Phone Interviews are Dying. What Will be Replacing Them?

Have you ever impersonated in a programming telephone interview? Well I did once, for my friend, but I will never recommend this to any one . As it turned out , I cleared the interview as an impostor but got rejected when I gave the interview as myself in the same company, Karma at work (My friend did not join the organization  if you are asking ).

The point I am trying to make is that telephone interviews are a very poor barometer to gauge coding capability of a candidate. In my case, I got selected and rejected for a single opening in the same company. That  does not make much sense , does it? It highlights the unpredictability and subjective nature of this exercise.

The format is also not very suitable for programming interview. Just a couple of months back I gave an interview in another biggie and the interviewer kept presenting me situations and asking me to explain how I will “code from scratch” for them . It was actually irritating to explain “code from scratch” over phone , this could have been  much better executed in a face to face setup.

On the other side of the table a fairly common case is that many applicants clear the first round over the phone, but perform very poorly in the subsequent round which causes a lot of overhead for the employer. However, we still find that phone interviews are going strong – notwithstanding the flaws. The reason is simple: it is the most convenient for both the parties, and requires very little upfront effort. However, the way it is being conducted is changing and in some cases altogether removed. Some of the changes has been summarized below:

Phone + Live Coding

This is becoming a new norm, where phone and live coding is done together to filter out the prospective employee. I had one such experience, where I was asked to write code on a collaborative real time document editor while being on the line.

Team competitions

This is fast turning out to the favourite mode for start-ups and it bypasses the phone-round altogether. Uber and Ola have organized several such events to fulfill their hiring needs, where contests are held on premises or online with very strict timeliness. The winners are hired as they check out on all criteria like professionalism, on-time delivery, and most importantly, teamwork.

Assignments

For individual positions, assignments have become very popular. With my previous employer, I was responsible for conducting a lot of Android interviews, and I found assignments a good way to test the coding capabilities of prospective employees. On the flip side, I have received a couple of offers based on my assignments. Only 10 -20 % candidates deliver on the assignments, thus automatically filtering out the serious job seekers.

Online Submissions

A lot hiring agencies test job seekers through online code submission, using various tools. This is on the money as far as programming is concerned, as the problem has to be solved within a couple of hours and the solution will be compiled and tested. You will have a fair idea of clearing such rounds based on your code’s output.

Tips & Advice

One thing I have learned after appearing for over a dozen interviews in the last couple of years, is that it is not easy to actually write code during interviews. The thing with interviews is that the presented problem is generally at a higher level than that of the job requirements, and it becomes really difficult to perform under the conditions. To ace such interviews, focused practice is essential. Some of the things that can be done are:

Online Code Submission:

A few  organizations use online tools like HackerRank, Codility, etc . I remember the first time I performed a test on HackerRank, I had wasted good amount of time navigating the I/O part and performed very poorly. However, once I got a hang of it, I cleared the subsequent time. I have practiced on both the above platforms, and doing so has given me a great advantage when presented with coding challenges.

Competitive Coding:

Sites like CodeChef, SPOJ, TopCoder, etc., are great platforms that will test your mettle as a programmer. In fact, a lot of people have claimed that it has actually contributed to cracking companies like Google, Microsoft etc.

Conclusion

The last word to keep in mind is that performing well in an interview is an art. The general perception that if you are good at your current job, then you will easily ace an interview is not true. Chances of clearing them directly depends on your level of preparation. The idea is that if one is sufficiently prepared, interview problems can be mapped or broken down to some data structure or algorithm learned earlier. After that, it just becomes a case of application.

Author Biography

Siyanatullah Khan is a software consultant. When he is done with his official day job of coding up mobile applications, he writes tutorials to share his work. He also advises start-ups on recruitment, conducting interviews and designing problems to filter candidates. Currently he  setting up a career related blog to share his interview and general insights. Siyanat loves to meet new people, so you can reach out to him here.