I Interviewed 350 Applicants in 6 Months, Here’s What I Learned

Hiring typically comes with ebbs and flows. Throughout one six-month stretch in 2021, a very busy season, I spent greater than 120 working hours in six months asking greater than 350 people the identical seven questions for our Buffer values display. On the finish of every dialog, I’d flip the dialog over to them, and lots of of them requested the identical few questions, which I’ll cowl in one other put up.

In that point and with the depth of the sheer quantity of calls, I’ve gained a variety of readability: about hiring, about what candidates are searching for proper now, and about myself as nicely.

Listed below are a number of of these reflections and a few of our values questions which you can ponder, too. We’ve been informed they’re thought frightening for a lot of candidates.

Hiring at Buffer

Buffer’s hiring course of has grown and advanced so much over the previous eight years that I’ve been on the crew. One factor stays fixed and very important: we start interviews with a values display. (Psst, we additionally deliberately don’t hunt down “tradition match” anymore – right here’s why.)

The final course of appears to be like like this:

1. Software evaluate: We’re reviewing resumes and asking role-specific questions.
2. Values display: We display candidates with Buffer’s values in thoughts, we do about 15-20 values screens per function by way of Zoom.
3. Position or crew interview: The hiring supervisor or fellow teammates interview candidates by way of Zoom.
4. (Non-obligatory) Technical display: That is an train after which an interview for technical roles completed by way of Zoom.
5. Government interview: A ultimate interview with a member of Buffer’s Government crew.

Typically the order of those transfer, or in some roles we discover we have to add a take-home check, however that is the method template we begin with once we’re hiring.

Our pipeline is fueled by inbound functions and since we’re hiring from a worldwide expertise pool, we are able to have upwards of 600 to 800 functions for one open spot on the crew. That’s a staggering quantity of candidates, and it’s a extremely flattering drawback to have. The values display as a primary step within the course of after reviewing functions helps us cut back a pool of actually certified candidates right down to those that are additionally tremendous aligned with Buffer.

What’s the values display?

The values display is a nebulous factor and it’s the one interview the place you don’t have “flawed” solutions within the traditional sense. The questions are prompts for us to converse and for us to hearken to how a candidate speaks about themselves, their profession, and their outlook on a number of of our values. It actually is extra concerning the coronary heart behind it and fewer a couple of proper or preferrred reply. Or as one candidate known as it, a “vibe test.”

We additionally are likely to worth traits that in any other case may not be seen as “right” by different interview requirements. Right here’s an instance: We used to ask the query, “How do you’re feeling life has turned out for you to this point?” The objective right here wasn’t to listen to anyone reply. We used this query to measure resilience, optimism and authenticity.

We stopped utilizing this query as a result of 2020 has made this a bit extra of a loaded and private query. We now ask, “What motivates you in life?”

Right here’s one other secret: I don’t search for solutions that match the mould. If somebody says, “Repeatedly studying or fixing a puzzle,” that’s nice and nice. If somebody says, “My household or cash,” that’s additionally nice. In truth, the extra off-the-cuff or true the reply rings, the higher.

Who progresses previous the values display?

It’s cliche to some extent, however it’s completely true at Buffer: We wish to discover individuals who we really feel will likely be equally content material right here at Buffer as we’ll with them and their ability set.

Typically candidates are exceedingly certified, however their solutions lead me to suppose they received’t really feel as profitable in our distinctive work surroundings. That is undoubtedly a judgement name and I am not all the time right. However all interviews contain some measure of subjectivity. We have now usually 4 to 5 rounds of interviews and embody a various set of interviewers to double test in opposition to bias and inconsistency.

That is all evolving

As I write this, I’m handing over all of hiring to our new Expertise Acquisition and Onboarding Supervisor, Janet, as I transition my function to focus extra on engagement and culture-building actions for our firm. Whereas I realized about HR and hiring whereas on the job right here at Buffer (and because of a certification from the Society of Human Sources Administration), Janet has spent a few years in recruiting and is already providing a contemporary outlook on our hiring strategy, pipeline administration, and applicant expertise.

So whereas a few of the components I’ve touched on would possibly evolve over the subsequent few months or years, I hope it gives some perception to how we’ve employed at Buffer and what we search for.

What questions do you could have about how we rent or our values display? Send us a tweet!