Art of Tech Hiring
Hiring is always a tedious and lengthy process. I found many an articles on “How to Crack Interviews”, try it, do a simple google search, I am sure you will find a million such Articles, Quora, TeamBlind, Youtube or Medium itself. But you will find too few articles on “How to interview”. Hiring is an art, if done right, I am sure, you have high probability of finding the right candidate and would make a compelling case for the candidate to join only your organization. I have been hiring for sometime now and almost always found the right candidate and had less than 5% offer rejections, I hope this articles helps you as well on your journey to find the right candidates.
Before we begin, I would assume, You already made case for hiring and already frozen the level at which you would like to Hire. I would also stay away from the compensation factor, because different Organizations have different process which we as Interview Panel or Hiring Manager have little or no say to it.
You are responsible.
Always keep it in your mind, “ONLY YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR ACTIONS”. While the talent acquisition teams, HR teams or Recruiters can only do so much, end of the day you are absolutely responsible for hiring. This person would join the company and your time, you are liable for the kind of hiring you would make. So be ready to invest time into hiring, there are no shortcuts. This incoming employee is coming into your environment and work culture, so make sure you are part of the entire process.
Connect with Candidates.
From the interaction 1 with the potential employee, its your responsibility to reach out and connect with the candidates. For some mind boggling reasons, the TA(Talent Acquisition) team are understaffed, every organization, every division. They have limited knowledge of the work your team does or the position you are hiring for, so take time and connect with candidates. Pre-wire them. Let them know of the position, team, how many rounds, type of rounds, what they can expect in the interview.
Remember you are interviewing to “Hire” and not reject. So, help the candidates with information. During this initial connect, Many-a-time you and the candidate might realize they may not be a right fit for the role, this time of 10–15 minutes interaction, will save you 1 hour of interview.
Be Nice
Either you are part of the interview panel or the Hiring manager, be genuinely nice to people. There is no reason to be snooty or a jerk. The person sitting opposite to you has achieved a lot and truly believes in the job you are offering and is ready to dedicate his/her years to your team and your organization. Don't be a jerk.! If you are hiring manager, ensure interview panelist are smiling, welcoming. Invite a small talk. Now-a-days its almost always a virtual interview, turn-on your webcam and never multi-task. Engage with interviewee. Keep smiling.
This is an important tip:
During the interview, remember the interviewee is trying to market his/her skill to join your organization. They are making an effort to tell you, they are good fit for your organization. It is your responsibility to “Sell the Job/Career” and the “Organization” to the candidate. Reinforce why they should consider your team and organization. Tell them why your team is the best, tell them why your Organization is the best place to work. Give examples on how, “You as a leader(Tech Or People), help your team members”. The more you market and invite questions from the interviewee about culture and work, the better the chances they join your organization.
Sell the Job.!
Don't overkill the interview process.!
It’s always good to have 2 opinions and 4 eyes to look at something. I am sure end of second round (+1 your initial interaction) to know if the candidate is a fit or otherwise. If you feel the candidate has been inconsistent over the 2 rounds, provide 1 more round of interview opportunity for the candidate to justify himself or herself. Don’t interview 4–6 rounds just to reject a person.
Build a Rocket ship
Unless you are building a rocket ship, don’t overcomplicate the interviews. If your team or product doesn't genuinely use BFS or DFS or Dynamic programming, don't ask such useless algos just because some other company does.
Yes, of course, if you plan to put this person on a rocket ship in search of alternate fuel on Mars, make sure you send him on a overnight survival training as well.!
Genuine request, again in Name of System Design don’t ask the candidates to design a Facebook or Twitter. Who does that in 1 hour interview ? If you are really interested in how this person can solve complex System problems, make a collection of System Design problems, you or your team or your product has solved/overcome over last 2 years and ask these real-life problems. You know how you solved it, the merits and demerits of different approaches. This might help you find the right fitment, not the ability to design Twitter.!
Connect with Candidates.
Finally keep the connect with candidate again.!. Let them know if they are a fitment or not. If you find a candidate who is suitable for the position, keep them engaged. You can never find a 100% suitable candidate. So make a list. Keep a “must to have attributes” and “good to have attributes” list. If they check your mandatory checkboxes, stop interviews. Remember you are trying to find a candidate suitable for your team and for a certain role and not a cheap iPhone. Don’t go shopping finding more suitable candidates who can work for less money. They are human beings not an objects.!
Finally, post offer connect is really important. You need to tell them how you as a leader or team member can help the team member grown in the organization. Keep them updated on the team and work, they would be tasked to. Have a connect with candidates at least bi-weekly (1 every 2 weeks).
Happy hiring.
