The Job Req

If you or your management are measuing skills based on years of experience before you get a single resume, you're doing it wrong.  In the technology realm, doing anything for 5-10 years or 3-5 years or 10 minutes isn't really relevant.  While total experience accumulates, the rules change too fast to make this a good metric.  Medicine, law, accounting, construction, sales, marketing... these fields are about working wiht long-run things.  Biotech is changing really fast, and if you're looking for creative, out-of-box thinkiners to work on cutting-edge research, you're looking for fresh optimism, not 5-10 years in a lab searching for a cure for baldness.

Make your job description general with an eye on the fact that one or two of your potential candidates might actually have more experience doing something you think might not be relevant.  You wan tto draw in a set of resumes from smart people who are interested in what you're offering.  Finding the right candidate is not a matter of filtering on keywords-- if it is, stop reading right here.  Your stack should include resumes from people who have skills and who are interested in the job, and you can start looking there.

Resume Filtering

This is the make-or-break phase.  People out there have taken the time to submit a resume-- in some cases they have customized theri resume to fit your job req-- and someone now has to decide whether a given resume is interesting in the context of the job itself.  This is the best time there is to be liberal, because no one in your organization will be working with the resume.  If the resume looks good and it appears that the person took the time to spell-check it, to be clear and concise, to make it interesting, to make it professional, keep it in the candidate pile.  Do not use keyword or buzzword scanners, because real people-- like the one you're going to hire-- don't speak and interact with keywords, they converse and opine.

Once you've gotten rid of the bogus submissions, you should be left with a stack of "interesting" resumes, which should translate to potentially-interesting people.  Filter on salary requirements, location (if you're not interested in relocation of candidates), and other quantitative factors, but don't discard those resumes outright.  At this point, you're putting together your primary choices for the next step.

Make Some Calls

Whether you are an individual hiring one person or you're a team of 10 people with team leads and managers looking to double in size, the person or people that get hired eventually are going to have to "fit in" according to some community standard.  Come up with one or two questions that everybody agrees will pull from your candidates some strengths or weaknesses that will say "we can work with this person" or "we can't work with that person."  Total phone call time should be 10 minutes or less, and if possible a separate call should be made to explain the 10-minute interview and any minor background information issues.

In other words, the candidate should be expecting a phone call and they should know what the job is and what the company is all about, and they should probably know the size of the group they would be working in.  An email with this information would be great, and since this is the tech sector your candidates should have email accounts, computers, access to the web, etc.  If they can't or don't, they might be looking for the wrong sort of job.

The questions should not necessarily be technical.  The questions should boil down to "does it seem like I might want to work with this person?"  The 10-minute rule is completely flexible, and at the end of the day you're looking to cull from your candidate list a set of people who are not only potentially-qualified, but potentially-compatible with your work environement, the project(s), the people, etc.

At your discresion, make it clear that this phone call is being used to find these better matches, and that they may or may not hear back... but make that clear!  Don't leave this person thinking they might hear back when they won't.  By keeping the call brief, you're reducing the committment they're making to your pre-interview phase, so a formal rejection isn't necessarily required, but setting expectations in this area is required.  Do it.

Round One

Meet candidates in person if possible, or schedule extended phone calls for longer interviews.  This first round might be the only round of interviews, depending on several factors, but it should go the same either way.  The rules at this point based almost entirely on the specifics of the job and the group, but here are some ground rules:

• Read the candidate's resume ahead of time.  This is not high school English class, this person has taken the time to get subjected to cross-examination, the least you can do is know what's on the page before you meet with them.
• Formulate some questions while you're reading.  Nothing sends a "I have no idea what we're looking for" message clearer than a heads-down, resume-skimming, "uh"-filled meander through a 30-minute interview segment.
• You have two questions to answer for yourself:

• Is this person qualified to work here?
• Would I/We want to work with this person, and vice versa?

A technical interview is based on the situation.  In some cases, an abstract feel for the candidate's skill level and range is sufficient, in other cases a trip to the whiteboard might be necessary.  It's polite to advise the candidate ahead of time about this, unless the job involves minimal-information emergency problem solving.  Most technology work is an "open book test" of sorts.

Every single person who takes the time to go through Round One gets an answer either way, as soon as possible.  This is not dating, no game-playing.  This person is looking for a job, not looking to sit around wondering.  Written notice is the worst choice, a phone call is best.

Round Two, Three, ..., N

Multiple rounds are not a bad approach, but keep N small, and make the time-per-candidate between them short.  The candidates might actually be waiting on a decision on your interview before making a decision on another, so courtesy on both sides is nothing but beneficial.

If multiple rounds are required, keep them concise and avoid wearing out your candidates.  Multiple arounds should be used to convince you or your group that the candidate bubbling to the top is a good mix of personality, skill set, creativity, vision, etc.  Whether the rounds get more difficult, more detailed, more casual, etc is once again up to the people involved in the hiring process.

A Note on Group Interviews

If your group is small, a group interview might be more telling than a one-on-one interview approach.  A small group might end up collaborating a lot on projects, so measuring potential fit during the interview can be a great  way to go.  Larger groups-- maybe groups of 8 or more people-- could break into smaller groups.  This makes the interview process shorter in time and possibly more effective.

If a group of 2 or more people is taking part in the interview, avoid an inquisition-style attack on your candidate.  Conversational and collaborative is the way most people work together.  Strike a balance between weeding out unlikely matches and simply getting to know something about each candidate.

Every person in the group should ask at least one question.  Never, ever give the impression that interviewers have been "dragged in" on the process, or do not wish to be a part of the interview in general.  If your candidate is wondering during the interview if the group or the whole company is being represented by this brief interaction, the onus is on the group to make a good impression.

Make the Offer

If at all possible, make a pre-offer in a phone call or email.  If your first choice candidate is not interested or is no longer available, move down the list.  Time is of the essence here.  This seems obvious, but sometimes it isn't.  It is now.  Make the verbal offer, make sure all of the numbers are right, and make the paper document a formality.  Have the candidate come in and sign in person if possible.  You're asking them to become a part of your team or group while you're on the phone with them, the best time to start is right there.

Notify all candidates who took part in interviews when the position is filled.  Do not, under any circumstances, leave them "hanging," and don't put off notification "just in case."  If applicable, let each know if they are a potential match for other positions, or let them know they are not being considered.  Get it done ASAP so they can move on to the next opportunity.

Final Thoughts

Depending on your state laws, your hiring of a candidate may or may not have strings attached.  That is, if you hire a candidate and some short amount of time later it becomes obvious that the wrong choice was made, be clear about this and see if your other candidates are still available.  At the end of the day, if your new hire and your existing team are compatible, and if this new person is bright, creative, and/or experienced in areas that may not be a precise fit, the personality match will go a long way, and you will usually find that a smart person fitting in to the group is rarely a problem.

The entire interview process is a two-way street.  Whether the job market is booming or bust, respect and consideration are paramount and better results will come of it almost every time.