Interviewing like a Unicorn: How Great Teams Hire

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Chakri Uddaraju

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Alaina Percival

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Interviewing like a Unicorn: How Great Teams Hire

by Chakri Uddaraju, Alaina Percival, Aline Lerner, Allan Grant, and Obie Fernandez

The video titled "Interviewing like a Unicorn: How Great Teams Hire" features experts discussing strategies to enhance candidate experiences and improve the hiring process. Moderated by Obie Fernandez, the panel includes Allan Grant, Aline Lerner, Alaina Percival, and Chakri Uddaraju, who share insights garnered from analyzing thousands of interviews. The session emphasizes the importance of empathy during the hiring process and aims to empower both candidates and employers.

Key Points Discussed:

The Importance of Empathy: The panel stresses that empathy should be integral to interviews to create a positive experience for candidates.
Interview Guides: Organizations can improve candidate support by providing guides that clarify expectations for interviews. Such guides help candidates showcase their skills effectively.
Iterative Process Development: The video emphasizes that creating a successful interview process is iterative. Companies should refine their approaches based on ongoing observations and feedback.
Candidate Preparation: The panelists advocate for preparatory calls before interviews, allowing candidates to understand the company’s expectations and process, creating a smoother experience.
Feedback Mechanisms: Post-interview surveys for candidates can help organizations gather actionable feedback for process improvement. The panelists suggest the importance of communicating results clearly to candidates.
Communication Between Departments: A disconnect between recruiters and technical staff can hinder the candidate experience. Designating a champion from the technical team can enhance communication and accountability.
Impact of Waiting Periods: Candidates often face anxiety during waiting periods for interview feedback. Setting clear timelines for decisions can help mitigate this issue.
Using Technology for Efficiency: Employing Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) like Greenhouse or Lever can help track candidates’ progress and enhance engagement through better insights into the candidate experience.

Important Conclusions & Takeaways:

A positive candidate experience is crucial not only for attracting top talent but also for ensuring successful hiring outcomes.
Companies should approach their interview processes as a selling opportunity and tailor their methods to meet candidates’ expectations and experiences.
Overall metrics for evaluating the effectiveness of hiring processes include candidate acceptance rates, performance post-hire, and feedback from the interview experience.

00:00:12.400 Hey everybody! You're here for the interview titled 'Interviewing like a Unicorn: How Great Teams Hire.' My name is Allan Grant, and I'm the co-founder and CTO of Pirate.com. Here we have Aline Lerner. Aline, would you like to introduce yourself and tell us a bit about how you got into interviewing?

00:00:39.040 I've had a winding path. I started as an engineer and then dabbled in recruiting, trying to fix some of the things that many of you have experienced firsthand. Most recently, I founded a company called Interviewing.io that seeks to make technical hiring a lot more approachable.

00:01:04.559 Hi, I'm Alaina Percival. I'm the CEO of Women Who Code. At Women Who Code, we provide diversity consulting and best practices around diversifying your hiring pipeline for our sponsors. We're currently hoping to expand that further in the coming year.

00:01:21.040 My name is Obie Fernandez, and I'm the CTO of Andela. We are training a hundred thousand young advocates to code and develop into outstanding individuals who can improve the continent. I'm responsible for recruiting those hundred thousand people, so I do a lot of interviewing and I'll be moderating this panel.

00:01:43.600 Thanks, Allan, for inviting me. Thanks to all our guests. I think we are very interested in finding out from the audience what you are looking to get out of this session. There are a couple of reasons you might be here instead of attending other sessions. Raise your hands if you are here specifically to learn how to interview as a candidate, meaning you are looking for a job. Okay, great! Now, raise your hands if you are here as an interviewer or employer looking for insights on hiring.

00:02:51.680 It's useful for our panelists to understand how to structure the information we share with the audience today. One of the major themes we wanted to touch on during this panel is one that is very dear to my heart. It involves bringing a dimension of empathy to the interview process.

00:03:10.239 I wanted to give the panelists a chance to discuss their thoughts on how empathy should apply to the recruitment process. Would anyone like to start?

00:03:43.840 One of the challenges we see in candidates is the lack of support to help them present their best selves. Essentially, we want to see the best from the candidates coming in, but employers may not know enough to help manage expectations or provide guidance on what they are looking for. Each company values different traits and qualities, so one of our efforts has been to give candidates an interview guide that clearly explains what we are looking for in each round. This guide significantly helps candidates showcase their best skills throughout the interview process.

00:04:58.560 The interview guide is provided to candidates right after they apply. It's important to clarify that there’s a distinction between applying for a job at a company and applying to use the platform to get interviews. When we interview candidates that are hired, we've gone through several iterations of our interview process. Initially, our process wasn't very empathetic; it was a bit brutal.

00:05:56.080 At first, as soon as we started talking to a candidate, we would immediately throw coding challenge after coding challenge at them to determine if they were a good fit. Unfortunately, by the end of the process, candidates would often express hesitation about wanting to work for us due to the rough nature of our interviews. It became apparent that we needed to improve this situation.

