Interview scorecard template

System Administrator interview scorecard

Evaluate System Administrator candidates across 4 weighted areas: technical proficiency, systems and trade-offs, evidence and rigour, and collaboration and communication. Technical proficiency leads at 35%, so check depth in the stacks they actually run: Linux package management and systemd, Windows Server and Active Directory, Group Policy, DNS and DHCP, plus scripting. Use the rubric to compare role-specific evidence consistently.

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software dataactive directorybackup and recoverylinux administrationpatch management
TL;DR
For technical proficiency, look for evidence the candidate names specific distros, AD forest structures and automation playbooks, and explains commands or cmdlets used rather than describing tasks generically. For systems and trade-offs, look for evidence the candidate weighs uptime against cost and complexity, cites a restore they actually tested, and admits where a design choice later caused trouble. Apply the written 1–5 anchors to every answer, record the evidence behind each rating, and use the factor weights to reach a consistent overall assessment.
Complete evaluation framework

What to assess and how to score it

Review the evidence signals before interviewing. Then use the anchored descriptions—not instinct alone—to choose the score that best matches each answer.

01
Evaluation factor

Technical proficiency

35% weight

Check depth in the stacks they actually run: Linux package management and systemd, Windows Server and Active Directory, Group Policy, DNS and DHCP, plus scripting in Bash, PowerShell or Ansible.

Evidence to listen for

  • Command of the languages, frameworks, and data tools the role actually uses
  • Understands correctness, performance, and failure modes, not just syntax
  • Has opinions on testing and can justify them
  • Reads and reasons about code they did not write

Five-point scoring guide

1
Poor

Cannot work independently; fundamentals are missing.

2
Needs Improvement

Weak fundamentals; output needs heavy review.

3
Satisfactory

Competent for the role; needs guidance on complex or unfamiliar work.

4
Very Good

Strong practitioner; handles hard problems with little guidance.

5
Excellent

Names specific distros, AD forest structures and automation playbooks, and explains commands or cmdlets used rather than describing tasks generically.

02
Evaluation factor

Systems and trade-offs

25% weight

Probe how they sized infrastructure: VM density on ESXi or Proxmox, RAID and storage choices, backup retention with Veeam or Borg, tested RTO and RPO targets.

Evidence to listen for

  • Reasons about scale, latency, cost, and failure before writing code
  • Names the trade-off they chose and what they gave up
  • Understands the data lifecycle end to end
  • Anticipates what breaks at ten times the volume

Five-point scoring guide

1
Poor

No thinking beyond the immediate task; no awareness of scale or failure.

2
Needs Improvement

Limited architectural awareness; struggles with design decisions.

3
Satisfactory

Works within an existing design; makes sound local decisions.

4
Very Good

Designs for scale and maintainability; articulates trade-offs clearly.

5
Excellent

Weighs uptime against cost and complexity, cites a restore they actually tested, and admits where a design choice later caused trouble.

03
Evaluation factor

Evidence and rigour

25% weight

Test their evidence habits: monitoring with Zabbix, Nagios or Prometheus, log review in journalctl or Event Viewer, patch cycles, and how they proved a fix worked.

Evidence to listen for

  • Validates results rather than trusting output
  • Knows how their work is measured and what a bad result looks like
  • Can describe a time their own analysis or model was wrong and how they caught it
  • Careful about data quality, leakage, and silent failure

Five-point scoring guide

1
Poor

Ships unvalidated work; no notion of how correctness is checked.

2
Needs Improvement

Validates superficially; misses obvious quality or leakage issues.

3
Satisfactory

Reasonable checks in place; rigour drops under time pressure.

4
Very Good

Validates thoroughly; can name a real error they caught in their own work.

5
Excellent

Traces an outage from alert threshold to root cause using logs and metrics, then names the change that stopped recurrence.

04
Evaluation factor

Collaboration and communication

15% weight

Assess ticket-side behaviour: writing runbooks and knowledge base articles, handling escalations in Jira Service Management or Freshservice, and explaining downtime windows to non-technical staff.

Evidence to listen for

  • Explains technical work to non-technical stakeholders
  • Gives and takes code or peer review constructively
  • Documents enough that the work survives their absence
  • Aligns with team process rather than working around it

Five-point scoring guide

1
Poor

Cannot work in a team; resistant to feedback.

2
Needs Improvement

Communication issues create rework; lone-wolf tendencies.

3
Satisfactory

Adequate team member; documentation and review participation are light.

4
Very Good

Communicates well; reliable reviewer and collaborator.

5
Excellent

Shows documentation others reused, communicates maintenance windows clearly, and describes handling an angry user without dropping the change process.

Evidence-led prompts

Interview questions for a System Administrator

Use these prompts to surface evidence for the weighted factors above and compare candidates against the same role-specific criteria.

  1. 01

    What is your experience managing and maintaining computer systems and networks?

  2. 02

    What specific operating systems do you have experience with?

  3. 03

    Are you familiar with setting up and managing servers?

  4. 04

    Can you detail your experience with data backup and recovery procedures?

  5. 05

    Do you have experience with disaster recovery planning and testing?

See the complete System Administrator question set
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