I’ve read a lot of posts recently about confounding or failed interviews at top tech firms. As someone who regularly serves as an HM (direct and indirect) at one of the most selective, I’ve also been bogged down by a flood of them in the past 2 Qs. I want to shed some light from the other side.
First of all, because our brand stamp is so strong (for now), HR is a wasteland, nowhere more so than Recruiting (I’ve known exceptions but this is the rule). The standard at which they work is incomprehensibly low. In fact, on my team, doing 95% of the job ourselves is the only way to make the process run smoother and faster. This includes fixing the 5% they inevitably fuck up.
Contrast that with most other teams’ needlessly high performance standards and top down expectations. We are the poster child for getting a rocket scientist to do data entry (this is a real case, not a metaphor). And instead of a headhunter, an intern sourced him for us (again, recounting a real situation here). Now do you get a sense of why hiring is the way it is here?
This also contributes to why employee experience varies so wildly from team to team, geo to geo. Finding a good fit is critical and effortful, but the payoff is well worth it if you do (in terms of both money and personal growth). If you’re qualified and determined enough, it’s not as hard or complicated to ace the interview as people seem to think.
Best advice I’ve seen thus far is simple: “Each interview is learning experience, just focus at learning, results are byproduct.”
That’s it. That’s the mindset you need to have before, during, and after each interview. I glaze over when people describe how “pro-active,” “a team player,” or even “results-oriented” they are (and definitely don’t drone on about how you want to “add value”). All of that can mean a million things, which makes it meaningless.
What does get my attention is someone who’s 100% present in the conversation or on the task at hand. I’m not looking for timed monologues, I’m looking for someone who listens to the question being asked and understands what specific thing I’m trying to evaluate. It isn’t hard, but it requires focus and clarity in your thinking and communication.
For example, if I say, “Success in this role requires x and y. Can you share a past experience that demonstrates your capacity for x and y?” Address exactly that. If you don’t understand, ask me to clarify or provide an example. Don’t launch into a speech about something else, even tangential, or answer in a way that requires me to guess which part is supposed to demonstrate x and y.
For cases, I don’t care about the answer or outcome itself (unless it’s preposterous). Mistakes are overlooked if you can recognize where you went wrong and fix it. Again, being present is key because I’m coaching you the whole way. If nerves take hold—pause, deep breath and pay attention to where I’m directing you. Concentrate on solving only the problem posed but be prepared to mentally pivot and sanity check along the way.
It’s astounding how many people fail interviews not because they’re unqualified but because they miss every opportunity the HM gives them to shine. If I invite you to interview, I’ve already determined that you have the raw talents to work here (e.g., education, IQ, experience, etc.). All I’m assessing is if you’re the right fit for my team and how easy you are to manage/lead.
Trust me, I want you to pass with flying colors too and will set you up for that. Interviews are time consuming, and no one wants to spend hours (sometimes months) repeating the same routine with unprepared, disconnected candidates (who, in theory, should more than qualify). But on the other hand, it’s very hard for a major MNC to get rid of duds and no one has HC to waste/risk.
Thus, we do our due diligence when filling FT positions. There can be a staggering series of interviews to complete. Based on ones that go well, you might be considered for various roles. Even the role itself may be reconsidered based on how much potential you demonstrate.
And remember, if you find the process utterly exhausting, then that’s a red flag. The company culture, or that particular team, may be the wrong fit. We’re both putting our best foot forward here, so if I feel drained afterwards, can you imagine what 40+ hours together under pressure would be like?
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The diverse hiring loop is incredibly important, since it does two things, it’s a good advertisement that we’re diverse, and it’s very useful in picking out the folks who would not fit in well. I’ve had a loop where the guy was a superstar coder, and we no-hired him because he was incapable of not being condescending to the women on the loop.
@swetool Already have! Thanks!
I would have needed this information some time ago. I had many interviews but I didn’t nailed the jobs. The reason was that my answers weren’t to the point enough. I was nervous, had a challenging discussion about things that I’ve never done (why else should I pick this role), in English which is not my native language, have been under stress, etc. You don’t want to look like a fool but exactly this happens when you think about this while interviewing.
I was actually surprised how HM’s in the US are looking for the exact answer, even though it’s not the best way to address Problem A or B.
