Hiring or getting hired

Looking for a job helps you be better at hiring

When I relocated to the Bay Area in 2012, my mission was to start a new software engineering team. The plan was to hire a couple of high talented software engineers to build a badass team. I had successfully hired a bunch of talented individuals in France and transformed them into a performing team. There was no reason I wouldn't have been able to do it again in the Bay Area.

Well, it never happened. There are multiple reasons for this, but, as the hiring manager, I had one main road block:

I had never looked for a job.

Hiring and being hire are two sides of the same coin. As I couldn't put myself in the shoes of a candidate, I was clueless about how attract them, seduce them and close them.

After having been on a market for a job myself, I have learnt some small random lessons from the 'being hired' side that can be applied to the 'hiring' side. Most seem obvious when read, but in practice, it is a completely different story and in a competitive landscape, every detail counts.

Don't have your intern interview a senior candidate, at least not alone, it is not respectful for the candidate.

Give constructive feedback to the candidate when it is a 'no'. More so if you promised you will get back to them soon. At least, follow up by saying "sorry and we wish you the best in your search." If it is obvious from the interview that there is no fit, say so instead of promising getting back to the candidate and never do so.

Hiring is a company wide initiative. Having candidates wait too long in the lobby is bad. Having people walk by them ignoring them is equally bad.

The atmosphere of the office is key: young programmers won't like white wall, blue carpet, grey cubicles corporate offices. (Multi colored slides may be a bot off though.) The office is the reflection of your culture.

The same goes with interview rooms. Chance is the candidate will spend few hours locked in them. Better they be clean and welcoming.

Remembering all the names, titles and teams of the interviewers is hard. Providing the candidates with a detailed schedule is a relief, especially if it has info on the interviewers. After all, they have their resumé, why not giving some data on the future team members too.

If you are asking "back of the envelope"calculation, do not expect your candidate to follow the exact same path you would have. There is no two brains that work alike.

Benefits and perks are important: they reflect what the compensation will be (above or below average).

Recruiting is the first business process the candidate will experience. If it feels amateur, the whole company will look amateur.