualify a candidate

Every required criterion should answer a hard question: would you reject an otherwise strong candidate for failing to meet it?

If the answer is no, the item is not a true requirement. It may be a preference, a question to explore, or a capability that can be developed after hire.

This discipline prevents qualification lists from becoming inflated. It also helps the team notice when one interviewer is treating a minor preference as though it matters more than evidence tied to a critical outcome.

Use evidence, not labels

A criterion becomes useful only when the hiring process can gather evidence about it. Decide where that evidence should come from.

A résumé may reveal patterns and claims worth exploring. A phone screen can confirm practical requirements and basic understanding of the role. A structured interview can examine past behavior and judgment. A work sample can show how the candidate approaches real work. References can verify claims and patterns found earlier.

OPM recommends selecting interview content by reviewing the critical tasks and competencies identified through job analysis, determining which competencies are required upon entry, and confirming the choices with people who understand the work. See OPM’s guidance on selecting structured-interview competencies.

Write the criteria before screening begins

The criteria should appear in the job scorecard before résumés are reviewed. Each interviewer should know which outcomes and capabilities they are responsible for evaluating and what evidence counts.

The same standard should also appear in the job description. Candidates should not be attracted with one picture of the role and evaluated against another.

If the team learns something legitimate about the role after the search begins, document the change and apply it consistently to every candidate still under consideration. Do not quietly rewrite the criteria only for the candidate you prefer.

A practical hiring-criteria test

Common mistakes

The first mistake is treating familiar backgrounds as proof of future success. A candidate who comes from the same industry, holds the expected title, or worked for a respected company may still lack the evidence the role requires.

The second mistake is turning every positive quality into a requirement. Companies often ask for leadership, communication, creativity, urgency, attention to detail, strategic thinking, and teamwork without deciding which qualities truly matter most.

The third mistake is weighting every criterion equally. A minor preference should not cancel strong evidence on a critical outcome, and several attractive extras should not hide a serious gap in an essential capability.

The final mistake is allowing criteria to change during the decision meeting. The scorecard should be reviewed before candidates are discussed so the team remembers the standard it set before personalities entered the room.

Review your hiring criteria

• Every required criterion connects to a real outcome or essential function of the role.
• Capabilities needed on the first day are separated from capabilities the company can teach.
• Credentials are used only when they represent a real requirement.
• Vague traits have been translated into observable, job-related behavior.
• Preferences are clearly labeled and do not become automatic rejection rules.
• The team knows where evidence for each criterion will come from.
• Critical criteria receive more weight than minor preferences.
• Every interviewer will apply the same standard to every candidate.
• Any change to the criteria will be documented and applied consistently.
• The criteria can be used again during the person’s early performance review.

Legal and fairness note: Selection criteria should be job-related, applied consistently, and reviewed for their effect on applicants. The EEOC advises employers to ensure that selection criteria do not unnecessarily exclude protected groups unless the criteria are valid predictors of successful job performance and meet business needs. See the EEOC’s best practices for recruitment, hiring, and promotion. This page is educational and is not legal advice.

What comes next

Use the criteria in the Job Scorecard Template and in every later evaluation step. The final Phase One page explains how to turn the role outcomes and criteria into clear performance expectations before hiring.

Return to the Define Success hub for the complete Phase One standard. Later, these criteria feed directly into Candidate Evaluation. See the complete Scientific Hiring Method.