The Interview Format

If you’ve been to more than one interview you probably already know the drill. But there are some differences between companies and between interviewers, and also differences based on the position being filled. Personally when I conduct interviews I try to be as consistent as possible so as to evaluate all candidates fairly. For a web developer position it goes something like this:

1. The candidate arrives in our building and asks the receptionist for the HR contact person.


2. The HR rep greets the candidate and takes their completed paperwork (application, release forms, NDA, etc) and escorts them to a conference room.


3. I (the hiring manager) and other managers and/or developers join the candidate in the conference room for a group interview.


4. We ask the candidate to talk about their recent work and projects and toss out some ’soft’ questions.


5. We ask the candidate some technical questions on a range of topics. I usually work off a “‘Cheat Sheet” of questions for consistency.


6. We ask the candidate to go up to the whiteboard and work through some exercises and write code and markup.


7. We ask the candidate whether they have any questions for us.


8. The other people exit the room, and the candidate and I talk about salary expectations and company benefits.


9. I tell the candidate what the next step in the process is, thank the candidate for coming in, and then walk them out.

Most of this is pretty straightforward and about the same as what you can expect at most companies. However, there are some variations.

For one thing, most companies do a series of one-one interviews rather than group interviews, meaning that you may repeat steps #3-7 multiple times, typically with four to six people in total. Personally I consider that a waste – but that’s a subject for another post.

At some companies HR will perform step #8 instead of the hiring manager. Some companies will skip this step altogether in the in-person interview and negotiate later by phone. The benefits package may also be treated as an afterthought, although for some people it may be nearly as important as the salary.

Finally, step #9 is important, but it’s also one that’s often skipped by many companies. With them it’s usually just a “Thanks for coming in” without any indication what will happen next. In my case I tell the candidate that if we decide to extend an offer we’ll contact them within a few days.

And while I don’t explicitly say so, this statement also implies that if we decide not to extend an offer, they won’t be hearing from us again. Which probably sucks for the candidate – but they’ve been warned. And the supposed ‘professionalism’ of such a policy is a topic for yet another future post.