hiringAs we grow as a company, I have identified a few quite specialist capabilities that we will need. When I hire these skills in, how can we ensure that we are properly evaluating the candidate’s technical abilities?
You may be friendly with other entrepreneurs or business owners. On their teams they may have someone with the skills you are looking for, or at least with some knowledge about or experience with that skill set. You may be able to convince the other entrepreneur or business owner to let you hire that specialist as a consultant, briefly, to perform the technical interviews for you.
If that is not possible, that specialist may be able to recommend some qualified colleagues.
Ask to see a portfolio in advance that demonstrates the skills you need.
Have each candidate explain how his or her past projects and experiences will translate into performance within your company. Probe on random things on resumés, especially if someone claims to have an unusually diverse skill set.
Have a trusted friend, colleague, or mentor help conduct the interview.
If you happen to know someone outside of your company who has experience in the space you’re in, or has experience conducting technical interviews, give them a call and ask for advice, or for help with the interview. A phone interview is fine too.
Ask the right questions.
Have you ever had a teacher or professor who you believed did not know the subject as well as he or she should? You don’t always need to be an expert to know whether or not someone is qualified - just pretend you’re a student and ask candidates to explain things to you. Ask them to clarify anything you didn’t understand. Probe anything that sounds inconsistent. Head scratching and long pauses are probably bad signs. It helps to have an interviewer with a diverse technical skill set (i.e. someone who knows what questions to ask), but this is a skill anyone can learn.
And remember that if someone claims to be an expert in everything, he or she is probably overconfident. So make sure that candidates are experienced enough to know what they’re good at and what they’re not.
Test the candidates in advance if possible.
Once you have your list of potential candidates narrowed down to one or two, have them do a brief assignment that demonstrates their skills. You can let them do this test from home. Make sure the assignment is short and to the point. The result should be something that is demonstrable and understandable to someone who is not a specialist (so no obscure black box console programs), and something that provably works and is testable.
Hire a leader.
I recommend preferential selection of a candidate who doesn’t just answer your questions at an interview, but creates ideas on how you can work together. If a new employee is to be the first or only specialist of his or her kind at your company, having traits of trustworthiness, reliability, communication skills, and leadership are just as important as technical proficiency.
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