Running an effective interview process

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I’ve talked a lot about what to do as an applicant or candidate, but there is an entirely different, hidden world behind the scenes around running the show.

It’s a massively important job, and a massively complex one as well. Recruiting and hiring is the lifeblood of any company, and is ESPECIALLY important in the tech world that I live and work in.

Tech companies are great places to study interviews because of the sheer speed at which they have to build, hire, and win. Technology moves incredibly fast, so tech companies (of any size, from tiny startups to global giants) have to move equally fast, if not faster, so they’re not left behind.

Recruiters

Recruiters and recruiting coordinators are responsible for the pipeline of new hires a company develops- think of them as salespeople for human capital. Their job is to find the best talent for a given role, reach out to that talent, and “close” them, meaning, they are trying to sell the candidates that make the cut on accepting their offers.

Recruiters should…

• make a candidate feel comfortable, and excited about the role
• overcommunicate during the recruiting process
• reply promptly to emails from candidates and not leave candidates hanging
• develop trust and rapport with candidates. This is not to trick candidates- a recruiter must understand what the candidate is looking for, and bridge both the final offer with the candidates expectations to find a match
• work with HR to understand the “compensation band” within which they can make an offer. Recruiters can’t offer more money or equity than the predetermined guidelines allow (except in rare cases.)
• collaborate with other teams beyond HR, including the hiring manager, the head of the division that’s making the hiring, and sometimes teams like legal and finance

Marketing a role

A low key important part of hiring is marketing the position well. Some job descriptions do a terrible job of ACTUALLY explaining what the role entails, and who they are looking for to fill it.

I personally think most job descriptions are far too stiff, and do a poor job at communicating key details around the role. Lighten up, and loosen up with job descriptions. Explain what you’re REALLY looking for, because if you get too high and mighty or aspirational, you’ll alienate candidates.

Additionally, I feel that a lot of companies make the mistake of requiring TOO MUCH experience in job descriptions for roles that actually don’t require it. This is a costly error- first, you alienate more affordable talent, you alienate young and hungry talent, and you attract people who are overqualified and destined to be impatient in the role they applied for.

The interview process

The interview process should be designed for maximum efficiency, and should aim to “weed out” (sorry for the blunt term) candidates that are not deemed a fit sooner rather than later.

For each corporate job opening, a company typically receives 250 resumes, will interview 4–6 candidates, and will typically hire 1. Because of that imbalance, and because of the massive time commitment required to get to that one hire from 250 candidates, the process must keep efficiency in mind.

Phone Screens

Typically, an HR team member or recruiter will have an initial phone screen, which should seek to establish a few things:

1. this candidate is qualified
2. this candidate is a culture fit
3. this candidate is within the price range of the role
4. this candidate has a real shot of making it through the gauntlet of 5 subsequent interviews, and will be one of the better candidates we talk to

Initial call with team member

Typically, before an onsite interview (which is super time, and thus, money intensive) a candidate will move on to a call (or two) with a team member. This team member can be high ranking, or more of an individual contributor, but will have a better sense for whether or not you could be a fit, based on what they know about the actual nuances of the role and team.

This conversation can be free flowing in nature, but will seek to understand why you’re interested in the role, and whether or not your past experience and worldview would make you a good fit.

Onsite interview

Typically, you should divide an onsite interview into (roughly) five different components or interviews. That seems to be the magic number for

1. a quorum of people who can accurately debate your qualifications and reach a consensus
2. enough time to get to know you really well, without burning the candidate out

This portion could last 3 to 5 hours, or even more in some cases. No matter how long it is, it’ll feel twice as long for a candidate because of the focus that’s required.

