3 ms·

Not to be super harsh, but this sounds awful. - First day is 4 interviews and a take-home project. - Second day is an interview in front of a panel followed b

Not to be super harsh, but this sounds awful. - First day is 4 interviews and a take-home project. - Second day is an interview in front of a panel followed by an indeterminate amount of further interviews. - Third day is a "culture fit" interview. 3 separate days of interviews and a take-home assignment? What professional has time for that?! EDIT: I guess it depends on the length of the interviews. Is the total interview time for a candidate more like one all-day interview split into multiple days, or is it substantially more than that? If it's the former, why not just do it all in one day so that candidates don't have to use up a half week of vacation?

11thEarlOfMar 9y ago
So far the people who we've called have been ok with this process. I'm pretty flexible because I don't want to impose too much, so we have shortened it to two a couple of times. On the other hand, we need people who will stick around for a few years. Our tech is very domain specific and there are few candidates that can drop in and get to work. We have to spend a lot of time bringing them up to speed on the code base. So we don't want to pull the trigger too soon. And we definitely don't want to bring people in for subsequent interviews if it's obviously not going to work. Regarding cultural fit, the question I ask the team is "You're going to see this person every work day for years. Do you think you'd be Ok with that?" I think it's reasonable to assess that as part of the process. EDIT: Interviews are 2 hours each step. 1-1 interviews typically 1/2 hour. The code review is usually 1/2 - 1 hour, we don't put a time on it.
- Balgair 9y ago
  I'm curious, do you actually have people staying for years? If you have to be so cautious about working with someone, that may reflect more on you all/management and not the people coming in. All the same, this process is really deep and long, you guys better pay well.
  - 11thEarlOfMar 9y ago
    Average tenure of the SW team is >10 years.
    - claudiulodro 9y ago
      Oh OK. You are offering a legitimate long-term career, so this makes more sense. It's worth putting up with an extra interview or two when you won't have to worry about them for 10+ years. :) It's much more ridiculous when a web dev or phone app shop has hoops upon hoops to jump through.
- ramblerman 9y ago
  > So far the people who we've called have been ok with this process. I went through some of these. I had just come back from a 6 month trip and was effectively 'unemployed'. I was fine with it then as well. No way that I would have/make that time currently being a full time employee. Just keep in mind you may be selecting for a particular type of candidate with this strategy.

11thEarlOfMar 9y ago

So far the people who we've called have been ok with this process. I'm pretty flexible because I don't want to impose too much, so we have shortened it to two a couple of times. On the other hand, we need people who will stick around for a few years. Our tech is very domain specific and there are few candidates that can drop in and get to work. We have to spend a lot of time bringing them up to speed on the code base. So we don't want to pull the trigger too soon. And we definitely don't want to bring people in for subsequent interviews if it's obviously not going to work. Regarding cultural fit, the question I ask the team is "You're going to see this person every work day for years. Do you think you'd be Ok with that?" I think it's reasonable to assess that as part of the process. EDIT: Interviews are 2 hours each step. 1-1 interviews typically 1/2 hour. The code review is usually 1/2 - 1 hour, we don't put a time on it.

Balgair 9y ago
I'm curious, do you actually have people staying for years? If you have to be so cautious about working with someone, that may reflect more on you all/management and not the people coming in. All the same, this process is really deep and long, you guys better pay well.
- 11thEarlOfMar 9y ago
  Average tenure of the SW team is >10 years.
  - claudiulodro 9y ago
    Oh OK. You are offering a legitimate long-term career, so this makes more sense. It's worth putting up with an extra interview or two when you won't have to worry about them for 10+ years. :) It's much more ridiculous when a web dev or phone app shop has hoops upon hoops to jump through.
ramblerman 9y ago
> So far the people who we've called have been ok with this process. I went through some of these. I had just come back from a 6 month trip and was effectively 'unemployed'. I was fine with it then as well. No way that I would have/make that time currently being a full time employee. Just keep in mind you may be selecting for a particular type of candidate with this strategy.