00:06:49.040 To remedy the issue, we started conducting a phone call with each candidate before the interview process begins, allowing them to familiarize themselves with the company and discuss what the process looks like. This made things run a lot smoother for candidates. Additionally, we developed the interview guide that informs candidates about the types of questions they will face and what our company culture values.

00:07:26.720 I really like the idea of having a program that sets expectations and creates transparency throughout the interview process. However, it’s important to remember that as a company in a growth phase, you may be conducting many interviews while candidates might only be interviewing once every couple of years. They may not have the same level of experience in this process, which makes it essential to create transparency and evaluate everyone equally.

00:08:05.360 A lot of ground has already been covered, and one thing I’d like to add is that in today’s market, it is clear that good engineers have a lot of power. Great engineers are in high demand, and there are companies that still haven't understood this, resulting in candidates having to jump through hoops early in the hiring process. Companies that send out generic coding challenges often lose out on good talent as these candidates know they have other options.

00:08:50.560 It's important for employers to understand how many options candidates have, and to be mindful of the fact that your interview process is, in part, a selling process. It’s beneficial to have candidates speak with a founder but you should avoid treating them like they are going through an assembly line because that will ultimately hurt your chances.

00:09:30.240 I want to build on the themes discussed here and make this more actionable for employers in the audience. Undoubtedly, you already have an interview process in place, but how do you transition from whatever process you currently use to one that is more empathetic? What are the necessary steps to determine and implement that change?

00:10:12.320 It's important to keep in mind that developing a new process is iterative. You begin with something that works for you and can continue to refine it. One of the key goals of an interview process is to make sure that it accurately identifies who would be a good fit for your team. However, you also want to provide a positive experience for your candidates.

00:10:53.440 Initially, we only asked two questions during our on-site interviews. As we observed how well this was working, we decided to incorporate additional elements. Eventually, we began asking one of these questions in advance during a phone screen. This allows candidates to feel more prepared and ensures they are able to show us what they can do.

00:11:49.760 If candidates are unsure how to solve a problem, we guide them through it rather than just judging them based on their knowledge of specific algorithms. It's important to create an environment where candidates feel they can communicate and ask questions, rather than a daunting process where they have to worry about performing perfectly from the start.

00:12:22.000 I want to emphasize that a successful interview process should prioritize a good candidate experience. This means offering constructive feedback and ensuring candidates have clarity about the interview process and what to expect. Serving candidates a survey after their interview seems valuable, yet it is more important to gauge their overall experience.

00:12:57.680 Here at Interviewing.io, we conduct technical interviews and always survey candidates afterward to obtain their feedback, along with the interviewer's insights on the candidate's performance. Interestingly, there's often little correlation between what candidates believe their performance was and how the interviewer rated their answers.

00:13:33.440 The most important measure of how effective a hiring process is may ultimately be if the candidates accept offers from your company. Another useful strategy we’ve implemented is to contact candidates even if we don’t hire them and ask for feedback on how to improve their experience. This dialogue provides us with valuable insights into our hiring process.

00:14:22.560 Interestingly, we found that hosting informal coffee sessions where candidates can interact with existing employees helps them understand company culture better and showcase their skills more effectively during interviews.

00:15:02.240 Some candidates, however, have found that the waiting periods in the interview process can be anxiety-inducing. For example, when there are several days between interviews and feedback, candidates often begin to question whether they have made the right choice in pursuing an opportunity with a particular company.

00:15:49.679 One recommended practice is to set a clear timeline for decisions. If you know that you will decide on a particular day, let the candidates know so that they aren’t left wondering about the outcome.

00:16:33.680 In larger companies, there can be a disconnect between recruiters and the technical staff conducting interviews. It’s important to ensure there is a clear communication path between these two parties, with an attitude of collective responsibility for the candidate's experience.

00:17:13.360 One solution to bridge this gap is designating a champion from the engineering side who will oversee the candidate experience throughout the process. This individual can remain in contact with the recruiters and ensure they follow up with candidates promptly.

00:17:54.560 I’d also like to share some insights from our early days. Initially, we operated under names that didn’t resonate well. Eventually, we realized the importance of creating a competitive dynamic by quickly responding to candidates’ interest in interviews and making their experiences as seamless as possible.

00:18:36.560 Reflecting on our hiring process helped us understand that speed becomes fundamental not only in getting candidates to the next step but in securing the right talent. Key indicators of success in an interview process include analyzing whether candidates enjoy the interview experience, if they accept offers, and how well they perform once hired.

00:19:30.360 It’s essential to consider the entire process, from initial interest through acceptance of the offer and ongoing performance in the role. Each of these metrics informs how effectively the interview process can identify the right candidates.

00:20:09.440 For some companies, using an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) like Greenhouse or Lever can facilitate this process by tracking how long it takes for candidates to move through different stages, thus providing insights on engagement and overall candidate experience.”},{