How to Effectively Interview Jobseekers
My point of view as a part-time hiring person
There are times when my immediate supervisor (IS) is busy, and he needs help sifting through applications and interviewing prospective team members. Often, my role as a senior member of the team involves being his proxy on this.
Typically we are looking for tips on how to give the best possible impression to the person hiring. But this is from the POV from the other side of the fence as a hiring manager — how should I find the applicant that’s the best fit for my team?
As technical people, we weren’t given any training on conducting interviews. More often than not we need to wing it. This post is mainly to give some tips to my fellow hiring persons or managers in general.
Preparing for the Interview
Before the interview, I check the CV of the prospect and get a grasp on the skillset and type of experience he has. I also get a feel on what type of a team member he can be and if he can reasonably achieve the expectations of the role.
I prepare two sets of questions related to the role he is applying for — one is technical as I want to know his mastery of his role, and another related to soft skills and how he works in a group.
Lately, ChatGPT has been a great resource to get some questions related to certain topics.
While Doing the Interview
One big change I’ve noticed post pandemic is that jobseekers rarely go to in-person interviews now. Zoom interviews are now the norm as you can do the interview from anywhere quickly and go back to work afterwards. Also, panel interviews are easier with Zoom as you don’t need to wait for your buddy in person.
I still make it a point to have the interview with open cameras so that we can have a proper conversation. I feel it’s disingenuous to be interviewing someone without at least getting to see a face.
Also, nervousness isn’t exclusive to interviewees — interviewers get those too, especially for technical people that are introverts by nature. Small talk makes things less awkward, and experienced interviewees can take advantage of this.
I try to lessen the awkward silences by chasing the tail — I either repeat what the person said last, or I ask for more details about something he said that made me curious. The trick is to make him say a lot about himself, as you can glean a lot from how he says certain things.
Take a lot of notes, especially since you will need to report your recommendations to your IS and your HR after.
What I Look For During Interviews
The school that an applicant came from isn’t as important to me; what is important is what he has accomplished during and after school and also the work culture fit.
I also like it when interviewees interrupt you to ask questions, as it means they are actively listening. Also, plus points if he really gives you valid questions when you ask them for those.
If I’m interviewing a developer, I don’t trust him when he says he is “reading up and studying new programming languages”, because it seems he is just chasing buzzwords.
Q&A Inversions as an Interview Hack
There is a way for applicants to “hack” the interview — and no one does this. Instead of waiting for the Q&A portion at the tail end, an interviewee can invert the order and ask his questions first before the interviewer does.
First ask details about the role and what the responsibilities look like, then you as an interviewee would know how you could highlight your skills and experience to these expectations.
It also gives you more leverage, because you know the the interviewer is going to ask his go to opening question, i.e., “can you tell me a bit about yourself?”
The “What Are Your Hobbies” Question
The “what are your hobbies” question is the most important question for me even though it seems naive. Oftentimes an applicant would say superficial one-liner things like “watching movies” or “playing computer games”. But for me that specific question is a great prompt to highlight the passions you are actively pursuing, and can potentially give me the impression that you are making effort in achieving something worthwhile.
I believe spending time to master anything means you are driven and this can transfer well into work culture. “Watching movies” may be boring when you say it plainly, but if you are really passionate about it you should *really* expound on it.
For example, “Lately I’ve been watching Denis Villeneuve movies because he is becoming one of my favorite directors. The Dune series really opened my eyes on how to balance masterful storytelling and big expectations from the books. I also like that despite his latest forays into sci-fi he was also very good with dark, gritty thrillers like Sicario.”
Wouldn’t this speak more into his personality and skills?
The Dangers of Being Personable
One danger of an inexperienced hiring manager is to accept an applicant because he seems “personable” or “nice”. This is especially true for small teams in start-ups.
I make sure that I do due diligence in gauging technical competence. If the role is really important, then put emphasis in making sure the applicant knows what he is talking about.
Competence is the difference between babysitting and delegating a team member.
It’s only going to hurt your team if the member is incompetent and you have to let him go after the damage is done. It also hurts your team’s cohesiveness and velocity.