Hiring by Values: How We Built Our Applicant Vetting Scorecard

At Mertz, we believe something simple but powerful: Skills can be trained. Values cannot.

Technical abilities evolve. Software changes. Processes shift. But core human values such as empathy, integrity, curiosity, respect, those tend to be stable. They shape how someone behaves when no one is looking. They influence how they treat their team, their clients, their work, and themselves. And ultimately, they determine whether someone is aligned with who we are as a company.

That belief became the foundation for our Applicant Vetting Scorecard - a values-driven interviewing framework we intentionally built to help us hire people who not only do great work but also make our workplace great.

Why We Hire for Values First

Traditional hiring leans heavily on résumés, portfolios, and lists of technical abilities. We value those things too - but not above the things that actually drive long‑term success in a team setting. When we looked at our highest-performing team members, they weren’t just technically strong. They consistently demonstrated:

• Ownership
• Empathy
• Authenticity
• Respect
• Curiosity
• Collaboration
• Commitment to craft

These traits influence everything - client experiences, team culture, retention, innovation, and trust. When people feel seen and valued for who they truly are, they grow. And when they grow, the business grows with them.

So instead of asking:
“Can they do the job?”
We ask:
“Are they the kind of person who can thrive here and help others thrive?”

How We Built the Mertz Value Scorecard

We started by identifying the values that show up most clearly in our daily work and client relationships. These formed six core categories on our scorecard:

1. General Qualities: Empathy, active listening, reliability, and the ability to deliver projects on time and on scope. These traits reveal how someone will show up day‑to‑day.

2. Empowering Others: Respect, communication, and the ability to build others up, not compete against them. Great teams are built by people who want everyone to succeed.

3. Team Player: Accountability, trustworthiness, and collaborative experience. We look for people who know how to be part of something bigger than themselves.

4. Creativity: Passion for design, willingness to try new things, and continuous learning. Curiosity and innovation are core to our work so we ask questions like “Teach me something” to uncover this.

5. Authenticity: Honesty, humility, integrity.

6. Expertise: Attention to detail, craftsmanship, confidence, and quality. These are the trainable skills but we still want a baseline appropriate for the level we’re hiring.

How We Use the Scorecard in Interviews

The scorecard isn’t a checklist. It’s a conversation guide. For each value category, we created open‑ended questions that reveal behavior, character, mindset, and decision-making patterns. For example:

To assess empathy and listening:

• “What motivates you?”
• “Why did you choose to apply to Mertz?”

To uncover collaboration and respect:

• “Tell us about a time it was important to work as part of a team.”
• “How do you handle working with someone you don’t see eye to eye with?”

To understand creativity and curiosity:

• “Explain your creative process and how do you approach a new project?”
• “Teach me something.”

To evaluate integrity and authenticity:

• “Share a mistake you’ve made and what you learned from it.”
• “What’s the last thing you nerded out on?”

To gauge craftsmanship and mastery:

• “Tell me about a time when attention to detail made a difference.”

These questions encourage candidates to share real stories, not rehearsed answers. Stories reveal patterns, and patterns reveal values.

Why This Approach Works

The impact of hiring by values has been transformative for us:

Better team cohesion; People with shared values collaborate faster, trust deeper, and communicate more clearly.

Stronger client relationships; Clients feel the difference when they work with empathetic, curious, respectful people.

Higher retention and engagement; People stay where they feel aligned, both emotionally and ethically.

Faster skill growth; When someone has the right mindset and integrity, they learn fast. They ask questions. They take ownership. They level up.

A more human-centered business; We don’t hire cogs. We hire people. And people shape culture.

Great companies aren’t built by résumés. They’re built by people who share values, lift each other up, and care deeply about their work.

Our Applicant Vetting Scorecard is more than an interview tool; it’s a compass. It helps us protect our culture, choose people over paper credentials, and build a team that reflects who we are at our core.