Own Your Hiring Process Pt. 2

Reblogged from Captain by Rank.

As I discussed last week, I feel like there are a lot of issues with standard hiring practices. This week, I'm going to talk about what I've personally found to be more effective at identifying great hires, creating a healthy culture, and creating a good reputation in the industry.

First, a disclaimer. This is my process and it works best with the types of engineers I'm trying to hire. Your mileage may vary, because you maybe looking for different skills, value different behaviors more highly, etc.

As I mentioned last week, I want you to think about what your goals are for hiring as well as what message you want to send to the candidate throughout the interview process. Then, craft your process to achieve those goals.

Here are my goals:

With those goals in mind, here is what my current process looks like.

First contact

This is the initial meet and greet, either over coffee or video chat. I prefer to see individuals so I can gauge relative nervousness and adjust accordingly. The goal here is for it to be fairly relaxed and casual so we can see if it's a good fit for both parties. I usually want to understand what they're passionate about, what gets them out of bed in the morning. Are they passionate about the craft of engineering, or is it just a job? Can they communicate well? I also want to know what are they looking for in a job. What sort of corporate culture do they like? I make sure to explain our culture and how they would fit in to it, so they can determine whether that is a good fit for them. The whole process should be a two way street. If that goes well, then I move on to the next step.

The take home test

In case it isn't obvious, I'm not a big fan of white board coding or "trivia" coding problems for screening candidates. I like to stretch them and give them a challenge, so instead I give people a take home test. I give them 24 hours to complete it, the test itself should take them 4-10 hours depending on how thorough they want to be. When I send them the test, I make several things very clear.

The problem itself is carefully crafted to achieve several goals, as follows:

I have a few other goals too, but they're very specific to what I'm looking for with regards to skill set and ability.

The follow up questions

Once they return the test, I go over their solution and follow up with questions via email. I try to make it clear that they can take their time and craft their answers. Again, I want people to be relaxed and to think about the questions. I also want to see how well they communicate. My questions usually are along the lines of:

If their test answer was good and they were able to communicate well, we would move on to the final step.

The cultural interview

This is the face-to-face portion where they meet the team and the team meets them. This portion of the process has the highest risk of sending the wrong message to the candidate, so make sure it is friendly and respectful. Interact with the candidate the same way you would an existing team member. You don't grill your co-workers, do you? So why would you do that with a potential candidate? (If you do grill your co-workers, you've probably got serious cultural issues IMO. :-p).

As part of this interview, I think it's important to talk with them about their personal processes. What's their coding standard? What are their personal philosophies around programming? What have been their biggest challenges, and how did they achieve success? Keep in mind, they are going to be nervous. Sometimes very nervous. Here's a tip. Watch their hands. If they're shaking you need to move it into a more comfortable space for them. Usually that's as simple is asking them about past achievements, what games they like to play, give them a few easy questions.

If it's all gone well, then you've got a great candidate on your hands. Hire them! Now!

Hopefully I've gotten my message across that I want you to think carefully about your hiring process, and then craft one that achieves your goals with regards to culture, engineering skills, communication skills,  work ethic, etc. Don't just do what everyone else has done unless that's truly getting you what you want. Like Ms. Wilson says, if you're going to do it, do it right and stop wasting everyone's time. Until next time.

Agree or disagree with anything I’ve said? Questions? Let me know in the comments below or via Twitter, Facebook or email contact at captainbyrank dot com.

Cheers,
Shaun