Interview Process in Software companies is always peculiar in some way. If you have interviewed for any industry other than Software and then by a Software company, you would understand what I mean.
The emphasis is always on Hiring ‘good’ employees, and it is more accurate in the Software Industry. In Software, the work involves intellect and men are more important than machines.
But so much for the talk of hiring the best, the interview process of most Software companies is in shambles and even abhorrent in many cases. And still, no company seems to give a damn about it and assumes that they will end up with the ‘best’ of the lot by sheer luck or name of their organization.
The issues plaguing the interview process are many, but some major ones are:
Mammoth Called JD
Not a lot of thought goes in when preparing the Job Description (JD). It’s more like a template that needs to be filled. And the hiring managers are altering may be 25% of the information in that template and think that it should still meet their requirements.
And many of the floated JDs that are huge and are mostly looking for a superhuman rather than a normal Software professional.
Every Software professional must have similar or some form of the below JD sitting in their inbox:
“Proficient and experienced in multiple technologies.
Advanced Knowledge of PQR technologies and good knowledge of DEF technologies
Hands on experience in ABC technologies
Ability to grasp new technologies quickly and do POCs.
Mentor and Coach the team members
Develop and Deliver Solutions by identifying client needs.
Conduct reviews and facilitate journey mapping efforts
Should be able to manage a team as well as able to work as an individual contributor.
Excellent Communication Skills, Best in Reporting.
Ability to Handle Clients and take part in Pre-Sales activities.
Should be a self-starter with a positive attitude and take initiatives.”
You want a person to know all the damn technologies under the sun? You want them to have team management skills as well be an individual contributor. Reporting, Client Communication, Reviews, Mentoring, all of it?
Are you hiring a candidate to work on projects or participating in an all you can eat buffet?
The Black Hole
Often the gap between recruitment and technology department is of the size of the Grand Canyon.
Most of the recruitment team members don’t have a clue about the technologies for which they are hiring. Many of them hear the technology names when they have been assigned the requirements. And to add to that, there is no bridge between the two departments.
Unless the Recruiters know what the technology is about, what are its key components, alternatives, when was it released, how proficient people would be out there in the market for it, etc. then they are simply shooting in the dark. They can’t make reasonable assumptions, can’t smartly approach the hiring or suggest alternatives to the hiring manager.
And when the requirements are handed over to outside consultancies, it’s even worse. The people sitting in-house recruitment teams are not fully aware of the requirements, how an outside agency will know any better?
Better Or Faster?
Most of the positions that open in the Software companies had to be filled ‘Yesterday.’ It’s always a race against the time.
Even instant noodles take some time to cook if you don’t allow that time you aren’t going to like the noodles very much.
So the bigger question Organizations need to ask themselves is, do they need ‘Better’ or do they need ‘Faster.’ And if you did chose ‘Faster’ (which most idiotic companies do) then you don’t get to complain later about the quality of team members.
Train The Trainer
This is one of the most significant lacunae in the Interview Process. Often interviewer himself is not capable and/or trained enough to conduct interviews and yet is pushed into this exercise.
The result is the wrong candidates get in and/or good candidates get rejected.
For many interviewers, the right answer is the one that they know, and mostly templated questions are asked and not practical, scenario-based, which can gauge the depth of the person’s knowledge.
The companies seldom provide any training, guidelines, or eligibility requirements for interviewers. Neither are there any incentives or perks attached to this task. Then why would anyone put more efforts than required into this exercise which doesn’t help them in any way?
Sell The Company
Gone are the days when interviewee used to collect information about the company, the work they do, etc. before the interview.
Now candidates have more options, and good ones have plenty. And the people who are already in a job have nor the time neither the willingness to know about a company where they might or might not be selected. The bottom line is mostly, “What’s the salary increment I’m going to get in this company?”
Even in this scenario, the companies think it beneath themselves (or instead don’t think it necessary) to sell themselves to the candidates. A couple of lines of rudimentary text is inserted or spat out by the HR during the entire process.
Why should I choose your organization? What is different about your organization? How is the work environment? What sort of Projects are there? What are the Organizational policies that are better than the other companies? In addition to salary what additional perks are there? What is the retention rate?
The answers to such questions are never provided. Information about the company is seldom shared. No one wants to sell their organization. The reasons could be that your organization is not worth selling, or you don’t consider it essential to the hiring process.
In both scenarios, you have a serious problem at hand, and you should address it if you want to attract the right talent.
Conduct A Retrospective
There is a lack of any interview process in many organizations. Recruitments mostly depend on the whims and fancies of the managers and the management. Sometimes, one round is enough, other times, five rounds are also not conclusive. There is no standard for salaries offered to experience. Sometimes face to face is essential, but many times, it’s not that essential if the manager says so. And many such perplexing policies.
A thorough review of the process (or lack thereof) seldom happens. Is the interview process working or not, how well is it working? Do we need to amend any step with changing the market paradigm? Do we need to add or lessen interview rounds? What is the ratio of interviewed vs. hired candidates and where exactly the problem is? No discussion on such points happen and less attention is paid
Measure, Evaluate, Modify
Often in the heat of the hiring spree, it’s forgotten that we are dealing with human beings in this process and not a hardware or software resource.
What does the hired candidate think about the interview process? What does the candidate not hired think about it? How easy it was made for the new hiree to settle in the organization and after a few months a retrospective of his performance. Does he fit the bill or not?
There is no system to track such vital metrics and benchmarks. So the recruitment exercise essentially begins in the dark and ends in the dark.
If the hiree works out, well and good, if not, then we are ready to roll the wheel again.
The interview process is key to the business of any Software company yet the companies are not paying attention to it. This results in a lot of wasted efforts and heartburn for the people involved in this exercise.
Why is it so difficult for Software companies who boast of providing solutions to their multi-million dollar clients, to come up with a solution for their interview process mess?
An honest process review and concentrated efforts are required from the Organizations to address this serious issue. And it would benefit the Organization as a whole and make it more competitive.