Ah, the remote interview. To some, it\u2019s a welcome time-saver, while to others it\u2019s an awkward audition made worse by an inevitable lag or mic delay. Could you be doing them better? For most of us, the answer is a resounding \u2018yes.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But whether we like it or not, let\u2019s face it: Remote interviewing is here to stay. And even when an employer and prospective employee may be several time zones apart, there shouldn\u2019t need to be a low bar for getting to know and evaluating new team members. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although the world of remote work and remote interviews are still new to some, there are always critical positions to fill and core functions that need to be performed. So how can you really nail remote technical hiring<\/a>? We\u2019ve put together the best practices from 2.5M+ remote interviews on the CoderPad platform \u2014 here\u2019s what we found. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Global pandemic or not, coder interviews can be an anxiety-inducing process for candidates. Help them out by communicating thoroughly at every stage of the process <\/strong>\u2013 from mapping things out ahead of time to telling them what\u2019s happening behind the scenes when they\u2019re not in the office to see it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Before you formally kick-off, try to give them a comprehensive overview of what to expect, including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can also help them get more comfortable by sending candidates a link to CoderPad\u2019s Sandbox<\/a> ahead of time \u2014 this way, they can even get a sense of how the interview environment will function on their end. In general, you should try to anticipate the issues that are uncomfortable for candidates and actively encourage them to ask questions and collaborate with their interviewers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n And finally, though they should know you\u2019ll be laser-focused, be sure to make it clear you\u2019ll be taking notes and, thus, staring right at them via webcam (not playing solitaire in another tab or counting how many times they blink). <\/p>\n\n\n\n If you\u2019re hiring for an office job, your default mechanism for remote hiring might be Webex, Zoom, or Skype. Those are great tools, but making them part of the first step can also bias your process \u2014 not every candidate has a personal computer\/smartphone, reliable WiFi, and a quiet (perhaps beautifully decorated) space that they feel comfortable showing to a prospective interviewer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Research<\/a> shows that people of color, those who live in rural areas, and older individuals have less access to home-based broadband, for example.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Do you want the most talented candidates? Of course you do. So start the process with a simple, old-fashioned call. Use this time to dig deep on the critical stuff: salary expectations, ability to work remotely today, what they want with their next role, and more. You can also work out the feasibility and details of conducting the next phase on video in a way that suits the candidate. Maybe it\u2019s reassuring them that, yes, calling from their bedroom isn\u2019t a disqualifier. Do what you can to remove any barriers.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n After the initial phone screening, it\u2019s time to do a deeper dive with promising candidates. Because most of us still rely on in-person interaction to give us a gut feel, we need to retrain ourselves for a fully remote process. This requires some creativity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If you\u2019re used to seeing if a sales rep has a distinct presence via an in-person pitch, then give them the background to prepare and do one over video. Another idea could be having them do a remote demo of something in their homes they\u2019re trying to \u201csell\u201d you. If your go-to is working side by side with a PM to wireframe a product, use collaborative tools to reach the same result. And if you\u2019re scheduling a coder interview, make sure you provide a fully interactive IDE.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Remember, you always have options:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nowadays, tools are an essential part of the remote interviewing process. For documenting and organizing ideas, we like Trello<\/a> and Mural<\/a>. For developers\u2019 interviews, we\u2019re a little (ok, very<\/em>) biased, but we strongly recommend CoderPad<\/a> remote interviews.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As an interviewer yourself, don\u2019t forget to come well-prepared and make use of all available resources. With CoderPad, you can access the question bank<\/a> to have your frequently-used questions in one place and have them ready ahead of time. You can also use create your own MySQL and PostgreSQL databases for candidates to query with the CoderPad Custom Databases Guide<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Whatever technical system you\u2019re using, though, it\u2019s crucial to remember that know it\u2019s very uncool\u2014and, frankly, unfair\u2014to spring a brand new platform on a candidate for the first time in an interview. During coder interviews, for example, send them a link to practice in a sandbox environment ahead of time. Let them do the installs and configuration on their own time so they\u2019re comfortable with the tool. You want them to feel comfortable so they can show you what they can really do \u2013 not try to figure out the remote pad and<\/em> address the problem you\u2019ve asked them to solve in a 30-minute time slot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Remote hiring means you won\u2019t necessarily feel the level of confidence you\u2019re used to following in-person assessments. At the final stage, you can always try alternatives. Here at CoderPad, for instance, we\u2019re doing paid \u201ctrial employee\u201d periods with our new technical hires because day-to-day performance is what matters most to us. You might do a three-month, contract-to-hire option \u2013 or, depending on the role, a final 30-minute call with a senior leader might do the trick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is new for everyone, companies and candidates alike. For candidates, free kombucha, a fun office, and foosball are no longer selling points; they\u2019re more or less irrelevant, at least for now. Candidates are still putting their best foot forward, so it\u2019s time for you to find ways to do the same. Elevate the value of the work your company is doing, showcase the amazing team that a dream candidate would join, and the impact of the role itself. It\u2019s the meaning behind what you do that will matter most to prospective employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Remember: good candidates want to know they will be valuable to \u2014 and valued by \u2014 the company they are joining, even if they will be delivering that value from a distance. Set the tone early with a killer remote coder interview process.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This post is for technical interviewers<\/strong> who want best practices on conducting remote interviews on CoderPad.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29543,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"persona":[27,28],"blog-programming-language":[],"keyword-cluster":[],"class_list":["post-176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interviewing"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coderpad.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coderpad.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coderpad.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coderpad.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coderpad.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=176"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/coderpad.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38046,"href":"https:\/\/coderpad.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176\/revisions\/38046"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coderpad.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coderpad.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coderpad.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coderpad.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=176"},{"taxonomy":"persona","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coderpad.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/persona?post=176"},{"taxonomy":"blog-programming-language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coderpad.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog-programming-language?post=176"},{"taxonomy":"keyword-cluster","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coderpad.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/keyword-cluster?post=176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}1. Communicate with remote coders every step of the way<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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2. Pick up the phone and put down your (unintentional) bias<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
3. Dive deeper and show all your work<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n4. Set candidates \u2014 and yourself \u2014 up for success<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
5. Embrace new hiring models<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n