Every candidate should go through at least three interviews that help us find the right person for the job.
Before they are interviewed, the candidate should show some relevant work that will help give us an initial screen and something to talk about in the first interview. They should also get a blurb about Tidepool, the position, and our mission and values so that they can self-screen if our culture doesn’t match the kind of company they want to work for. Mission and Values in particular should be emphasized here so that they understand how important they are to the Tidepool team and make sure they align.
We use an internal Trello board to track open positions and candidates in the pipeline. An important part of the process is to prevent "anchor bias" with a candidate. You should type up your notes on a candidate before reading anyone else's notes.
The hiring manager for the position should take ownership for the position and for making sure all candidates have a smooth experience speaking with Tidepool. Don't leave candidates "hanging", wondering what the process is or where they are in the process.
The hiring manager should make sure the Trello card for each candidate includes:
- Links to resume, profile, portfolio, GitHub presence or other work.
- A link to the job description at tidepool.org/jobs.
- Recommendations for what each interviewer should focus on.
A resume or online profile can tell us a lot about what a candidate has done, but the first thing we need to find out is what they want to do next, and whether that matches what we’re looking for at Tidepool. This interview can happen over the phone, via Google Hangout, or at a coffee shop.
The idea is to spend 30-60 minutes getting to know the candidate and letting them ask questions about Tidepool and the position. It should be pretty transparent if the candidate’s experience or interests are misaligned for the job or with Tidepool's Mission and Values.
This interview should also focus on selling Tidepool and recruiting promising candidates, as this is their first real contact with Tidepool and their desire to work here will be formed in this meeting.
After the initial screen, each candidate should talk to at least 3 other team members for 45-60 minutes each. These can be done individually or jointly.
For technical candidates, at least two technical interviews should be done, focusing both on specific project work as well as high-level thinking.
At least two people on the interview panel should also focus on team fit and working remotely.