Do you thoroughly test employment candidates?

Do you rely entirely on the claims of Recruitment Agencies when selecting new employees? If you do, it may be a very costly mistake. We have been giving interview challenges to new employees for 10 years. A candidate has to prove they can walk the walk before they can join our team.

We give a Project Management test to coders as well. Developers should be able to contribute to the working of a project from end to end. They need to communicate with not only sales and marketing staff, but also clients and people that walk off the street! Clients typically think developers (aka computer nerds) come from another planet. Getting Project Managers at the go between is good, but on many jobs it just adds a layer and an unnecessary cost to a job. Recruiting developers that understand the ins and outs of project management means that that developers have less reliance on a Project Manager, they get to speak to customers more (a very good thing) and the customer gets a cheaper solution.

Another thing is that when interviewing you have to go on your instinct a bit. This won't always work, but as Joel says: "a bad candidate will cost a lot of money and effort and waste other people's time fixing all their bugs." It's best to let a good candidate slip occasionally than let a bad one spoil your coding and client relationships. Joel again: "If you have any doubts whatsoever, No Hire."

Automate Interview Process

We use a Microsoft Teams application that provides a seamless coding challenge experience to candidates that apply to SSW. This system ensures a consistent and efficient process for evaluating candidates' skills. It has the following features:

• Step-by-Step Guide: Provides a detailed walkthrough of the interview process, ensuring candidates understand what is expected at each stage.
• Built-in Timer: Helps candidates manage their time effectively during the challenge.
• Automated Tasks: Automates tasks such as provisioning a GitHub repository for candidates to use during their coding challenge.

Track Communication/Technical Challenges

At SSW, we use a dedicated website to manage our candidate challenges. This platform offers several features:

• Create Challenges: Allows you to create Communication/Technical challenges and automatically send out Outlook appointments to candidates.
• Customizable Challenge Types: Supports various types of challenges tailored to different roles, such as Admin, Designer, Developer, SysAdmin, and TV for Communication Challenges. Data Engineer, Full Stack for Technical Challenges.
• Track Progress: Enables you to monitor the progress of challenges, including the information about interviewers and candidates, upcoming challenges, ensuring you have a clear view of your hiring pipeline.

By automating and tracking the candidate testing process, you can ensure a thorough evaluation of each candidate's capabilities and streamline your hiring workflow.

Analyze Tracking Data

Using the tracking data from your candidate assessments can provide valuable insights into your hiring process. By analyzing this data, you can:

• Popular Challenges: Understand which types of challenges are more popular or frequently used, helping you refine your assessment strategy.
• Identify Challenge Managers: Determine who is managing challenges effectively and recognize their contributions.
• Resource Allocation: Optimize resource allocation by knowing which challenges require more attention and which are running smoothly.

By leveraging these insights, you can continuously improve your hiring process, ensuring that you select the best candidates and maintain an efficient and organized system.