7.11.2019
StackOverflow is a Q&A site which helps developers solve problems in the professional community. And this is more than 250 talented employees around the world headquartered in New York. But okay, well, who does not know about StackOverflow? 🙂
Its CEO Joel Spolsky wrote a huge note about what kind of IT-people actually taked to cool projects. Of course, recruiting in the USA and Ukraine is different, but why not learn from the best?
In short, everyone needs “Smart and Get things done.” So the main task of the recruitment agency is to make sure that the candidate is smart and knows how to achieve the goal. Clever, but not charged for results, become good theorists. Purposeful, but stupid, will bring chaos and destruction.
Determining the presence of two characteristics in one candidate is possible exclusively during the interview. Frequent mistakes that occur during interviews:
What to do? To give open, proven in the process of recruitment issues. If you are just starting out in IT recruiting, look at the Joel script. He suggests moving in stages. Namely:
Start with an acquaintance, tell more about the interview, determine the timing of the meeting. Ask how a person got, whether he is in a good mood. Reassure that it is important for a company not to overwhelm a candidate with complex issues, but to understand how he will solve a particular problem.
Discuss the last project that the candidate worked on. If you communicate with a junior or yesterday’s graduate, learn about the courses or subjects at the university. About any practical experience. Determine what interested them more, and what remains out of attention.
The main thing is to look for “resonating” moments, from which the candidate, say banal, his eyes burn. Try to “do a brat” at the interview, giving an opportunity to the IT-person to tell his own story. If he really loves his job, then the conversation will turn out to be lively with compliments or criticism of the ex-colleagues, boss or project. A motivated, loving candidate can not remain indifferent.
Another important nuance: an intelligent specialist can explain difficult moments so that even a child will understand them.
Try to catch in the story the moment when the candidate acted as a leader. Perhaps he managed to take responsibility for a misunderstanding in front of the customer or to unite the team and solve the problem in a short time. A good answer is a story about achievements, a bad one is a disclaimer of responsibility and the phrase “it was impossible.”
Next is the technical part of the interview, which will help to understand the practical skills of the candidate. It includes a discussion of errors in the process of performing a test task or solving fast impromptu problems on the board.
If everything went well, the final stage of the interview (5-10 minutes) is the “sale” of the workplace to the candidate. A few words about the company, goals, project, team and bonuses. The recruiter offers the candidate to ask questions if they arise. If not, that’s ok too.
Time to make a decision about the candidate – 3 minutes after the interview. Good practice is to send a short feedback in 15-20 minutes after the interview. If you think or weigh a decision for a long time, the candidate does not fit. In the process of hiring can not be half measures: either this person is competent or not convinced. According to statistics, about 20% of selected candidates are accepted into the state, which means 4 out of 5 specialists will have to receive from you “Thank you very much, but at the moment you are not ready to make an offer.”
Let us add that this letter should list the reasons for the refusal. And do not delay, forcing the candidate to beg for feedback – this is a bad tone.
Recruit Alliance has a separate IT-department that covers even the most complex and unusual applications. Upon request, provide written customer reviews.
