The research says work-sample tests and structured interviews are the way to go and they're well within reach for a startup. In fact, they're easier for a star

The research says work-sample tests and structured interviews are the way to go and they're well within reach for a startup. In fact, they're easier for a startup in many ways: half the difficulty in implementing a structured process is the internal selling + training + reinforcement necessary to roll it out across multiple teams/functions/etc. Behavioral questions don't have to be squishy. There's a lot of literature (like, over a century) about conducting and evaluating behavioral interviews. Here are some example questions one might ask a programmer: - How do you know when your code is ready to ship? - What methods or systems do you use to keep track of requirements? - Of all your past managers, who got the most out of your potential? What made their approach effective? - Imagine your professional life a year or two from now. What do you want that to look like and how do you hope this job would contribute to that? - If you realized you couldn't meet an expected release deadline, what would you do? What have you done in the past? - Tell me about a coding mistake you made in a past job that caused a serious problem. What happened and what did you learn from it? - If we talked to your past managers, what would they say your strengths are? What would they say you need to work on? BTW, if this stuff is interesting to anyone, I'm the head of instruction at Strive and we run workshops for engineering managers (including one on evidence-based interviewing). Email me jesse@strive.co if you want to learn more!