Interview Guidance

Interview guidance at every step

Ratio's interview guidance is what an interviewer sees while the candidate is talking: the question, what a good answer contains, a follow-up for when you need more detail, and a rating control that means the same thing to every interviewer.

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What to listen for

The same four things in every answer

The hard part of interviewing is knowing what to listen for. RATE gives every interviewer the same four lenses: Relevance, Approach, Trade-offs, Evidence. Each one is a checkbox on the screen, ticked from what the candidate said.

  • Give specific detail, explain their approach, discuss the trade-off, describe the outcome
  • The same four lenses in screening and in the hiring-manager round
  • A four-star rating directly beneath, so the anchors are visible at the moment of rating
How RATE scoring works
A candidate answering on a video interview while the interviewer follows the Ratio screen: the question, four RATE checkboxes with three ticked, and a three-star ratingScreening interview · Priya RamanQuestion 4 of 818:24End interviewMust-haveCore CompetencyIntermediateBehavioralCan you describe a time you had to pushnon-finance colleagues for missing month-end data?Did the candidate:Show follow upsGive specific info or an exampleRelevanceExplain their method or thinkingApproachWeigh the tradeoffs or tough partsTrade-offsDiscuss the outcomeEvidenceYour evaluationClear3 of 4 · MeetsNext questionNotesUp next5Cost Accounting6MS Dynamics NAV7MS Excel8Problem-Solving
Prepared follow-ups

A follow-up for every answer

Every question includes four prepared follow-ups, one for each letter in RATE. When a candidate names the tool but not what they did with it, the interviewer has the next question ready without leaving the interview.

  • One follow-up per RATE dimension, written for this question and this skill
  • The interviewer decides when to use one; nothing fires automatically
  • Polished, coached answers tend to collapse on the Trade-offs follow-up
Prepared follow-ups for one question, one per RATE lens; the Trade-offs follow-up has been askedScreening interview · Priya RamanQuestion 4 of 821:07End interviewMust-haveCore CompetencyIntermediateBehavioralCan you describe a time you had to pushnon-finance colleagues for missing month-end data?Prepared follow-upsHide follow upsRWhich team was delaying the numbers?RelevanceAHow did you get them to send what you needed?ApproachTWhat tradeoff did you make to meet the deadline?AskedEHow did the situation resolve?EvidenceYour evaluationRate after the follow-upNext questionNotesUp next5Cost Accounting6MS Dynamics NAV7MS Excel
Panel interviews

Score alone, discuss together

Each panelist scores independently, and scores stay hidden until everyone is done. The panel discusses, then the lead records the final score, so the loudest voice does not set it.

  • Individual scores hidden until every panelist has entered theirs
  • Reveal, discuss, then the lead panelist enters a whole-star final score
  • Original scores are preserved beside the final one, so the debrief is on the record
Cross-Functional AlignmentCurrent avg score3.7Set final scoreDescribe a time when the operations teamdelayed sending month-end inventory data,threatening your close deadline. What did yougive up to get them aligned?Devon OkaforHiring Manager4.0Elena MarshRecruiter4.0Sam WhitakerSubject Matter Expert3.0

Guidance you can use mid-sentence

  • Readable at a glance

    Lead-ins are short enough to scan while the candidate is still talking.

  • Same anchors every round

    Screening and deeper rounds share the four RATE lenses. Only the question difficulty changes.

  • Evidence written down

    Notes and the quoted evidence sit with the rating, so the debrief works from what was said.

  • Humans decide

    Ratio never rates a candidate. It combines the ratings people enter.

Questions teams ask

More questions? Read the full FAQ

More on the product

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