THE METHOD
Interviews collect opinions. This one collects evidence.
Results-Based Interviewing™ - the questioning method that surfaces what a candidate has actually produced under pressure, scored against a written definition of winning.
WHY INTERVIEWS MISS
Every step of most processes adds opinion. None adds evidence.
The intake adds opinion when it becomes a requirements dump instead of a performance standard. The recruiter screen adds opinion when it tests presence instead of history. The hiring manager interview adds opinion when it measures rapport instead of evidence. The debrief adds opinion when it becomes a vote instead of a review.
Each step compounds the error from the last. By the time you make the hire, you have six layers of opinion stacked on top of each other and no evidence underneath any of them. Results-Based Interviewing™ breaks the chain at step three - where the evidence either gets collected or doesn’t.
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THE METHOD
Anchor on the outcome the role must produce.
Before any candidate enters, the definition of winning is written - performance at 90 days, 6 months, 12 months. The question is built from that standard, not from a generic competency library.
Ask for the moment it was hardest to produce it.
Not a general story. A specific moment when the role's core demand - the pressure condition it will create - was already on them. That moment is the test. Anything before or after is context.
Follow the pressure - what did they do first, what did it cost.
Sequence is evidence. What a candidate did in the first 48 hours of a real crisis tells you more about their decision-making than any answer they prepared. Cost tells you whether they owned the outcome or managed around it.
Score the answer against the definition of winning, in writing.
The standard set at intake is the referee. Evidence that meets it is evidence. Everything else is impression. The written file is what the decision review reads - not the debrief vote.
WHAT IT SOUNDS LIKE
COO ROLE
“Walk me through the quarter your operating plan broke. What did you see first, what did you change, and what did the next quarter prove?”
Strong read
Leads with the decision, not the circumstance. The change is named with specificity. The outcome is stated, not implied.
Weak read
Opens with context and takes three minutes to get to what happened. The recovery is attributed to the team. No outcome number.
CHRO ROLE
“Walk me through the hire you approved over your own hesitation. What held at six months, and what didn't?”
Strong read
Names the specific concern they overrode and what the 90-day signal confirmed. They changed something afterward.
Weak read
Defends the hire or attributes the gap to something external. The hesitation is minimized, not examined.
SALES LEADER ROLE
“Tell me about the quarter your top rep left and you couldn't fill the seat. What did you do in the first two weeks?”
Strong read
Names a decision, not a response. The pipeline math is clear. They owned the gap rather than managed around it.
Weak read
Describes team morale and customer reassurance. Their role in the outcome is absent or passive.
WHAT IT PRODUCES
A decision document. Not a culture-fit impression.
Every Results-Based Interviewing™ evaluation ends with a written file: the outcome the role demands at 90 days, 6 months, and 12 months; the evidence gathered for each standard; the specific gaps and remaining risk; and a recommendation based on the evidence, not the room’s feeling.
That file is what your decision review reads. It is also what the 90-day integration plan checks against. And it is what makes the post-hire conversation possible - when performance drifts from the standard, you can name it, because you wrote the standard before the search opened.
LEARN IT
REI Certification
Recruitment Education Institute (REI) certifies recruiters and TA teams in the full Results-Based Interviewing™ system - from intake design through the written evidence file. The credential that says you lead hiring decisions, not scheduling logistics.
Explore REI Certification →Evidence Prompt Library
Role-specific evidence prompts built from the 6-Step Performance Engine™. Prompts for executive, sales, technical, and operational roles - each with its strong and weak read. Free download, no form.
Download the Evidence Prompt Library →Ask questions only performance can answer.
23 questions. About ten minutes. A scored read of where your hiring breaks.
