AssessDev Blog

In this blog, you will find simple and actionable tips and tricks for conducting tech interviews, designing and preparing the tech interview process and developing a great candidate experience. Follow us on LinkedIn for daily interviewing best practices.

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Kat has prepared 350+ interviews, and has conducted more than 600 technical interviews herself. She leads technical interviewer trainings for hiring manager and in-house tech team members who will be the ones interviewing their future colleagues. She was the CTO of 2 startups after having a decade-long career in Machine Learning and software engineering.

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Blog Author and Principal Tech Interviewer

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Best Practices for Tech Interviewers

Posted by Kat Stam | June 25, 2024

Best Practices for Tech Interviewers



Preparation

  • prepare the questions to ask during the interview before-hand
  • set up the perfect environment
    • a quiet space
    • good Internet connection
    • elevate your monitor to eye-level
  • grab a glass of water or the beverage of your preference



During the Interview

  • help the candidate relax when you feel them getting nervous
  • give something back - spend 1 minute providing the right answer after a wrong/incomplete one is given
  • offer to take a 3-minute break (if needed)
  • take notes
  • ask the candidate if there is something you forgot to ask or talk to
  • finish on time (i.e. do not take more of the candidate's free time than allotted)
  • mute yourself when not speaking
  • help the candidate shine instead of putting them down and showing them how great you are
  • speak slower, articulate each word to make sure the candidate understands what you say



Post-interview

  • spend the 30 minutes after the interview cleaning your notes and writing candidate's feedback
  • let the candidate know how they did up to 72 hours after you finished talking
  • share your notes with the rest of the evaluation team (hiring manager, recruiter, talent acqusition partner, CEO, CTO)
  • use template emails when writing back to the candidate (make sure to include the invidiual feedback in them, though)