Codesta often recruits for new software development talent and I thought it would be a good time to document our hiring process for all of our candidates so you understand our process and why we follow it. Our goals are similar; we want the best employees we can find and you want to work at the best company you can find.
Our process has 5 steps:
- Resume Screening
- The Questionnaire
- Phone Screen
- Half Day Interview
- Offer Letter
The process is based upon the idea of a continual escalation in time and effort for both Codesta and you, the Candidate. At any time in the process either of us can call it quits with, hopefully, the minimal wasted time and effort. If at anytime you realize that this is not the position for you please let your interviewer know, we will appreciate your candor and professionalism. We make the same promise to you, we will not waste your time once we realize you would not be a good fit for Codesta.
Resume Screening
We screen resumes heavily. We get a lot of applicants and we reject the majority of them. We look for people who have demonstrated success, have done the types of work we do, have a solid background in Computer Science, and have a wide range of technical interests and abilities.
Questionnaire
This single page of questions allows us to get a lot of the standard questions asked ahead of the interview. There really isn't a right or wrong answer to most of these questions, just do your views match our culture. If you are the right candidate answering these questions should be easy; they are issues and questions you have discussed with co-workers and classmates and you already have opinions.
Phone Screen
A 20 to 30 minute call to verify some details on the resume, perform a quick coding test and answer a few questions about the position.
The purpose of the screening call is to reduce the risk of wasting your time or our time. We want to weed out clearly unqualified candidates and we want to ensure that qualified candidates are actually interested in the job being offered. Once we explain the type of work we do, some candidates are more excited and others are no longer interested.
Weeding out uninterested but qualified candidates is actually the most important part of the phone screen. It's pretty easy to eliminate unqualified candidates, they won't get past the coding or problem solving stages anyway. The worst thing that can happen is to get an excellent candidate who really doesn't want the job we are offering. You don't want to spend a half day in interviews just to get a job offer you are going to decline either.
The online coding test is meant to be quick, most candidates finish this in a few minutes and we don't let that part of the interview go for more than 10 minutes.
The Half Day Interview
At this stage we will invite the candidate into our offices for a in-person interview. This part of the process takes between 3 and 5 hours.
Coding Assignment: We will ask you to implement a fairly complicated software system in a basic text editor. We will not be compiling the code and a developer from Codesta will be there the entire time to answer questions and provide hints. The intent is to see how you develop code, your style and how you adapt to errors and problems. At the end you'll be able to ask the developer more about Codesta, the working environment and what kinds of projects we do.
Design Exercise: We will ask you to design a system on a whiteboard. As with the Coding Assignment, a Codesta developer will be there to answer questions, clarify requirements and provide hints. We want to see how you think on your feet and how you solve problems. At the end you'll be able to ask the developer more about Codesta, the working environment and what kinds of projects we do.
General Interview: We will ask you questions about you resume, how you would handle interpersonal situations and problems, questions to test your soft skills and business acumen. We want to see how you would do in this role. This part of the interview will usually be conducted by the Managing Director. You will have an opportunity to discuss the role in depth, ask questions about how we conduct business, projects and opportunities for advancement.
Once you leave the office the three people who interviewed you will meet to discuss how your interview went.
The Offer
If everything goes well, you'll be presented with an offer of employment. We try to make these as soon as possible after the onsite interview.
That's it! We take the process seriously and work very hard at finding the best candidates for Codesta. We hope you found this article useful and look forward to your application in the future. Good luck!
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