Perfect job interview. IT Specialist Version

I have been working as an HR manager for over 8 years. I was wondering how the IT professionals who I spend Skype or face-to-face see the perfect interview with. So I talked with the developers, team leaders and the owner of the IT project.

I wanted to understand:

  • In what circumstances are candidates best interviewed?
  • How soon do they want to receive information about the result of the interview?
  • what is the most convenient way to get information about the company, project, tasks and working conditions?
  • What advice can be given to specialists, especially juniors preparing for an interview?
  • by what criteria the candidate chooses the company, and the head of the employee, which inspires the work.

Let's see what came of it.

The first person I managed to talk to was Anna Ivanova. She is an aspiring web developer. Work experience - 1.5 years. He believes that the HR manager should tell the junior at the beginning of the interview about how the conversation will be built, that there will be questions about study, practice, internships, then a story about the company. It is better for a novice developer to give a test task in advance, so that he can understand the code in a calm environment, understand the essence of the problem and show what he is capable of. It is unlikely that the junior will immediately set urgent, stressful tasks, it does not make sense to check how he works in a short time. But to evaluate the attentiveness, pedantry in the development of the code, the ability to offer several solutions is definitely needed. If the mind is flexible, then the beginner quickly adapts to work in the office, but to teach a scrupulous attitude to business is not a quick task.

At the end of the interview it’s best to give a novice specialist a booklet with information about the company and at least briefly walk around the office to show that it’s really nice to work in this bright room, with this technique and these guys. “Presentation is too big. This is for investors. And for the candidate - a page on the site, a booklet or a mini-tour, ”- this is how Anna thinks about the format of the company's presentation to the candidate.

As a result of the interview, the junior expects to receive an answer within a couple of days after the meeting. Maximum 3 days. Otherwise, in the flow of information, you have to feverishly recall which company gave the answer and how special it differs.

Anya advises people who go for an interview to behave naturally, not to “put on a mask”, not to build from yourself who you are not. Adequately perceive criticism. Technical preparation and repetition of some topics does not make sense, there is certain knowledge, this is your professional baggage that you rent to a project or company.

The most important thing in work is dedication. Anna is inspired by tasks to make up a site or to make an application with a beautiful, interesting design, perhaps even extremely complex. It is pleasant to do it, as a result, a really interesting and beautiful thing is obtained!

Conclusion for the employer - inspire the newcomer with a beautiful and sophisticated design, reassure you with a story about the company in a lively conversation format, and give a test homework.

Let us turn to the experience of a programmer who has been working by profession for 7 years. Dmitry does not like to remember his first interview. The conversation with the technical director was held in perfect order, but the interview with the general manager went wrong. They asked awkward questions, poorly comparable with professional knowledge. Dmitry also does not like interviews, where they ask questions about experience with complex technologies that are not required later. “It's such a dust in the eyes. You come to the project, but they don’t pose complex and interesting tasks, and the promising direction that was planned to be developed, as they said at the interview, is gathering dust on the last board in Trello, the priority is a conveyor of routine tasks and no clearance. It’s better to immediately talk about this at a meeting and give a chance to those who want to get their hands on routine tasks. ”

An ideal interview is a test task of 5-6 tasks with a maximum duration of 2 weeks. Give the task to optimize a piece of code. And then in an informal dialogue with the technical director to discuss the course of reflection, to argue slightly. Assess the ability of a specialist to offer several solutions, to substantiate their ideas. What matters is “live” communication! Skype is inconvenient, it turns out a “flat” interview. It’s like watching TV. It's great when there is an opportunity to hold a meeting in the office where future colleagues work. There is an opportunity to assess the situation, relationships, equipment. It is important for the programmer. A lively project where people communicate is always interesting, there is feedback on the basis of the project. It is interesting when you consider your opinion, you have weight.

“Ideas, passion and trust are important in the work. Then I’ll make a choice in favor of the employer, ”says Dmitry.

The opinion of another experienced developer about the attractiveness of job offers is as follows: “There are monotonous tasks in any project, business, work. You may not love them, but you must accept them and you must deal with them too. The important thing is not their presence or absence, but the presence of a large goal, development prospects. This is what you are doing it for. ”

And what do the timlids say about interviews, the search for employees? Stressful interviews are always unpleasant when they ask a lot of “Google” questions at a fast pace. It is annoying, does not give an opportunity to open up to a person. One of the team leaders recalls that the shortest interview took place when he had practically no experience behind him. The scheme is elementary: introduced himself, told about himself a couple of sentences. The maximum that was asked - why do you need this work? “There was an episode when they honestly told me: we do not need gouging. I sincerely answered: I do not gouge! That's all".

