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I can offer different perspective here: what about a task which also has some value for you? I rarely give tasks to candidates and only in cases where otherwise

I can offer different perspective here: what about a task which also has some value for you? I rarely give tasks to candidates and only in cases where otherwise good candidate is not familiar with our technology stack. The task in that case is to build a proof of concept on that stack and requires fast learning and general understanding of software architecture. I always give detailed feedback on completed solutions. Even if the candidate was not selected, they still can take something from it and won’t consider it wasted time.

JacKTrocinskI 7y ago
I would never spend 4 hours on a task after hours for a company I'm interviewing for, that is my time and I value my work life balance. It is my humble opinion that a serious interview should take max 1 hour.
- ivan_gammel 7y ago
  If you don’t see any value in learning and trying something new, I can understand it. At the same time there are plenty of people who see it differently and accept such challenge, willing to commit much more time to this kind of task. Maybe it’s not the kind of the job you would be interested in, but then why your opinion on it would matter? One hour interview cannot be more than just screening, when split 50-50 to give candidates enough time to ask their questions. It leaves ridiculously small amount of time to the really interesting technical topics. And this discussion is important: CVs are not trustworthy, plenty of people lie or exaggerate the facts — only a live talk can verify the necessary knowledge, experience and skills. It may not be enough, true, but hiring someone after barely speaking to him is unnecessary risk. And hiring someone without necessary practical knowledge and without proving the ability to learn quickly is the same.
  - JacKTrocinskI 7y ago
    It's not a marriage, it's a job, and if you can't screen someone in a hour interview then you're doing it wrong. Have two rounds of interviews, whatever, if a company wants me to learn some skill they need then they can offer training as one of the benefits of the job.
    - saagarjha 7y ago
      It’s entirely possible that you spend more of your life with the person you’ve just hired than your spouse.
      - JacKTrocinskI 7y ago
        Working for this Ivan guy it's entirely possible. Jokes aside though, I've worked for great companies and each had an hour interview and things were fine, people that didn't fit the culture just left and I can't imagine dedicating 4 hours to one interview because frankly speaking I have better things to do and a company that values a work life balance will respect that and keep their interviews short.
    - alain94040 7y ago
      if you can't screen someone in a hour interview then you're doing it wrong Are you sure you meant to say what you wrote? I'm not aware of any place that has figured out how to properly screen candidates in one hour. If you know how to do it, please share, it would help all of us.

JacKTrocinskI 7y ago

I would never spend 4 hours on a task after hours for a company I'm interviewing for, that is my time and I value my work life balance. It is my humble opinion that a serious interview should take max 1 hour.

ivan_gammel 7y ago
If you don’t see any value in learning and trying something new, I can understand it. At the same time there are plenty of people who see it differently and accept such challenge, willing to commit much more time to this kind of task. Maybe it’s not the kind of the job you would be interested in, but then why your opinion on it would matter? One hour interview cannot be more than just screening, when split 50-50 to give candidates enough time to ask their questions. It leaves ridiculously small amount of time to the really interesting technical topics. And this discussion is important: CVs are not trustworthy, plenty of people lie or exaggerate the facts — only a live talk can verify the necessary knowledge, experience and skills. It may not be enough, true, but hiring someone after barely speaking to him is unnecessary risk. And hiring someone without necessary practical knowledge and without proving the ability to learn quickly is the same.
- JacKTrocinskI 7y ago
  It's not a marriage, it's a job, and if you can't screen someone in a hour interview then you're doing it wrong. Have two rounds of interviews, whatever, if a company wants me to learn some skill they need then they can offer training as one of the benefits of the job.
  - saagarjha 7y ago
    It’s entirely possible that you spend more of your life with the person you’ve just hired than your spouse.
    - JacKTrocinskI 7y ago
      Working for this Ivan guy it's entirely possible. Jokes aside though, I've worked for great companies and each had an hour interview and things were fine, people that didn't fit the culture just left and I can't imagine dedicating 4 hours to one interview because frankly speaking I have better things to do and a company that values a work life balance will respect that and keep their interviews short.
  - alain94040 7y ago
    if you can't screen someone in a hour interview then you're doing it wrong Are you sure you meant to say what you wrote? I'm not aware of any place that has figured out how to properly screen candidates in one hour. If you know how to do it, please share, it would help all of us.