What to look for when you watch a candidate's video reel

Video is high-bandwidth, which is its strength and its trap. Without a rubric you will hire the most likeable person rather than the most capable one.

Five things to score, in order

• Specificity — do the stories contain names, numbers, and tools
• Relevance — is the experience close to your actual work
• Communication — clear, appropriately paced, understandable
• Judgement — does their reasoning make sense when things go wrong
• Logistics — hours, start date, and setup all confirmed

What to deliberately ignore

Room quality, background, camera hardware, and accent. None predicts performance. Audio clarity is worth noting only for phone-facing roles.

Decide in one pass

Reject or invite immediately after watching. Deferred decisions are how good candidates get hired by someone else.