I work at Big Ass Corporation, Inc. in the US (there’s a very strong chance you use one or more of our services). Hiring is fucking awful. First of all it’s nearly impossible to get approval for a req in the first place. I’m actively looking to leave just because of that…but that’s a different rant than this one.
Once a req is approved then it goes out to the team to disperse as well as hr. Some roles get handed off to the critical search team if the hiring manager pushes hard enough. But that doesn’t really matter.
We get flooded with candidates. Almost every one of them could probably do the job so we have to figure out who could do it best through the interview process. I personally never ask stupid gotcha puzzle questions because those annoy me as much as they do most folks here. I ask people to talk about their experience as it relates to the role. Usually this means I ask about how they solved a truly difficult problem at work, what made it difficult and how they were able to overcome it. Then I like to get into the technical stuff of what they implemented and why. Mostly I just like letting people who are proud of something they’ve done get a chance to talk about it.
Anyway we’re supposed to score people based on these arbitrary metrics like longevity (how long we think they will stay) and communication ability (this is very, very close to being racist…draw your own conclusions).
I never score people. Managers ask me why and I say because I don’t interview spreadsheets.
Anyway I’m one of usually 4 interviews. I interview by myself and the rest are all panel interviews. And once you finish the last panel that’s the last you hear from us unless you get an offer. I hate it.
> communication ability (this is very, very close to being racist…draw your own conclusions)
I'm trying to draw my own conclusion but I'm confused. Communication ability is very important for developers and other technical roles. We need to be able to talk to each other about our work, and in many organizations we also need to be able to work effectively with other non-technical staff.
Of course, this doesn't mean that you have to speak or write the company's primary language in some particular way, as long as you can make yourself understood. Nor does it require that you speak that language as your first language.
Is there something specific about _how_ Big Ass Corporation is evaluating communication ability that is racist?
The way I read it is that "communication ability" is something people can use to justify racist hiring decisions. For example, labeling non-white speaking patterns as "unprofessional", or non-American accents as "poor communication skills".
When in fact, these candidates may have excellent communication skills, and in a blind interview situation the same interviewer might praise their writing abilities.
But you don't really know, because the interviewer is rating communication skills in a scenario that can easily bring out a lot of hidden biases.
I think it's really important to spell out what "communication ability" means so that all the interviewers know what they're looking for. And more generally, it's very important that before you start the hiring process, you have a clearly defined set of criteria that everyone participating in the hiring process agrees on.
It sounds like you do what you can. Unfortunately, people like you leave as they can't put up with it any longer and the company is just left with people who are happy with the status quo.
Once a req is approved then it goes out to the team to disperse as well as hr. Some roles get handed off to the critical search team if the hiring manager pushes hard enough. But that doesn’t really matter.
We get flooded with candidates. Almost every one of them could probably do the job so we have to figure out who could do it best through the interview process. I personally never ask stupid gotcha puzzle questions because those annoy me as much as they do most folks here. I ask people to talk about their experience as it relates to the role. Usually this means I ask about how they solved a truly difficult problem at work, what made it difficult and how they were able to overcome it. Then I like to get into the technical stuff of what they implemented and why. Mostly I just like letting people who are proud of something they’ve done get a chance to talk about it.
Anyway we’re supposed to score people based on these arbitrary metrics like longevity (how long we think they will stay) and communication ability (this is very, very close to being racist…draw your own conclusions).
I never score people. Managers ask me why and I say because I don’t interview spreadsheets.
Anyway I’m one of usually 4 interviews. I interview by myself and the rest are all panel interviews. And once you finish the last panel that’s the last you hear from us unless you get an offer. I hate it.