"Correct" selection of programmers

Start


At the very beginning, it is necessary to determine the level of the candidate for this vacancy. Here I will not operate with the concepts of Junior, Senior, Lead, etc., since different meanings have different meanings in these concepts. I will use the concepts of “candidate with no experience” (“beginners”) and “candidate with experience” (“experienced”). The hiring process strategy will depend on the answer to this question. I will try to pay attention to the differences that must be considered when selecting. And typical mistakes to avoid.

First meeting


Usually, it all starts with placing a vacancy on one of the specialized resources, in parallel with this, perhaps, word of mouth is launched and a crowd of hunters pounce on the resume catalog. From the vacancy it should be clear who exactly you need.

Usually programmers without experience themselves respond to vacancies, in opposition to this, HRs usually find experienced programmers. Depending on the level of the candidate and who initiated the acquaintance, it is necessary to build a strategy.

If the candidate initiated the acquaintance, then you can offer him to complete the task and, in the future, in person, ask the question: “Why did you choose our company?”.

If the meeting was initiated by your hunter, then neither a test task, nor this question is simply appropriate, since in this case it is the recruiting specialist who is interested in closing the vacancy.

Recently I received a letter in the mail with a description of the vacancy and a test task, which would take me at least 2-3 full working days to complete. At the same time, HR did not even deign to call. Naturally, I did not even respond to the letter.

At the first acquaintance, try to clarify the whole process of hiring in your company: what stages and in what terms the candidate must go through to join you. Tell us what bonuses and buns your company provides (“white salary” and “TK clearance” are not a plus, this is your responsibility). For example, you provide assistance in moving nonresident candidates, this is a very big plus.

Also try to clarify the issue of pay. Be extremely honest and open with the candidate, as dishonesty in the future can ruin the reputation of your company. It’s not worth saying that the payment is “above the market”, “high” or “decent”, it should be said that you are ready to offer from so many to so many, depending on the result of the hiring process. You should not ask a candidate without experience the question: “What salary do you want?” - he most likely has no answer.

Test


If you still decide to offer the candidate a test task, then it all depends on the level of vacancy. To close a vacancy for programmers without experience, I recommend giving a simple test task, for example, writing a console calculator . For experienced programmers, you can leave the same task, but change the evaluation criteria and the format of execution. If it is better to give the test task for the greens as homework for the greens, then it is better to put the experienced ones right away at the computer.

Also, for experienced programmers, you can do the task in the form of a separate small subproject (1-2 business days), but then this task must be paid for without fail. It is necessary to discuss in advance the timing, technology and amount of payment. It is advisable that this project is not a project in the trash: this way you can immediately show the seriousness of your intentions and interest an experienced candidate more.

Homework test for beginners usually needs to be given before the interview, and for experienced ones after.

Interview


If you are looking for an experienced programmer, then before the interview, look for information about him on the network, for example, using people.yandex.ru, read his blog, see public projects, speeches at conferences, comments and questions on profile blogs / forums, such as stackoverflow .com , etc. If you did not find any public activity of the candidate, then you should ask this question directly and, perhaps, a person who does not have public activity is not suitable for you. Acquaintance with such activity will allow answering many standard interview questions, and the candidate will be pleased.

It is possible that a person simply will not go to work in a company that does not know anything about him other than his resume posted on one of the HR sites, especially if there are links to public activity in the resume.

Recently I got a call from one company, and immediately said that they read my blog, looked at the recordings of my speech. I was extremely pleased and they asked much fewer questions.

At the interview, try to find out how the programmer matches your vacancy. You should not take the position of “novice .NET programmer” experienced microcontroller, even if he promises to quickly relearn (in my experience: this will not happen).

At the interview, ask questions directly related to this vacancy, technologies and tools that need to be applied in the work. Do not ask puzzle tasks from “How to move Mount Fuji” and complex mathematical and algorithmic problems for a web programmer. On the other hand, if you are looking for a system programmer for complex algorithms, you should not ask him questions about closures in javascript.

The best option is to let the candidate fill out a questionnaire where he can indicate the level of knowledge of the technologies and tools you are interested in, and already verify this information with questions through an interview.

Result


Try to give the result to the candidate as early as possible and within the agreed terms.

If the candidate did not suit you, then give him a detailed and constructive review - why the candidate does not suit you, and what he needs to do so that he can successfully go through your recruitment process next time.

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