We have several world class clients in the software industry and have worked with several other world-class firms over the years. We have worked with companies that run a very efficient and effective interview process and some that lose out on a lot of good people because they do not. What are the reasons a company should strive to run an efficient and effective process?
There are many:
- First is the most obvious. It saves the company time and money.
- It optimizes the chances that candidates will spread positive feedback about your company and your openings, whether they get hired or not.
- If you are working efficiently in your interview process, your recruiters are much more likely to respond and do the same and hence bring you more great candidates.
- Efficiency in one activity breeds efficiency in other activities.
Let's take a look at how to get the most out of your interview process.
- 1st, it is VERY important to give timely feedback to your recruiters or to direct candidates. You as a hiring manager must assume that each and every candidate is working on at least 2 or 3 opportunities other than yours. This makes timely feedback imporant in keeping the interest level high in both your candidates and the recruiters that are working with you. If they have to wait too long for feedback or to hear about the next step in the process, they are more likely to lose interest and focus on other opportunities more than yours. So quickly give feedback from the previous step in the process and quickly move to the next step. Technical people are very sensitive to process. If your recruiting process is opaque, slow, and unfocused, they very quickly assume the rest of your company works the same way.
- 2nd, know the timeframe importance level for each candidate. You may find the need to speed things up with certain candidates if they are getting close to the offer stage with other companies. This is especially important if this is a "rock star" candidate.
- 3rd, Make efficient use of everyone's time. Double up on phone interviews. If you know you need 2 phone interviews before you can bring a candidate onsite get 2 software engineers on the phone with a candidate at a time. Kill two birds with one stone. This can not only save man hours and money, but it speeds up the entire process which, again, is very important for candidates that are getting close to receiving offers from other companies.
- 4th, If you are scheduling a candidate for an onsite interview and you are flying them several thousand miles to bring them in to your office, make sure you optimize the use or your company's time and money. Make sure you have the entire thing scheduled hour by hour. Don't have the candidate sitting around waiting a long time before meeting with the next person. By leaving them alone in a conference room they will lose interest, confidence and hence your process loses effectiveness. If they will need to do a second day of onsite interviews, try to have that scheduled into the candidate's travel arrangements and schedule if possible. If you have to bring them back for a 2nd round make sure you aren't going to lose their interest and candidacy in doing so.
- 5th, Have a pragmatic approach to your interview. Tech trivia has its place in the software engineering interview, but should not be the end-all be-all. Make sure you are drilling down core computer science fundementals. If there is a famous problem that the founding members of your company had to solve once upon a time, ask the candidates how they might approach the problem. Also, in writing software you try not to "reinvent the wheel." Use the same approach in interviewing. Get them to go through some of their projects step-by-step. Get them to talk about architecture, show you the design and maybe some code of some of the implementation. Keep them on their toes.
One last thing. By keeping your interview process efficient and effective you will help your retention rate. Many people dread conducting interviews. By keeping your interviewers on their toes you will keep them excited and interested in their own job. Everyone wins! The next time you are in a position of hiring keep in mind how it directly and indirectly effects the rest of your organization.
There are many:
- First is the most obvious. It saves the company time and money.
- It optimizes the chances that candidates will spread positive feedback about your company and your openings, whether they get hired or not.
- If you are working efficiently in your interview process, your recruiters are much more likely to respond and do the same and hence bring you more great candidates.
- Efficiency in one activity breeds efficiency in other activities.
Let's take a look at how to get the most out of your interview process.
- 1st, it is VERY important to give timely feedback to your recruiters or to direct candidates. You as a hiring manager must assume that each and every candidate is working on at least 2 or 3 opportunities other than yours. This makes timely feedback imporant in keeping the interest level high in both your candidates and the recruiters that are working with you. If they have to wait too long for feedback or to hear about the next step in the process, they are more likely to lose interest and focus on other opportunities more than yours. So quickly give feedback from the previous step in the process and quickly move to the next step. Technical people are very sensitive to process. If your recruiting process is opaque, slow, and unfocused, they very quickly assume the rest of your company works the same way.
- 2nd, know the timeframe importance level for each candidate. You may find the need to speed things up with certain candidates if they are getting close to the offer stage with other companies. This is especially important if this is a "rock star" candidate.
- 3rd, Make efficient use of everyone's time. Double up on phone interviews. If you know you need 2 phone interviews before you can bring a candidate onsite get 2 software engineers on the phone with a candidate at a time. Kill two birds with one stone. This can not only save man hours and money, but it speeds up the entire process which, again, is very important for candidates that are getting close to receiving offers from other companies.
- 4th, If you are scheduling a candidate for an onsite interview and you are flying them several thousand miles to bring them in to your office, make sure you optimize the use or your company's time and money. Make sure you have the entire thing scheduled hour by hour. Don't have the candidate sitting around waiting a long time before meeting with the next person. By leaving them alone in a conference room they will lose interest, confidence and hence your process loses effectiveness. If they will need to do a second day of onsite interviews, try to have that scheduled into the candidate's travel arrangements and schedule if possible. If you have to bring them back for a 2nd round make sure you aren't going to lose their interest and candidacy in doing so.
- 5th, Have a pragmatic approach to your interview. Tech trivia has its place in the software engineering interview, but should not be the end-all be-all. Make sure you are drilling down core computer science fundementals. If there is a famous problem that the founding members of your company had to solve once upon a time, ask the candidates how they might approach the problem. Also, in writing software you try not to "reinvent the wheel." Use the same approach in interviewing. Get them to go through some of their projects step-by-step. Get them to talk about architecture, show you the design and maybe some code of some of the implementation. Keep them on their toes.
One last thing. By keeping your interview process efficient and effective you will help your retention rate. Many people dread conducting interviews. By keeping your interviewers on their toes you will keep them excited and interested in their own job. Everyone wins! The next time you are in a position of hiring keep in mind how it directly and indirectly effects the rest of your organization.
6 comments:
Good advice that should be heeded during any interviewing process. Take special care, as noted, to have good interview questions that reflect on key attributes for the job. Taking the time to create smart questions up front avoids having to follow-up with candidates later or have "holes" in the evaluation of all candidates.
Gil, if I could get every hiring manager to streamline their process like this I could save each of my clients a ton of money in wasted time and lost candidates. I will be forwarding this along to several of my clients. Great post.
This is a good article. If I could add to #5?? Job descriptions include more than technical knowledge. Most require good communication skills, teamwork, etc. (the soft skills). Create 3-4 questions that drill down in these soft skills and assign them to interviewers. At the end of the process not only will you have feedback on technical skills, but soft skills as well. Plus it makes the process much more fullfilling to the candidate as they perceive they were able to present their entire skill set, not just a small sampling.
Gil, you are right on. Coming from the corporate side this is something we always discuss and try to push managers on but is easier at times than others. This should always be in every companies sites in order to attract top talent. Great post!
Great article. As more talent is in the marketplace it's important that companies stay vigilant in their interview process. Saves everyone time and more importantly reputation.
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