BGT Section: Building a hiring guide

Imagine this: Two candidates go through the same rounds but be assessed differently due to varied questions and subjective judgments. This results in unclear decisions, wasted time, and missed opportunities to hire the best talent.

Without a standardised process, hiring decisions can feel arbitrary, leading to confusion for both the team and the candidates. Which is exactly what a hiring guide solves for you.

Components of a hiring guide

No. of rounds

List down the no. of rounds for the interview. No. of rounds will depend on the complexity and seniority of the role. For eg. an L3-level role might require four rounds, while an L5 role could need upto six rounds.

What to evaluate in each round

In any interview, you need to gauge on 3 things:

Core Expertise: Deep-dive into the primary skill set, evaluated by the most experienced team member in that domain.

Adjacent Expertise: Assess complementary skills that enhance cross-functional collaboration, evaluated by relevant stakeholders.

Cross-Functional Collaboration: Test candidates’ ability to work with other teams, such as marketing, product, or engineering

Questions for each round

For every single round, you want to detail out the sample questions, what to look for, solution level expectations and nuances. What this means is, have 3-4 possible sample questions or problem statements that the panelist can ask. Next, outline exactly what you want the candidate to cover

(To avoid question repetition, you'd want to keep the no. of questions on the higher side)

Panelists for each round

Assign one primary interviewer and a shadow panelist for each round. Shadowing allows junior team members or those new to interviewing to learn and maintain consistency. Avoid more than two interviewers per round to prevent intimidation and ensure focus.

Evaluation criteria for each round

Highlight the evaluation criteria for each round. Do not leave room for any ambiguity. Have a set scale of evaluation (like the single/double thumbs up/down criteria mentioned by UD, or the 1-5 star rating mechanism).

Feedback criteria for each round

Highlight the feedback criteria for each round. Do not leave room for any ambiguity. Feedback will depend on what you're evaluating in each round.

Interview etiquette for the interview

This is a checklist of do's and dont's to ensure consistency in interviewing across the board. No candidate should be walking away with a bad taste in their mouth because of inconsistent behaviour. This also prevent bad word of mouth for your company.

In this section, you need to:

Make the hiring guide as per the components listed above. Go in as much depth as you can. Extreme clarity on the hiring guide ensures that there is no ambiguity in the entire process.