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Could you provide some more insight on what you're using instead? Cover letters? Github? What if the candidate has only worked on proprietary code?
by Spoom 12y ago
Could you provide some more insight on what you're using instead? Cover letters? Github? What if the candidate has only worked on proprietary code?
- tptacek 12y agoNo, we don't use cover letters. No, we don't look at Github. We used standardized interviews and work-sample tests. We hire resume-blind. We're not interested in the status indicators our candidates have collected. We want, very specifically, to know how well a candidate handles the kinds of problems they'll actually face working here.
- kasey_junk 12y agoMy own experience backs this approach up. That said, I think you are downplaying how brutally hard coming up with good work-sample tests are. I've found that bad work-sample tests are as bad, if not worst, at pipeline biasing than more traditional means. I suspect it took you a very long time to come up with these tests, and if you were hiring at a bigger scale you would see things like work-sample sharing/coaching/plagiarizing that might poison the approach. I also think that while you guys have done a phenomenal job at building a novel hiring pipeline, you also have a natural advantage in hiring in that your field has a natural cachet amongst many tech. folks. That same advantage might not apply to insurance companies/banks/etc. I guess what I'm getting at, is that I think your hiring practices have evolved to a great spot for your uses, I'm a little worried about how well they scale.
- tptacek 12y agoMy responses to those concerns are a better coffee conversation than message board conversation. :)
- kasey_junk 12y agoI'm still waiting for an invite to join your hiring gamification startup ;)
- Spoom 12y agoThanks, that makes sense. I'll have to see if you've written a blog on this before.