But seriously, a successful interview assumes that you can easily find a common language with the HR manager and director, you see the interest of management, the willingness to discuss common topics, find solutions, and dedication. “I chose the current company because when talking with the director (and the conversation lasted more than an hour), I saw the enthusiasm of the leader. I realized what kind of person he was and it became interesting to work with him ”- this is the opinion about the interview, after which I want to come to work in the company.

- Introduce yourself as a candidate. How soon would you like to receive an answer on the response to the vacancy? According to the interview results?
- I'm generally an impatient person. I went through an interview, and I want to understand the next day whether I am suitable or not. I understand that the employer has a desire to interview several candidates. But I don’t like to postpone decision making. And if they say to me at the interview that by Friday they will report the result, and on Thursday there is still no information, I’m already worried.
- Call yourself back?
- No, I endure until Friday. If there is no call on Friday, then on Monday I will definitely ask, I’ll call.

As a result, the optimal time when you need to give the candidate information on the results of the interview is 2-3 days after the meeting. This inspires confidence in the company, shows how quickly decision-making on important issues takes place.

- There is another interesting topic - interviews on Skype. How effective are they in your opinion?
- Skype-interview is suitable for the candidate and the employer to understand on the same wavelength or not. It turns out that this is a preliminary scan of the candidate and the employer. And for a full interview you need a personal meeting. Only if there are good recommendations about the candidate or he lives in another region, a Skype interview will be enough.

The opinion of the team leader is interesting, how he conducts interviews, and by what criteria he chooses employees.

Usually when selecting a senior specialist, designer, analyst, programmer, it is worth looking at examples of their work. It is important to assess the level of competencies. And then, within the framework of the implementation of a specific project, it is necessary to understand the characteristics of a person’s character, his approach to work. It is believed that according to the results of the test task, it is very superficially possible to assume what kind of person, how he relates to work. The candidate will try and do the test “beautifully”, and when he gets to work, he will write heavily supported code with an incomprehensible architecture. To avoid such risks, the first thing you need to understand at the interview is what kind of person came to you. Resilient-restless? Neat-sloppy? If a person is not lazy, then he will grow professionally, understand the code, learn to program. In such a situation, it is useful to evaluate the love of knowledge, the willingness to learn. Even at the stage of working with the test task, evaluate how the candidate builds communications. For example, it does not meet the deadline, he wrote about it to the company, agreed to postpone the date of the meeting - will also relate to deadlines, and report on progress.

How to recognize qualities of a person’s character at the interview? Ask “tricky” questions, evaluate motivation. To ask a lot about what is really interesting for a specialist. To plunge deeply into interests - on the second, third step. Ask about hobbies, a person’s attitude to work, compare whether his lifestyle corresponds to the values ​​of the company.

It is important that the candidate “suits the spirit” of the company. A specialist may be “seven foreheads,” but if he does not share the values ​​and principles of the company, overall productivity will fall due to a conflict of views on how to conduct the project.

A new employee, entering the company, goes a certain career path. Ideally, if this path is initially fixed in the rolemap - the table of competencies, which reflects all the steps of skill and development of specialists. Then already at the interview, you can assume how the employee will develop and offer specific options for professional growth.

It is important for the leader to maintain the team spirit in the project; they are not afraid to hire a specialist higher in knowledge than he. This develops the project. And, of course, it is very important to speak honestly about the projects that the company offers. Not to promise the golden mountains of unique projects, but in the end “to put experts on a routine”. It is important to develop specialists, then the company will develop!

If we turn to the opinion of the management team of IT companies, then the opinion of Alexei Finashin, head of sales at Freematiq, is indicative.

Alexei likes interviews with a clear, concise structure, when it is clear what kind of person the company is looking for. “I like professionalism, courtesy of an HR manager, when there is no polemic,“ getting into one’s soul ”. The honest answer of HRM is why respectful, why you are not ready to consider me as a candidate, errors, shortcomings of the candidate are indicated. And they don’t like interviews when they insistently promise too much - a good salary, good working conditions, interesting projects. And when a specialist goes to work in a company, he is left to his own devices, there is no immersion in work, there is no plan. It demotivates.

It’s good when already at the stage of the interview, there is a small project - a technical task, by fulfilling which a person is included in the process and culture of work. The applicant feels where he is going. The employer understands the level of professionalism of a specialist. Returning to the topic of what I don’t like at the interview, I don’t like it when they sell and buy “air”. “I want to know which company I'm going to work for and whom I am recruiting.”

