Post on 12-Aug-2015
Gayle L. McDowell | Founder/CEO, CareerCup
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Preventing Disasters Before They HappenPrepping Your Candidates to Reduce Your False Negatives
June 9, 2015 | Talent42
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Hi! I’m Gayle Laakmann McDowell
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Author Interview Coach Interview Consulting
(CS) (MBA)
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But there’s one more thing…
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Facebook’s Interview Prep Class
Weekly interview prep class for candidates (not interviewers)
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Here’s the Problem
Process is biased towards false negatives “Better to reject a good candidate than hire a
bad one” Lots of myths about interviews
Good candidates often fail Your recruiting costs go up
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Prep to Reduce False Negatives
Even playing field Reduces anxiety Removes randomness More consistent process Higher quality answers
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How
to
Solve
Design Your
Process
Train Your Interview
ers
Prep Your Candidat
es
Hire More. Spend Less.
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Need
to
Prep
Structure Style of Questions What You’re Looking
For How to Prepare
We are not teaching to the test!
Structure
What Happens When01
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Structure
How many interviews? Who is interviewing? (What roles) How does the decision get made?
Types of Questions
What are you going to ask?02
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Types of Questions
Recruiter call? Ask about projects, interest, etc.
Technical phone screen? Design? Algorithms? Coding? Knowledge? Shared document? Read aloud?
Onsite? Design? Algorithms? Coding? Knowledge? Whiteboard? Computer?
What You’re Looking ForWhy do you ask this? What makes a good candidate?03
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What To Tell Candidates
Examples of question How much focus How to prepare How to do well What you do/don’t expect Sit down with your engineers & discuss!
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Types of Questions
Experience Knowledge Design Algorithms Coding
Prior Experience
The things they’ve built
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How to Do It Right
Primarily focus on technical experience
Avoid cheesy questions Probe deeper
Don’t accept answers at face value
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1 Minute Pitch/Walk-Through
Chronological order Mention hobbies, especially
technical Mention the cool or interesting
parts
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Experience Questions
Prepare 2 – 3 technical projects to discuss in detail
Hard/cool Candidate did core parts
Be comfortable diagraming at the whiteboard
Consider: Challenges, tradeoffs, technology choices,
successes, what you’d do differently, etc
Knowledge Questions
What do they really need to know?
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How to Do It Right
Basic knowledge isn’t very useful If they can learn it quickly, why does it matter?
Knowledge should be: Hard to acquire
OR A red flag to lack
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How to Prepare
What topics you’ll cover Be open about what you do and don’t
know Derive/guess at answers if you don’t know But admit that you’re not sure
It’s okay to not know everything!
Design
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How to Do It Right
Ask open-ended questions Don’t expect knowledge of your systems Look for how they solve Encourage questions & discussion
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How to Prep
Problem-solving evaluation, not knowledge
Read about design of other systems How would you act at work?
Scope the problem. Ask questions. Get a basic design. Improve from there. Be open about issues.
DRIVE & LISTEN
Algorithm Questions
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How to Do It Right
Medium / hard problems. Uncommon problems. Don’t look for just correctness. Encourage the candidate. Be nice.
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What
They
Think
Testing obscure knowledge
Need to solve immediately
Must get everything right
Just correct is good enough
Hints = you’re doing badly
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What
You
Want
Assess problem-solving skills
Evaluate CS fundamentals Push through hard
problems Communication
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Preparation
Review & implement DS/Algorithms Be very comfortable with big O Practice with interview questions
(Give them examples!)
Code on paper/whiteboard
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How To Do Well
Keep trying Problems are hard. That’s okay!
Talk out loud A slow solution is a good start But keep optimizing from there
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How
ToApproach
Cra
ckin
gTh
eC
odin
gIn
terv
iew
.com
“Reso
urc
es”
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How
To
Tackle
1. Listen carefully. Ask if you’re confused
2. Examples help a lot.3. Start with slow
solution.4. Optimize from there.
Your interviewer may help you.
Coding
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What
They
Think
Some: Must be flawless!
Others: Pseudocode is fine.
Design doesn’t matter. Just correct is good enough.
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What
ReallyHappens
Bugs are normal Write real code Design matters
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How
To
Tackle
1. Walk through algorithm again
Don’t rush into coding
2. Take your time3. Write real code4. Test it
How to Execute ThisHow do you actually prep candidates?04
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Ways
to
Prep
Classes Ideal, but need lots of
candidates
Videos Books Handouts Discussion Emails
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How
To
Implement
A “contract” with interviewers Decide what interviews
look like You get them better
prepared candidates They stick to vision
Interview training Bonus: more
consistency.
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How
to
Solve
Design Your
Process
Train Your Interview
ers
Prep Your Candidat
es
Hire More. Spend Less.
THANK YOUgayle@gayle.com
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