Done-for-you talent vetting
Know who can actually do the data work — before you hire them.
Résumés market. Interviews measure nerves. Truescore gives hiring teams an expert-scored, practical assessment of every candidate — with a clear hire / no-hire recommendation you can defend.
The hiring gap
A data hire either compounds your decisions — or quietly corrupts them.
And by the time you find out which, it's months and several reports too late. The usual signals don't tell you who can do the work.
Résumés are marketing
A degree and a tool list don't reveal who can clean messy survey data or design a defensible analysis.
Interviews measure composure
Your senior people burn hours on candidates they can't properly evaluate — and confident talkers slip through.
Generic tests miss the point
Off-the-shelf coding quizzes don't assess research design or M&E reasoning at all — the judgment that actually matters.
How it works
Three steps from job opening to a confident decision.
Scope & rubric
A short call to define the role and the skills that matter. You get a weighted scoring rubric tailored to the job — not a generic checklist.
Assess
Candidates complete a practical, role-appropriate task on real data — SQL/Python/R, analysis design, research & M&E reasoning, or dashboarding. No cheating-friendly multiple choice.
The Scorecard
Each candidate scored against the rubric — strengths, risks, evidence, and a clear hire / no-hire recommendation. Optional debrief call to walk you through it.
What we vet
Roles where judgment, not just code, decides the hire.
Each assessment is built for the specific role and seniority you're hiring.
Data Analysts
SQL, cleaning messy data, analysis design, and dashboards a director will actually trust.
Data Scientists
Python/ML reasoning, feature thinking, model evaluation, and the sense to know what's worth modelling.
Researchers
Study & survey design, sampling logic, data quality, and turning fieldwork into credible findings.
M&E Officers
Indicator and MEL-framework design, linking data to outcomes, and donor-ready reporting rigor.
What you receive
A Scorecard you can put in front of a hiring panel.
Every candidate is scored against the same role rubric, with the evidence behind each score. Defensible, comparable, and fast to read.
- → Weighted scores per competency, not a single vague number
- → Concrete strengths and risks, tied to what they actually did
- → A clear recommendation: hire, hire with support, or pass
- → Side-by-side comparison across a shortlist
Production-quality SQL without hand-holding; turns a vague question into a testable analysis.
Light mentoring on data-quality checks and stakeholder-facing visuals in the first 60 days.
See the real deliverable — download a full sample Scorecard (PDF). One per verdict:
Reference work
What "good" actually looks like.
These public projects show the same competencies Truescore scores in candidates — data wrangling, analytical reasoning, rigor on messy data, and clear communication. Each one tells you why it's good before you ever open the code.
Customer & Product Analysis
A full case study that turns raw sales data into clear commercial recommendations — not just charts, but decisions.
Why it's good: frames the right business question and defends the answer with evidence — the core of analytical reasoning.
Agricultural Survey Analysis
Messy, real-world field-survey data cleaned, validated, and analyzed end-to-end into findings a programme team could use.
Why it's good: data-quality rigor on imperfect survey data — exactly what M&E and research roles live or die on.
Garmin Weekly Report
An automated pipeline that pulls fitness data and generates a formatted weekly report on its own — zero manual steps.
Why it's good: reproducible, automated reporting — the discipline that keeps recurring M&E dashboards reliable.
Name → Gender Classification
A text-classification model that infers gender from messy, free-text name fields — handling real-world noise, not clean demos.
Why it's good: applied ML on imperfect text with proper evaluation — feature thinking beyond a copied tutorial.
Who scores
Denis Mwaniki
Data & Technology Manager · Nairobi
Nine-plus years building data products, pipelines, and analytics across commercial and development programs — GeoPoll, Dalberg Research, KOKO Networks, and Jacaranda Health. Hands-on across SQL, Python, R, and a modern data stack, with deep roots in survey research, data quality, and M&E.
I've also been on the other side of the table: interviewing and assessing aspiring data scientists, designing their learning paths, and tracking who actually made it. Evaluating data talent isn't a side gig — it's something I've done for years. Truescore turns that judgment into something your hiring team can buy.
Ways to work together
Start with one candidate. Scale to your whole pipeline.
Single Scorecard
Vet one candidate for one role. A low-risk way to see the value before you commit.
Book a call →Shortlist
Vet a batch of candidates for one role and get a ranked, side-by-side comparison.
Book a call →Embedded vetting
A retainer for teams hiring continuously — rubric design plus ongoing vetting as roles open.
Book a call →Pricing is scoped to your roles and volume on the call — you only pay for the risk we take off the table.
Questions
Why not just use a free online test?+
Automated tests check syntax, not judgment. They can't tell you whether a candidate designed a sound analysis, handled messy real-world data well, or would survive a donor audit. That's the gap an expert scorer fills.
Do you place or recruit candidates?+
No. We're independent. You bring the candidates (or your recruiter does); we assess them objectively. No incentive to push anyone through.
How fast is turnaround?+
Typically a few business days from when candidates submit, depending on volume. We agree timelines on the scoping call.
What roles can you assess?+
Data analysts, data scientists, researchers, and M&E officers — junior through senior. If your role lives near these themes, ask on the call.
How do you stop cheating?+
Tasks are designed to reward reasoning over recall, and the scoring looks for evidence of genuine understanding — the kind of work that's hard to fake and easy to probe in a short follow-up.
Make your next data hire a sure thing.
Book a free 30-minute call. We'll scope one role and you'll see exactly what a Truescore Scorecard would tell you.
No obligation. If we're not a fit, I'll tell you.