Our industry's hiring practices are absolutely obnoxious. In an ideal world, you could trust someone's resume. e.g. "I've written large production programs in C." Ok, great, so then clearly this person knows C so there should be no need to dissect code or run them thru some linked list algorithm and see if they know how to use pointers correctly. Yet, we do. Ok, then what about open source contributions (if they have…
I used to work as a chef, and the problems really aren't that different. People describe their experience on a resume but knowing whether the guy will be able to do their prep efficiently etc is just impossible without seeing them work.
The solution? Sure, come in, do a shift. See how you like the kitchen and the environment. We'll just give you some cash for your time.
Interestingly this goes away at a certain level of seniority, but I always liked it as a simple way to get a feel for a potential hire.