Take Interviews The-FAANG-Way to hire FAANG talent..!!
I see a lot of do’s and don’ts for the candidates on the internet, but very few for the interviewer. Some suggestions for interviewers based on experience and interviews:
#1 Setting the tone of the interview
Always introduce yourself & tell about your organization before asking the candidate to do that. Talk a bit about your experience & what you are building in the organization. It will automatically set the right placeholder to be filled by the candidate & set an expectation of an engaging/friendly interview.
#2: Standardise the Interview process and make it transparent
/ One common theme is that candidates were clueless about an interview round. Sometimes, they do not take the organization seriously enough & come for the interview just for their practice.
/ After giving your introduction as per #1, set the expectation of the round before beginning the tech discussion.
/ Firstly, you will have to structure/design your round. Once done, pass the same information to your engineering team, which can further help you devise an interview process.
/ Pass this to the HR team, who can pass this to the candidate ahead of the interview. This puts a good first impression in front of the candidate & also helps HR understand how you do the evaluation.
You will be surprised how efficient this step can make your funnel and lower your rejection count. The HR team now can source better candidates matching your expectation.
#3: Timebox the interview
/ Finish a face-to-face interview round in under 40 minutes or near about that. We have seen many people taking too long to complete an interview. (1.5 hours — 2 hours as well).
/ Divide your round into three phases(Taking an SDE interview for example):
A. Logical ability (5–10 minutes):
Involves 1–2 questions related to a simple algorithm to be made at runtime to solve a problem statement.
B. Javascript concepts & knowledge of the browser (15–20 minutes)
That involves open-ended question which can test the candidate’s horizontal knowledge in a few minutes & gives you a hook to deep-dive into any of the concepts at run-time.
C. Product sense (10–15 minutes)
Involves discussion on a very visual problem statement related to the product in general & the thought process about why a particular flow/component/design/strategy/UX is much better than the other. You can discuss candidates’ previous projects here.
With the above strategy, You can wrap up “not-so-good candidates” in under 30 minutes as well.
#4: Passive Interviews
/ Interviewers give a problem statement to the candidate and come out of the interview room or resume their work in the middle of the interview.
If you do that, you might miss the chance of understanding how the candidate thinks about a problem statement. Such a thing creates a negative impression in front of the candidate and impacts your brand.
/ Always ask the candidate to brainstorm the problem statement or think out loud with you. This process will not only help you understand the candidate as a programmer but also as a personality which is more helpful as it gives you a perspective on how a person thinks about a problem.
#5: Interview to select a candidate and not reject a candidate
/ The mindset matters a lot. For example — Giving awkward expressions that reflect denial or disinterest during an interview! If the candidate is deviating away from the correct answer, these expressions can make them completely lose the enthusiasm or confidence to face the interviewer.
/ Try to be vibrant and positive during an interview. It will bring the candidate at ease and give his mind the relaxation to perform at 100%. An interview is just 45 minutes or 1 hour when someone wants to give their best.
Even if the candidate does not fit the role, giving negative expressions can lower the morale of the person and impact the brand image of the organization as well.
Remember, the candidate will share the negative experience as well as the positive experience with others, and it spreads quickly, even amongst people who could be a good fit for the role.
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