People who 1) are rude 2) have poor social skills 3) have poor communication skills 4) are incompetent 5) are arrogant 6) ask irrelevant questions (like brain teasers) 7) ask difficult questions during phone screening should not be allowed to interview candidates. Usually, candidates work very hard for these interviews. They deserve respect and a fair shot at the opportunity. That opportunity should not be taken away from them because of bad interviewers. If a candidate is not a good fit, either for behavioral or technical reasons, then they should get rejected for those reasons alone. I have interviewed dozens of candidates, and the first thing that I do is to make them feel comfortable. A simple smile, hello and how are you should be a good starting point. I ask direct and relevant questions. I guide them when they get stuck and at times challenge them, but in a respectful manner. A lot of times they are much smarter than me, and just because I’m in a position of power, doesn’t mean that I should ask them some cooked up obscure question that I’ve googled and memorized the answer for, just to help my ego. I also have mixed feelings about phone screens, if they’re left at the discretion of the interviewers. I know people who made it to on-site and those who didn’t for the exact same position (data science in this case) solely due to vastly different phone screen questions. In one case, the interviewer simply asked questions about the candidate’s experiences and his familiarity with certain tools. In the other case, a different interviewer asked quite technical Bayesian statistics questions (same company of course). You can guess which one made it to on-site. This to me is unfair and stupid. I know life is not fair, but the opportunity of working at one’s dream company should not be so easily in the hands of one interviewer who perhaps got off on the wrong side of the bed that day. Or one who wants to show off their expertise in some field and ask questions that really may never come up in the day to day work.
Communication with the recruiter and understanding what will be covered in the interview process, would be great. Highlight areas you want to cover in your introduction, when doing the initial call. Set the tone for what is important to you, and help guide the interviewer to your strengths and thought process.
If you are stronger in-person, ask for an in-person interview in place of the first technical interview. Or if you are stronger with Hackerank, ask for that option. Submit your github and portfolio, as extra reference material. If the hiring manager already reviewed your resume prior to the recruiter call or even after, ask the recruiter, to find out what about your background did the hiring manager like? See if you can interview with the hiring manager or have a chat about what the role will be. Then ask what would be covered for the technical screen. These are tips for startups versus larger company interviews.
So true
Give honest feedback to recruiter or walk out the interview and CC your whole committee on your experience. Did that for an onsite at Pinterest.