Master Hiring: Tips for Creating a Successful Interview Process
You’ve figured out who you need to hire, and now it’s time to prepare for the search and align your team. As a follow-up piece to my article, CTO vs. VP of Engineering: Understanding the Differences and Determining Who to Hire? Here are practical steps you can take to design a thorough and structured interview plan.
First, it’s essential to understand why a structured interview plan is important. A consistent process eliminates bias and helps you make an informed decision. Additionally, a structured interview plan ensures:
- Everyone is on the same page about what they are evaluating for and why you are making this hire.
- Each person knows what questions to ask, which are relevant to assess the candidate’s skills.
- Expectations on turnaround time to share feedback and where to record feedback.
- A great candidate experience.
Now, you’re ready to get started! As Geoff Smart states in his world-renowned book Who: The A Method for Hiring, you’re searching for “a candidate who has at least a 90% chance of achieving a set of outcomes that only the top 10% of possible candidates can achieve.” To do this, you’ll want to create your company’s blueprint for a successful interview process: the vetting rubric and scorecard. The scorecard should map back to a rubric that contains the following:
- Define the role’s mission: What’s the underlying core purpose of the role? How does this position impact the mission of the company?
- Define the outcomes: What exactly do you need this person to accomplish? How will their success be evaluated? Be specific.
- Define required competencies: List the skillset, past experiences, and behavioral elements that will ensure the candidate has what it takes to be successful in the role.
- Compose questions: Design relevant questions that will allow you to evaluate each competency to see how likely the candidate will achieve your desired outcomes.
- Create your grading system (aka the scorecard). House it in your ATS or platform of choice.
Next, you’ll want to kick off the hiring process with a meeting that includes all stakeholders and those involved in the interview process. This meeting aims to align on 1) Who you are trying to hire, 2) How you will evaluate the candidate, 3) Who makes the hiring decision 4) Details of the interview process. For Engineering leadership hires, I recommend candidates meet with the founders, non-technical peers, 1–2 direct reports, and a board member.
Additional tips to ensure a successful interview process:
- I recommend your interview process allow for at least 10 hours with the candidate before a decision is made to hire. If designed and managed well, you should be able to get a candidate through the process within four weeks, from the first interview until you decide to hire. Momentum is critical.
- Appoint a scheduler.
- Create email templates to prepare candidates throughout your process.
- Ensure multiple touchpoints with your candidates throughout the process, exploring all forms of communication (text, video, phone, and in person if possible). This allows you to get a feel for how real-time communication may feel should you work together.
- While every company’s interview process will differ, consider a working session that includes a prompt for the candidate to lead a discussion (stay tuned for my upcoming blog post about this!)
- Talk to references as early as you can to learn more about your candidates, don’t wait until the end of the process.
While my interview suggestions aren’t all-encompassing, it’s a solid framework to build from. Now that you’ve designed your interview plan check out my article on How to Successfully Close an Executive Candidate so you can celebrate the fruits of your labor!
P.S. here are some additional resources to check out:
First Round: 40 Best Interview Questions to Ask in an Interview
Greenhouse: Is a structured Interview Process Really Necessary? Yes, and Here’s Why
Who Method for Hiring: https://whothebook.com/
