Google has published a number of tools useful for the hiring process, including advice on creating a job description, preparing the interviewer, best practices for interviews, and others.
The hiring tools made available by Google are the following:
- Job description checklist – make sure that the job description contains enough information, it is clear and it uses a proper language
- Sample interview grading rubric – use a grading rubric to more easily evaluate and compare the answers of multiple candidates
- Interviewer best practices – tips to prepare the interviewer for interviews
- Candidate survey – gather feedback on the hiring process from candidates
- Interviewer training checklist – a list of issues to address to make sure the interviewer is properly prepared to conduct interviews
We will present here in more detail some of the best practices recommended by Google for interviewers, leaving the other documents to reader’s personal study. Google considers the interview as the central point in convincing a candidate to accept a job offer, so they have some recommendations for interviewers:
- Start the interview on time
- Introduce yourself
- Ask questions and keep the interview conversational
- Be humble; provide honest answers
- Reassure the candidate and do not let them know they failed answering a certain question because it may affect the answer to following questions
- Keep in mind that candidates are evaluating the company while you are evaluating them
- Find the right balance between assessing a candidate’s skill and convincing the candidate that the company and the job offer are what they are looking for their career
- Start the interview asking candidates something they are familiar with, such as their past experience on the field. This helps the conversation to start on a relaxed note
- The questions asked should be very clear. Candidates should understand what is expected from their answer and how much time they have to give the answer or to prepare for it
- Provide hints when the candidate does not provide the correct answer, or move the interview to a different question if the candidate does not provide an answer in a timely manner
- Leave time for candidate’s questions
- Avoid questions on race, religion, sex or other private aspects that are protected by the law
- Keep track of the time spent and do not go overtime since it might affect following interviews
In an attempt the hire the best people and avoid hiring the inappropriate ones, Google used to conduct about a dozen interviews before deciding that someone was the right candidate for a job. But the large number of interviews took its toll on the company and put candidates through a difficult process. They decided to analyze their data, and discovered that four interviews provided an 86% accuracy in hiring a candidate, and more interviews added little precision to the hiring process. So, Google now uses the four-interviews rule when hiring candidates. For more details on this topic we recommend reading their recent article How Many Interviews Does it Take to Hire a Googler?