Hello Elpha!
I’m currently working with an early stage startup to redesign their interview process for a founding principal product designer role. The team is at ~10 employees today with one other designer on the team. This candidate will report directly to the CEO to start and can grow into the Head of Design over the next few months as the team scales.
I am seeking feedback on our existing process today and hope that you can share with us your thoughts on how we can improve.
The interview process today:
- [30 mins] Introductory call with the CEO to go over the role, questions about the company and the candidate’s high level past work history.
- [30 mins - 1 hr] Candidates have the option to send a short video walkthrough of a prior work where they are asked async questions OR jump on a live call with the CEO.
- [90 mins] Design case study with a designer on the team and the CEO. Candidates are given a design prompt for a popular app and are asked questions that explore their first principle thinking and aesthetic design. They have the option to do this live with the product designer (recorded for the founder to watch) OR do a take home which is followed with a live chat.
- [60 mins] Product design case study over a live call with the principal product manager. This session is recorded. Candidates are given a design prompt for a popular app and are asked questions around how they would approach design research, ideation process and collaboration style with product.
- [30 mins] Behavioral interview with the CEO.
- [30 mins] Candidate meets with various members of the team on a single call to get to know the team.
Some notes about the existing process:
- Total interview time on a call: 4.5 hours. Estimated prep time across all of the stages ~10 hours.
- There are six different stages that are scheduled separately. There is no official “onsite.”
- During the two case study sections, candidates are asked if we can record the sessions for other team members to view async.
Questions:
- Is this process too long?
- Are there any stages that should be removed? Added?
- Do you prefer to have each session scheduled separately or a few consolidated into a virtual onsite?
- What are your thoughts on being recorded during the case study?
- How might we make this a more joyful experience for candidates?
Thank you. I appreciate you all.