Some time back, we sought a fresh Senior Software Engineer to augment our squad. Let’s delve into some figures:
A total of 1,329 people applied.
We interviewed 37 candidates.
5 candidates went through to the second interview stage (async coding
challenge + team interview).
3 candidates did the final interview.
We offered the job to 1 candidate who fortunately accepted the offer
enthusiastically 30 days after we opened the role.
An engaging conversation unfolded between Cloudhub’s hiring manager and myself, post realizing only a mere 13.5% of candidates made it past our first round of interview invitations into the subsequent phase. This interaction was so insightful that we chose to transcribe its main elements into a blog piece about habitual conduct during interviews that falls short of our anticipations for a senior position.
Let’s dive in!
The introduction
What we don’t want:
A brief oral summary of your resume, roughly 10-15 minutes long. Be aware, your interviewer will have already reviewed your CV, thus this recap can steal valuable time that could be better used addressing other queries or going further in-depth.
What we expect:
A brief introduction, including:
Questions
What we don’t want:
Questions that are already answered in the job description.
What we expect:
Pose us challenging queries concerning aspects essential to you in a professional setting so you can evaluate us and ascertain we’re a firm you’d genuinely aspire to be part of.
Some good questions that candidates have asked us:
What is your biggest problem right now?
What do you enjoy most about your work? / Why do you stay at Checkly?
How would you describe the culture?
How does the team deal with mistakes/incidents?
What does success in this role look like to you?
Why are you looking for a new [position]?
Is leadership on board with this role/function? / Does everyone agree this role is
needed?
Does everyone agree on how you define this role and the expectations of the
function?
What is the 30, 60, 90 day outlook for this role / How do the next 3 months look
for the team?
Summary
Our senior team members are held to high standards. They must discern crucial tasks from irrelevant ones, strategize on ways to make a difference to our objectives, offer resolutions to issues, and articulate their ideas and reasoning comprehensively.
Although not all firms you engage with will hold identical standards, I trust these suggestions will enable you to truly demonstrate your potential and secure a role that suits you wonderfully!
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