Currently the interview process is as follows

• Step 1 - Recruiter screening call (30mins)
• Step 2 - Hiring manager behavioral screen (45mins)
• Step 3 - Live coding/Systems design/White board (1hr each)
• Step 4 - Team / Culture meet & greet (30mins)
• Step 5 - Set up for offer and follow up

Interviewing is an important role in a start up all the way to large FAANG companies. Once could consider this a part of each individuals responsibility to build and grow the org. In lieu of interviewing, one could also participate in mentorship as a means of growing the team.

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Beginning and ending the interview

Start the interview regardless if it's their first of the day by introducing yourself, your team and getting to know the candidate. Timebox a few minutes here. The other important part is to set the expectation and requirements of the round. Whether it's a technical / whiteboard round that needs some set up, make sure that everything is clear and ready to go.

At the end of the interview, set aside 5 - 10 minutes for them to ask you questions and get to know the company, the team, and you. These are 2 crucial points, to remember that it's not only they are interviewing to a role in your company, but they are also looking for how you and the team fit with their expectations. Giving them a chance to talk and ask questions here will lead to a better connection or at least bring up any possible concerns early on.

• Do: Get them talking, open up to what's on their minds.
• Do: Give them an honest experience about what it's like to work there.
• Don't: Make sure that you steer away from questions that may bias how you view the candidate.
• Do: Thank them for their time at the end. Let them know their time was valued.
• Do: After the interview, try to submit the feedback to the team as soon as you can (up to 12hrs). This is when your memory of the interview is most fresh.

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Interview questions

The questions you ask should be properly calibrated, regardless if they are senior experienced developer or a new grad. Use a rubric to understand the expectations you might have based on their answers. You should have a rough set of questions you often use, but not too many that it becomes hard to compare candidates. If possible try to not set the expectations too high on answering every questions; it might be more important in some cases that candidates answer 5 questions fully out of a possible 9, then to rush through all 9 and not answer any of them well. Try to gauge the candidate based on if they are making progress on a question, apply guidance where applicable.

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Avoiding Bias

This is something that can be a bit hard to do without being conscious of, but with a bit of practice it'll become easier over time.

• Don't use subjective words when reviewing or giving feedback.
• Using neutral pronouns also reduce bias, or even just using "TC"/"the candidate". For example "TC has worked at their previous role for the last 3 years and in that time worked on 3 primary projects to completion."
• Beware of culture fit questions, there is a fine line between some questions being about fitting in and some questions that gate your team.
• When in doubt, stick to relating back to the job description or stick to questions about their resume.

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Additional notes

• Try to make sure there is a warm hand-off. That they know what the next steps are. Don't leave them hanging or waiting alone.
• To get better at interviewing, the best way is to do more. If you are absolutely just starting out, start shadowing someone on your team who has been doing a lot of interviews.
• Once you get better, you can also do a reverse shadowing, this is where you would have a more experienced team member shadow your interviews and give feedback afterwards.