Dividing up the onsite

You should coordinate ahead of time what each interviewer will cover in the interview- the last thing you want is a candidate feeling like 5 interviewers are all asking them the same exact questions and covering the exact same ground. It doesn’t matter exactly how you divide the content, but here are the main buckets:

1. Personal Pitch (how the candidate pitches themselves for the company, role, and function, and how their past experience aligns with the requirements of the role)
2. Resume & Achievements (what this candidate has accomplished in the past, what they’ve done in their career, and what they’ve taken away from those experiences)
3. Candidate’s Vision and Mindset (what they’re looking for in a role, in a culture, and whether their vision aligns with the company)
4. Company Specific Research (does this candidate understand the company they’re interviewing with? Can they engage in well informed conversation about company direction and strategy?)
5. Behavioral Questions (all the tell me about a time type questions that dig into how you’ve dealt with complex problems and situations in the past)
6. Technical Questions (testing for how well the candidate understands the role specific aspect of the job)

Often times, each interviewer will cover portions of each bucket, but they will plan ahead of time to ensure they aren’t repeating questions word for word.

Avoiding bias in hiring

One of the most important responsibilities a hiring panel has is avoiding bias in the interview process. “Unconscious bias” is a term that’s rapidly gaining popularity, because it reflects the idea that most bias in interviews or in the workplace occurs inadvertently.

I’ll give you an example- while walking the halls with a candidate, you may absentmindedly ask “so where in the city do you live?” as an innocent conversation starter. However, this question could unfairly bias you against a candidate that doesn’t live close to the office; meanwhile, housing discrimination in America has routinely created situations where minority populations were systematically denied housing in premier locations.

It may seem like an innocent topic, but as an interviewer, you have to be very careful to stick to conversation topics that are directly related to the ability to do this role well.

Unconscious bias in race, age, sex, or even appearance is a real thing, and interviewers must do everything in their power to prevent these factors from influencing hiring decisions, or influencing perception of interview performance.

Resume blind interviewing is raising in popularity for this reason- so that you can interview the candidate’s responses without being influenced by factors that may be out of their control.

“Culture Fit” is a fine line

Sometimes interviewing teams have an eye on how this candidate would fit into the culture, which is a good idea in theory. However, sometimes, this can mean over-indexing for candidates who are like everyone else at the company, and diversity can suffer as a result.

Instead of focusing on whether or not a candidate will “fit the culture,” try to focus on whether or not this candidate adds something positive to the culture. If you feel like this candidate is not necessarily like most employees, but adds a positive element, that’s a great sign. If you feel like a candidate seems like other employees, but adds a negative, worrisome, or risky element to the culture, that’s obviously a very bad sign.

Debrief best practices

In a candidate debrief, you should have a moderator whose job it is to make sure the decision making process is standardized, and that interviewers are staying on track, and using valid reasoning in arguing for or against a candidate.

Additionally, the order in which you ask for feedback matters. Try to save the senior-most interviewer (in terms of hiring influence) for last so his or her opinion doesn’t unfairly sway the rest of the group, who may naturally seek to align with their opinions.

Diverse workplaces are stronger workplaces

Keep in mind as you hire, that more diverse teams in terms of background are more effective at problem solving, at seeing solutions in different and creative ways, and ultimately, making better decisions together. The same way investing professionals encourage a diversified portfolio of investments, professional organizations benefit from a diversified portfolio of ideas. With that in mind, having diversity goals for hiring is an important step to creating the most effective team possible.

Above all else, remember that both sides are selling

The interview process is a selling process for both sides. Both the interviewer and the candidate can get into trouble when they forget this fact.

For the interviewer/company, if they start to act like the candidate is lucky to have the opportunity to interview with them, they will alienate strong candidates, and it will speak volumes about their culture and the way they do things. As an interviewer, you are essentially an ambassador- you should not only run the process with integrity and class, but go a step further, and actively sell candidates on the role.

The best candidates are in demand. Think about the free agency process when LeBron James is on the market as a free agent- teams line up to make their pitch for a star employee, and only one organization will be able to enlist his services.

On the other side of the coin, if a candidate feels too cocky, or loses sight of how competitive the process is, they will be doing themselves a disservice. Both sides should always be closing.

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