So we’ll be doing a fair bit of hiring in 2012. I’ve decided to experiment with a new hiring process.
One thing I wanted to try was to do away with interviews. Instead, have candidates fill out a fairly difficult online application form that’s technical. This filters our the semi-serious candidates, and gives us a solid first-look at their quality of work.
Then, we’ll offer the candidates we like an opportunity to work on a small, real project. And from there select the ones we’d like to work with on a longer-term basis.
I thought this was pretty radical (esp. the doing away with the interview part), but this is exactly what they do at this company.
I’m a couple of weeks into the process, and so far it’s very promising. I think being able to give the same job to multiple people and actually compare the work side-by-side is revolutionary. This is like website split-testing.
People ask me if this is an expensive way to go about doing things. I say no, because I think the cost of hiring a mismatch is way higher than the initial high cost of giving the same job to multiple people.
