Yes communication is important, but communication rarely needs to happen in the format the parent comment suggested. Unless the position involves working with sales or things like developer advocacy, the described approach seems unnecessary. Especially given the original question was asking for ways to create a great candidate experience.
Some developers are more comfortable with communicating via 1:1 conversations, design documents, proof of concept PRs, etc.
I've done a lot of public speaking and presenting, but am aware I am in the minority of developers. I've also managed a lot of people and many of them have struggled with self confidence and presenting to large groups. This has not been a reflection on their performance as an engineer.
I just want to say that this is an attitude that's come up over time and as an older person it baffles me.
To explain, college curriculum's require atleast 1 public speaking class. These classes are infamously difficult for a lot of people who find it scary to talk in front of a class of 30+ students. But society as a whole considered it to be the young persons responsibility to overcome this fear.
Nowadays, it's far more likely that people are going to make arguments such as "the class shouldn't be required" or some other thing to try and help the young person avoid the scary public speaking.
My point here is that yes, it's true there are going to be some who struggle with presenting to 5-6 people. That's on them. If they can't talk to 5-6 people they're going to find something as simple as a daily standup to be scary as well, should we just get rid of it? (Actually, I hate standups and think they're a waste of time, but you get the point).
It's also not clear to me why you characterized this as a "large group", but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and say maybe you're used to interviews where 20-30 people get involved. That's certainly not what I'm suggesting.
And finally,
I can't imagine a young developer not being able to have a 5-10 minute talk in front of others about something like, say "What is memory safety in rust and why should it be used for new projects" when we're hiring for someone to work in rust.
A more senior person would obviously get more generic options. The one I personally spoke about was roughly "What can we as a company be doing to empower software developers to create the best software possible".
The question posed in this thread was "interview experience better for applicants". I stand by the point that presenting:
* in a formal setting,
* to people you don't know,
* with a high stakes outcome (performance determines whether you get the job)
Is not neither a skill that developers need to have, nor is creating a "better experience for applicants". This is in no way analogous to giving an update at standup.
I've had applicants physically shake during interviews when I'm doing my best to create a comfortable environment. Some people just get really nervous. And when hired those same people have become comfortable quickly and performed well in their day jobs.
I would rather say it’s an awesome skill to have, especially if you have ambitions to move to higher levels (lead, management, director) but not a crucial one to a strictly ‘technical’ person. I know guys who are senior devs for 20+ years and they want to code until the rest of their career. They are good developers, but usually someone else is the leader and ‘talker’ of the team.
