A real-life example of getting external interviewers to hire tech talent for a company

This happened in May 2023.

We completed 125 technical interviews across 9 technical disciplines (Python, Java, DevOps, C++, Go + Typescript, React, data analyst, data engineering, product management) for a client.

These interviews took 300 hours.

To put this in perspective - this is the same hours it takes 2 people working full time for a month. On top of that these people would just be interviewing candidates who wanted to join the company - every morning, afternoon and evening.

The problem

2 people cannot cover these 9 tech disciplines. 9 people can.

9 people who would interviewing for 1 week straight each.

Their productive monthly hours are reduced by 25%. But their productivity - due to interviewing fatigue - would drop down below 50%.

So the company would end up paying 9 people for 1 month just to interview people and do less than half of their usual work.

Instead, I and my team jumped in. We gave these 9 people their time back. 100% productivity.

The projects these 9 people worked on met the deadlines. The interviews got conducted. The applicants loved their experience.

Of course, there are pros and cons to hiring external tech interviewers.

This is what I learned from the experience I had in May:

Pros

• time savings (300 hours that month)

• all 9 positions filled

• 0 extra salaries paid (instead of getting 9 new people to interview candidates)

• 100% productivity of the team

• cost savings (€ 6.000 - compared to doing everything in-house)

• increased likeability of the company (due to professional and well-structured interviews)

Cons

• external interviewers are paid (like any other service)

• a commitment of 5 hours is expected at the beginning to sync between the company’s needs and the job of the tech interviewers

• relationships are formed during the interview (it is best when a member of the hiring team is present)

Here is how to overcome the some of the Cons

• (relationships) reverse the roles and invite the hiring manager at the end of the interview for a 15-min Ask-Me-Enything session by the candidate. The external tech interviewer can leave the interview at that point.

Hi, I am Kat Stam. I and my team (all current and former CTOs) help you interview tech people to join your company.

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