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Random question: One thing recruiters are useful for is that usually have a list of interview questions their past candidates got from each company. But usuall

by rawnlq 11y ago

Random question: One thing recruiters are useful for is that usually have a list of interview questions their past candidates got from each company. But usually this list is not as comprehensive as even just careercup or glassdoor. But every company I have worked at had an internal wiki of interview questions and guidelines for evaluation. The number of questions is usually very small and study-able. With just the knowledge of my company's current wiki (and some past experience as the interviewer) I am pretty confident I can train even the weakest of candidates to pass the interview. Probably due to legal or ethical reasons though, I haven't seen anyone try to collect these database of questions from each company. Is it that risky to ask your candidates to leak them to you after they get hired?

ztratar 11y ago
This question is juicy. Assume you're asking him, so I'm gonna shy away here. ;)
- rawnlq 11y ago
  How do you plan on helping candidates practice interview questions? Surely you have narrowed down the list of topics/questions somehow or else it won't be a very efficient use of time or of your service. The juicy part is just how you plan on procuring those questions. Careercup/glassdoor? Getting previous engineers who had access to those interview question wikis to be coaches? Surely the most effective way is to just get access to the actual list interview questions/grading rubric (at the past 3 companies I worked at they were accessible to any fulltime employee). Of course you shouldn't answer me if that's what you're actually doing since it's probably illegal. But if you have that kind of data I would use your company and recommend it to all my friends.
fecak 11y ago
I've been in agency recruiting for almost 20 years, and I've never told a candidate what question to expect. I might say there is a whiteboard exercise, or years ago mentioned if a client asked Fermi problems, but never a specific question. The biggest problem with contingency recruiting is when the recruiter feels that the size of the fee > the value of a recruiter's reputation. This issue caused me enough angst that I created my own business model that eliminates these incentives to cheat. I personally have never considered asking about the specific questions/answers for my clients' interviews. I may be in the minority on that.
- rawnlq 11y ago
  Well it's definitely cheating, not going to argue that. But it doesn't hurt anyone other than other people vying for the same spot (but they are not paying you, so fuck em). Your candidates get to take out variance by passing interviews they can clearly pass if they "by chance" prepare for it ahead of time. And the company will just see you as someone who refers a lot of high quality candidates in terms of interview skills. And it's not like pure deadbeats can pass even with studying all the questions ahead of time. The work being done at tech companies is nowhere near as hard/interesting as the interview questions themselves so they will do just fine on the job. I might be just a tad jaded. :P
  - fecak 11y ago
    Again, I'll help a candidate by letting them know what type of interview to expect (whiteboard, grilling, pairing, etc.), but not specific questions. I'll also mention if there is a drug test, and I can't help them pass that either. I don't think anyone would consider that cheating, especially in this day and age where candidates can find actual interview questions and answers in a ton of places. I'm sure other recruiters may be inclined to try and let their candidates cheat. My reputation is worth more than that, and since my work isn't contingency I don't have the same incentives to cheat as contingency recruiters do.

by rawnlq 11y ago

ztratar 11y ago

This question is juicy. Assume you're asking him, so I'm gonna shy away here. ;)

rawnlq 11y ago
How do you plan on helping candidates practice interview questions? Surely you have narrowed down the list of topics/questions somehow or else it won't be a very efficient use of time or of your service. The juicy part is just how you plan on procuring those questions. Careercup/glassdoor? Getting previous engineers who had access to those interview question wikis to be coaches? Surely the most effective way is to just get access to the actual list interview questions/grading rubric (at the past 3 companies I worked at they were accessible to any fulltime employee). Of course you shouldn't answer me if that's what you're actually doing since it's probably illegal. But if you have that kind of data I would use your company and recommend it to all my friends.

fecak 11y ago

I've been in agency recruiting for almost 20 years, and I've never told a candidate what question to expect. I might say there is a whiteboard exercise, or years ago mentioned if a client asked Fermi problems, but never a specific question. The biggest problem with contingency recruiting is when the recruiter feels that the size of the fee > the value of a recruiter's reputation. This issue caused me enough angst that I created my own business model that eliminates these incentives to cheat. I personally have never considered asking about the specific questions/answers for my clients' interviews. I may be in the minority on that.

rawnlq 11y ago
Well it's definitely cheating, not going to argue that. But it doesn't hurt anyone other than other people vying for the same spot (but they are not paying you, so fuck em). Your candidates get to take out variance by passing interviews they can clearly pass if they "by chance" prepare for it ahead of time. And the company will just see you as someone who refers a lot of high quality candidates in terms of interview skills. And it's not like pure deadbeats can pass even with studying all the questions ahead of time. The work being done at tech companies is nowhere near as hard/interesting as the interview questions themselves so they will do just fine on the job. I might be just a tad jaded. :P
- fecak 11y ago
  Again, I'll help a candidate by letting them know what type of interview to expect (whiteboard, grilling, pairing, etc.), but not specific questions. I'll also mention if there is a drug test, and I can't help them pass that either. I don't think anyone would consider that cheating, especially in this day and age where candidates can find actual interview questions and answers in a ton of places. I'm sure other recruiters may be inclined to try and let their candidates cheat. My reputation is worth more than that, and since my work isn't contingency I don't have the same incentives to cheat as contingency recruiters do.