One interview framework

Interviewing or assessing someone is such a trite in modern enterprise that any new perspective on the topic will be just another hay in the haystack. Yet, while talking to interviewers, I find that there is a lot of anxiety in ‘choosing the right candidate’, even at the final stages of assessments. Given this, I would like to bring a fresh perspective (hopefully) to the art of interviewing. A word of caution: my take is still in the realm of being subjective. So until that day someone comes up with an objective approach that passes the double blind test, unverifiable words of wisdom like this are here to stay!

Firstly, the scope of my approach is in the realm of tech space or knowledge economy. It may possibly be extended to other functions since most organisational hiring these days have expectations around critical reasoning, problem solving, team skills, and learnability. Secondly, I am assuming that there is a reasonable clarity on the strategic & tactical nature of the role, list of skill sets needed, and red flags to be avoided.

With that said, the approach I have evolved can be summarised as a set of prioritised assessments on the key non-negotiable for the job. To illustrate, let me take an example and detail the ‘one pronoun open questioning’ approach on multiple dimensions for a software developer job.

For a software developer, my set of non-negotiable attributes are, passion to code, grasp of computer fundamentals (language expertise, algorithms/data structures/networking concepts/distributed architectures/software design/etc.), math & problem solving skills, continuous learning & experimentation, critical reasoning, and team skills of listening & communication. 

So my assessment would be along these lines:

To test the communication & overall passion in software development - Describe in detail about the ‘one project’ of your choice that you were/are passionate about.

To test the computer fundamentals, say language - Tell about ‘one language feature’ that you feel is unique or powerful and how you used it ? Or Call out ‘one data structure’ that any developer should know, why, and what are its applications ? etc.

To test the analytical skills - Tell me about ‘one problem solving technique’ that you often use. Could you give examples of where all this technique can be applied ? Then test on alternative approaches to similar problems.

To test continuous learning & experimentation - Teach me ‘one topic’ that you learned recently.

To test team skills - Talk about ‘one incident’ where you put your team before your needs.

You may even throw surprises such as ‘one skill’ that differentiates you as a developer, elaborate.

And so on…

As you can see, there is a deliberate method in the way the questions are structured & it coaxes the candidate to speak with constraints. Crucially, he or she has to prioritise and pick one item out of many things that may characterise a given topic. This gives a great insight about their views & acts as a lead for further line of inquiry, especially if your priorities happens to differ significantly. Optionally, one may assign points & weights to each of these criteria to get an objective score. As a bonus, you can retain this one form of assessment and calibrate the functional abstractions based on the seniority of the position.

Lastly, do try this approach during your next interview, but bear in mind that regardless of your method to assess, it is important to conclude with a clear yes or no. Since, coming up with a ‘may be’ means you are failing on your task to decide and passing the buck. A last tip; it is okay to err on the side of caution when you are unsure :)