Ask HN: Why can't technical phone screens by async?
For at least the phone screen, having to wrangle two people's schedules as well as the fact that most interviewers will use up an entire hour when they know 20 minutes into the interview that the candidate has already failed seems wasteful.
If it were async, perhaps via screen recording, then you can solve both of those problems?
7 comments
[ 3.7 ms ] story [ 31.2 ms ] threadSeems like less overhead than having to record, upload, and watch multiple videos.
Conversation is also not asynchronous, the idea is to have a conversation, not a Q&A sequence. The in-the-moment stuff is important.
When I do phone screens, first they must be able to code and then they have to communicate how/why they did what they did. i’m mostly quiet during the technical portions.
clarification questions are weak signal imo
1. 30 minute chat
2. 30 minute tech, part resume, one algos problem ~20 minutes.
We can expand the algo scope depending on how good they are. It is designed to be simple yet relevant to the job, based on actual complexities in the code / system.
Maybe revisit how you conduct the interview process?
We start with the chat and time box to 10 minutes, then spend time on the problem. I'm also flexible with time and will happily run over to field questions or chat more.
A good statistic is to be spending 20% of your time on hiring if you want great success
It's more like a foundation for building a house than a chicken and egg problem.