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Ask HN: Can the “Who is Hiring?” post include a bit about the interview process?

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Ask HN: Can the “Who is Hiring?” post include a bit about the interview process?

#1

Post by curiousgeek »

It's almost time for the monthly "Who is Hiring" thread!

Considering how much time we spend discussing tech interviews here, wouldn't it be nice if each hiring post is accompanied by a line about the nature of the interview process?

Examples:

i) Interview process: two phone screens, 3 onsite whiteboard

ii) Interview process: two rounds on HackerRank, 5 onsite whiteboard

iii) Interview process: one take home assignment, 2 on site whiteboard, 1 pair programming session

That will help candidates prioritize which companies they want to contact first. Companies also benefit by the fact that the applicant has self-selected for their interview process.

Re: Ask HN: Can the “Who is Hiring?” post include a bit about the interview process?

#2

Post by gaza3g »

This is a great idea. I've been in many interviews where I thought I did pretty well only to be told, "oh, this is just the first of many interviews". I wouldn't have applied if I had known since every onsite interview requires me to at least take half a day off from work. That is time that can be used for something else.

But I do have to mention that with the Big4, they will let you know in detail about the whole process during the phone interview so that's cool by me.

Re: Ask HN: Can the “Who is Hiring?” post include a bit about the interview process?

#5

Post by ctvo »

edsiper2 wrote: post #4

Note that not all companies have a "fixed" interview process, after the first interview it can change based on the applicant background (proof of experience).

While true even a quick liner about your general process would be helpful. There's a handful of categories most fall into:

- algorithms and data structure heavy white boarding

- online timed exercises

- take home exercise and discussion

- short contract to hire

Re: Ask HN: Can the “Who is Hiring?” post include a bit about the interview process?

#6

Post by llamataboot »

I wish companies didn't think their interviews were some weird "secret sauce" -- I've had companies flat out refuse to tell me what the interview process would be like, or even how long I should expect for the interview beyond "1-4 hours". Well, you know 1 hour is a lot different than 4 hours!

Personally I think all companies should be using pair-programming or contract to hire, as I think trivia questions and whiteboarding are worse than useless. I'm happy to do take home work for a company I'm really interested in, but it does feel a little unfair and like a bit of a waste of time overall.

Re: Ask HN: Can the “Who is Hiring?” post include a bit about the interview process?

#7

Post by dang »

It's a good idea but I'm a bit worried about making those threads even more top-heavy than they already are by asking people to include even more info in their posts.

It might also be hard to explain what we're asking submitters to do in a way that makes sense to everyone, especially the ones who don't post on HN except in those threads.

We'll think about it. There's a couple days before the next thread.

Edit: ok, I added such a sentence. Let's see if it improves the quality of the posts.

Re: Ask HN: Can the “Who is Hiring?” post include a bit about the interview process?

#8

Post by peteretep »

gaza3g wrote: post #2

This is a great idea. I've been in many interviews where I thought I did pretty well only to be told, "oh, this is just the first of many interviews". I wouldn't have applied if I had known since every onsite interview requires me to at least take half a day off from work. That is time that can be used for something else. But I do have to mention that with the Big4, they will let you know in detail about the whole pr…

Who constitutes the big 4? Facebook, Google, ...?

Re: Ask HN: Can the “Who is Hiring?” post include a bit about the interview process?

#9

Post by repsilat »

The posts that are transparent about the interview seem to have positive responses, too -- I distinctly remember seeing Compose's listings with comments like this one:

> great hiring process and response from the team, even though I didn't get the job I enjoyed my application process

What better feedback (or recommendation) could you ask for?

That said, I need a little more convincing that always including this information will increase the quality of the listings. For Compose this set them apart, for most places I'd guess there's a pretty common pattern, and for the terrible places they just may not say.

Much as I think the ONSITE/REMOTE thing was a success, I think this might be better left to happen culturally rather than by fiat. Happy to be convinced otherwise, though.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11014670

Re: Ask HN: Can the “Who is Hiring?” post include a bit about the interview process?

#10

Post by _asummers »

peteretep wrote: post #8
gaza3g wrote: post #2

This is a great idea. I've been in many interviews where I thought I did pretty well only to be told, "oh, this is just the first of many interviews". I wouldn't have applied if I had known since every onsite interview requires me to at least take half a day off from work. That is time that can be used for something else. But I do have to mention that with the Big4, they will let you know in detail about the whole pr…

Who constitutes the big 4? Facebook, Google, ...?

Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, I think is the current list.
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