---
title: "Debrief meeting guide"
source: 18F Guides
source_url: https://github.com/18F/guides
licence: CC0-1.0
domain: engineering
subdomain: 18f-guides
date_added: 2026-04-25
---

The goal of the debrief meeting is to discuss the evidence and data the interview panel was able to learn about a candidate during the interview process.

{% include 'eng-hiring/unconscious-bias-warning.html' %}

## Purpose

The purpose of the debrief meeting is to:

1. **Share and discuss interview evidence and data.** Each interview has a different purpose and goals, and collects data about different aspects of the candidate. When this data is combined, it creates a more full view of the candidate and allows us all to spot discrepancies in our understanding. Do not share your interpretations, thoughts, or judgments about the candidate’s actions until after you have presented the data and you are discussing your scoring.

2. **Create a single, unified summary of a candidate, resolving any discrepancies in interview data.** This summary will be used by the 18F Engineering Hiring team to make a [final selection]({{ '/eng-hiring/selection/' | url }}).

## Before the meeting

- If you haven’t already done so, fill out the feedback form from your interview calendar event. This gives you the opportunity to reflect on the candidate individually, given only the data you were able to gather in your interview.

- Review your interview notes, and be prepared to present a 10 minute run-through of the interview using the candidate’s own words. Include in your summary any information that you used to determine your scoring. You’ll have an opportunity to add more information after hearing from other interviewers in case you determine something important was left out.

- Review the goals and purpose of the interview you preformed, and be prepared to rate the candidate on a scale of 1 – 5:
  <table class="usa-table">
    <thead>
      <tr>
        <th scope="col">❌ 1</th>
        <th scope="col">…</th>
        <th scope="col">✅ 5</th>
      </tr>
    </thead>
    <tbody>
      <tr>
        <td>The candidate showed large skill gaps or lacked some crucial ability to do the job.</td>
        <td>…</td>
        <td>The candidate showed great skills and ability to do the job.</td>
      </tr>
    </tbody>
  </table>

  For candidates you did not rate a 5, what were you looking for that would have increased the candidate’s score?

  When considering your score, you will not have other information from other interviews. That’s okay! The purpose of the score is to get a rough sense of alignment on each aspect of the candidate’s experience — for example, a candidate who scores 5’s and 4’s tells one story; a candidate who scores all 5’s with one interview scoring a 1 tells another story.

  In our debrief meeting, we’ll discuss the scores and any discrepancies between them — the scoring system is designed to spark discussion, and the scores are not used mathmatically to make hiring decisions.

  If you find yourself wanting to adjust your score during the debrief meeting, please bring it up and say why! Resist the urge to adjust your score because you are an outlier ("Everyone else said 5! I probably should increase my score…" — we trust your judgement, and you may have seen something others did not!) but it is more than okay to adjust your score if you have a concern which data from another interview addresses.

## Conversation outline

Begin by introducing the meeting:

> Thank you for using your valuable time to help interview candidates! You are directly impacting the future of our organization, and we can’t say thank you enough for your assistance. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
>
> Please share your interview evidence, in order of the interview loop with the candidate. Please focus on evidence and data — what the candidate said and did — and not your interpretations, thoughts, or judgments about the candidate’s actions just yet. Try to stick to 10 minutes or less.
>
> Once you’ve shared, please rate the candidate on a scale of 1-5 with 5s being “the candidate showed great skills and ability to do the job” and 1s being “the candidate showed large skill gaps or lacked some crucial ability to do the job.”
>
> For candidates you didn’t score a 5, what would you have liked to see to increase their score?

### Recap each interview, in interview order

For each interview, the interviewer reviews their notes and presents a summary of the interview, using the candidate’s own words whenever possible, for approximately 10 minutes each. Then, they present their ranking (1 – 5) and what could have been done to improve the score.

As other interviewers are presenting their summary, pay attention to any discrepancies in what you believe to be true about the candidate, or anything that catches you off guard.

### Open the floor for discussion

After all interviews are complete, open the floor for any additional discussion:

> Now that you’ve heard everyone’s interview debrief, would anybody like to change their scores, or provide additional comments and thoughts?

### Wrap-up the meeting

If you are unclear of anyone’s stance on the candidate, you may ask:

> Given what you’ve heard, would you personally advocate for having this person on your team?

## After the meeting

Thanks for your help in the interview process! It’s critically important to the future of our organization, and your help is _very much appreciated_.

Please retain your notes until the [final selection meeting]({{ '../selection/' | url }}) meeting has finished, in case there are discrepancies or further questions that come up.