It is most convenient to receive information about the project through the company's website, read success stories, and see photos of the team.

Following the opinion of business trainers V. Akishev, E. Volkert, Alexei recommends choosing a company so that you coincide with the company's management on the basic principles of business morality. If your business principles coincide, then you will be comfortable. It is also important to choose the area in which you personally are not ashamed to work. “When you work in a cool team, you know the product and its advantages, you know who needs it, you can confidently sell and work. There is loyalty and confidence in the HR brand and brand of the company. It’s good when you have the opportunity to meet with the project owner at an interview. Since ideas are just being sold and there is an opportunity to feel how close the company's values ​​are. And if you do business “forever”, then you should take care of the company's reputation. You can simply answer the question for yourself: what business will you leave to the children? This helps to comply with the principles of moral ethics in working with people. "

As a result, in preparation for the interview, Alex recommends collecting detailed information about the company. Know your competencies. Be honest with the owner. “I, as a leader, can say that if I see that a person is hardworking, but he“ does not hold out ”or is aiming for another position, I can always advise him with the job or options I need, how to pump the missing competencies. Do not try to sell yourself at the interview. If you like to work, then you will certainly be taken to the company. Maybe not now, in a year. But there are specialists with whom I have been interacting on professional issues for a long time, I am pleased to recommend them to my colleagues when such a need arises. ”

An ideal interview, according to the owner of the IT company, should take a minimum of time. Periodically, there are situations when the project owner, after 5 minutes, understands that the candidate does not meet the objectives of the project. And it is, perhaps, not fair to waste your time and time of a candidate on a discussion of formalities. A brief interview is appropriate when both the recruiter and the candidate understand that the conversation will not lead to an agreement on work. It will be enough to exchange contact information. On the part of the applicant - a short story about himself and a message about whether he is interested in the company in the future. On the part of the employer - a short story about the company, information about the company’s website, give the candidate a business card, a booklet, a guide to help get to know the company.

Dmitry Lodnev, CEO of Freematig (in the IT sector since 2001), believes that the sign of a good interview is his structure. There are a number of questions - this is part of a technical interview, then the completion of a technical task. As a result, the first block of work with the candidate lasts about 2 hours. The time for making a decision on the candidate is optimally 1-2 weeks along with the completion of the test task. The candidate himself determines how much time he needs to complete. “We understand that a person works, and can devote evening hours and time on weekends to our project. This is normal practice when a person independently evaluates the volume and terms of work. And we thus see the organization of man. If a specialist honestly writes that he does not have time, we will consider objective reasons. ”

- Some candidates consider the question pointless, who do you see yourself in 5-10 years? They argue this with the fact that while they do not know anything about the company, it is unrealistic to present their status in the company after 5 years. What do you think about it?

- This is rather a minus to the candidate. The project manager, teamlead is able to collect information about the company, plan long-term career.

Dmitry recommends that the applicant prepare for the interview: gather information to understand the specifics of the company, what do you want to achieve in the company. When communicating with management, this will be seen. And if the candidate assumes any obligations to fulfill the technical task, then it is worth observing them.

Having talked with representatives of the IT sector, I now understand that information, trust, and understanding of each other's values ​​are important to everyone.

What general recommendations can be given to a beginner looking for a job?

To the applicant:

  • is it important to remember what goals you set? Want to find a job for professional development, ask about the goals and prospects of development in the company. It is important that your values ​​coincide with the principles of work in the company, then you will work together for a long time.
  • You should not especially carefully prepare for an interview. It is better to show your real knowledge and discuss for an interview the development zone.
  • recruiters and team leaders ask you about career development simply because they want to understand the logic of your thinking, to hear how you build a dialogue.
  • if you “fill up” the deadlines for the test task, inform the employer about the postponement of dates, this is an honest approach to cooperation.

For employer:

  • talk with the candidate on equal terms in the office where he will work, introduce colleagues if possible - this is the best presentation of the company.
  • tell honestly about the projects, don’t build “castles in the air”, but don’t downplay the company's goals and plans, share what inspires you to work and if the candidate likes it, you will find someone who will carry out team tasks like their own.
  • give an answer after all stages of the interviews in 2-3 days, write letters or call, but be sure to report any decisions regarding the applicant. This is credible.

Each project is unique. There is an opportunity to realize your potential, find a team that will share your values ​​and principles, learn from colleagues and yourself, build a business and develop your professionalism forever. I hope the information about the interviews, how beginners see them and the owner of the company will help build a career or find an employee in the best way.

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