It’s a common utterance: “Hiring is broken in tech.” Years ago, grumblings about technical interviews disconnected from actual job work began to surface. As did complaints that companies were having candidates submit “test” projects that were then actually used by the company. And that the number of interviews before the candidate could be hired had become ridiculously high. These complaints have not let up. While “hiring is broken in tech” is not new, neither has it been fixed.
Much of this seems to have been led by the bold-faced names in tech—Facebook, Apple, Amazon, and Google—with smaller companies falling in line with similar practices to emulate them. As a result, this broken process is now just part of tech culture (“To become a unicorn company, we cannot afford not to hire the very best!”).
Those who have worked decades in tech have seen the change and bristle against it. Because they have known another way. For many less experienced employees, it’s all they know. Here, four anecdotes “heard on the street,” (okay, actually on Zoom calls) echo the frustration highly experienced candidates continue to have in 2020 when interviewing for jobs in tech.
Never good enough for Google
A UX designer relates the story of her friend, an engineer at a high-end agency who primarily works on projects for Google. Google is extremely happy with his work. But when he interviews for the same role on staff at Google, he is rejected.
The tyranny of timed tests
Timed coding tests are unfairly weighted against older candidates, hypothesizes a front-end developer. Some research does show that older workers process more slowly, but more than that, the material in the tests is often irrelevant to actual work. Instead, the tests reflect what is taught in school. So, the closer the candidate is to school (most likely younger), the more top-of-mind this knowledge will be.
I need to make a presentation?
When an experienced UX designer mentors new and upcoming designers, she is shocked to learn they assume they just need to show their portfolio at an interview. “Oh no, you need to make a full-on presentation!” she reports to them. They stare back, wide-eyed.
Only the highly experienced need apply (to the entry-level job)
During a professional event, a participant shares that her 22-year-old daughter was preparing that day for her fourth interview at a company—for an entry-level job.
For many of us who have been in the job market for decades, we remember a different way. While that wasn’t necessarily better, the degree of performance and output during the hiring process that’s currently required should be evaluated with questions like:
- Is this process producing a higher level of hire?
- Do we test for qualities vital for the role, rather than, for example, the ability to whiteboard while anxious?
- Is interview “homework” used strictly for evaluation?
- Are the technical skills being tested applicable to the day-to-day work of the specific role?
- Is the practice resulting in a diverse workforce?
Just as college admissions officers are questioning their use of standardized tests as a means of evaluating candidates, perhaps it’s time hiring managers could benefit from some soul-searching about their processes to create the best possible workforce.