What I really missed in that process were I learned this painfully are two things: A clear feedback and an understanding of my culture. Got always told I have everything for the role but it‘s all about this or that.
When I reached out to HR I got their real written feedback. Only this helped me to get better, not the BS that I got told. Regarding culture I would have wished a better understanding of how things may work in other geographies on this planet. In Europe Interviews run completely different i.e. And I guess this is also the case in Asia or other parts of the world. So sometimes (as in my case) people are used to their interviewing style in their home countries. For someone who nailed every interview in his origin country this kind of experience is quite painful.
We spend a lot of efforts on diversity. But no one really think about how to interview a foreign worker appropriately so that he/she feels comfortable and can reach his/her full potential during the interview. I would bet we leave a lot of talents behind us due to that missing piece of diversity. It would have helped me a lot to show my full potential. And of course open and true feedback. It was a 2-3 year journey of painful learning. And i‘m still learning.
Only persistence and self reflection helped me to overcome frustration and land my new role, before leaving the company that i‘m actually being proud to work for.
>Source from places other than LinkedIn.
Such as...? On the employee side of the table, I get bombarded by low quality recruiters to the point of frustration. The noise to signal ratio on the inbox and voicemail I have hooked up to my resume makes it barely worth to even looking at. LinkedIn avoids this problem (mostly). Where else should I be to get good signal recruiters?
One recruiter was incredibly rude, like you'd think she was a third party headhunter with under 3 months experience. She never would respond, then just finally ghosted me. I'm thinking, you guys get like 500 apps per job here, clearly it isn't a fluke I made it twice? I had to look back and realized where I messed up. I gave salary expectations day 1 and my career aspirations to move up. Should've just said I wanted to be a low paid monkey with no aspirations.
Facebook was fantastic. They were very honest with my skillset and said I'd be a great fit elsewhere in more of a pure data engineering role instead of data science. I declined because it wasn't really the move, but everyone was on time, recruiters were great, etc. Recruiter said to keep in touch and let me know if I want to apply to something else. That's what candidates remember.
And this is certainly a sellers market so cut back those expectations.
Tbh the whole thing isn't such a big deal. Treat people like people, keep the dead weight off the path of the few actually doing work, and show genuine appreciation of work well done with money and growth opportunities.
Edit - add Microsoft to the shit show list as well
Sorry my comment was unrelated to the actual content of your comment.
I take notes and write up post-interview summaries in order to suss out what went well and what didn't, but it's MY impression of how things went, and what sort of an impression I made, which is often very different from the other side's. I've had interviews I thought went great fizzle out to a "thank you for coming in, don't call us" and others I thought were a disaster result in offer letters.
Bottom line is, I believe HR refrains from providing actual feedback in an attempt to minimize the risk of litigation, which makes it extremely difficult for the interview process to double as a learning process.
If I don't know what I should improve, how can I?
But each company goes around pretending their tech interview process is great.
Tech companies are full of inexperienced and untrained so called Hiring Managers. Most of them became managers when company wanted to reward them for being good at coding, or when they decided that they do not want to code anymore.
They are looking for a needle in haystack, instead of hiring an average joe, and than mentor and grow that worker, they want someone who can work with years old code, without documentation or someone to explain it. So called, "hit the ground running".
That’s why it always needs to be different challenges.
If someone has a strong work ethic and is willing to put in the time to learn then it shouldn’t matter if they missed a few technical questions. Surrounding yourself with good people improves team moral and productivity even when there is a skills deficit.
However, when I started looking for a new job and got interested in FAANG companies, there is so much BS outside. In fact there are coaches and experts making living by selling that BS, I am a victim of paying to such asshead!
While problem solving and frameworks help in giving effective answers, being natural yourself is the key.
This post has helped me reset my approach! It’s a learning experience and I am up for it. Thanks
And everything you describe absolutely does not apply for the 2 FAANGs I have experience with, FB and Google.
I've seen people balk at the process, but whatever your reaction, it doesn't change the reality. Cracking the Coding Interview is such a good book for it.
Interview prep is super annoying, but that's how the game is played. Just failed a Google interview (for the level I wanted). If I had done maybe 100 LC questions for a few months prior instead of 15 a for a few weeks prior, I probably could have had it. Oh well, now I know for next time. Either leetcode, or get on a project that explicitly uses trees and graphs a lot, haha.