As no doubt you are aware, an interview is a bidirectional process. Not only are you checking if your candidate has the necessary skills and qualities to fit the position. Your candidate is also sizing up the company to see if it is a good fit for them. How would this position be an upgrade for them, both professionally and personally? Does it offer the kind of work process, environment, and lifestyle that they thrive in? As a recruiter it is your job to paint a crystal-clear picture of what their work life would look like, with all its many dimensions: environment, work philosophy, salary, mobility, company culture, team composition… The list goes on and on.

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To help narrow down some essentials of what IT professionals want to know, we talked to two engineers at Hackages, Florian and Nicolas. They told us what kind of information they would need to receive from a recruiter during an interview to make an informed decision.

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The following ten tips will enable you to be as honest and transparent as possible in a conversation with a potential hire. For Florian, a senior software engineer, honesty on the job description and on all the details of the job was his biggest concern when talking to a recruiter, and lack thereof was his biggest dislike. It is important to note that dishonesty is oftentimes completely unintentional. For example, it is not enough to simply identify someone’s top needs and priorities (see our previous post about asking the right questions) and then answer how the job fits those needs and priorities. Limiting yourself to that information glosses over many more critical details of what the position entails. This interview is an equal transfer of information between recruiter and IT professional after all!

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Without further ado:

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1.  Candidates want to know the big picture

where their potential position fits in terms of the business, team, industry, and technologies involved.

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2.  They want to know the lifestyle that this position 
will guarantee them.

How many hours do software engineers in this position work, and is it in the office or at home? How would this change from project to project?

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3.  The goal of the company, and how it plays out in company culture is also of importance.

Does the company downplay or only focus on making money? Is innovation a big priority? The answer to these questions usually determines the degree of openness in company culture. Are people working on interesting projects? Does the team do any fun extra activities besides work?

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4.  Candidates want to know about the quality of communication:

within teams, and between management and developers. Productivity largely depends on if there is a good manager and everyone knows what they need to do and who to talk to if they need help.

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5.  They want to know the kind of project management tools used.

Agile, Scrum, or perhaps the company’s own version? This gives an impression of how everyone works in the company.

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6.  IT professionals want to know about team composition!

What kind of roles will he or she be collaborating alongside? Also, what is the team’s mindset? Is it a team that wants to try new things, or a team that wants to be fast and efficient? What are the expectations here?

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7.  Team size is also important – it says multitudes about the possibility to innovate.

If the team is 100 people, the chance that one individual could make a change is extremely low. Which brings us to the next point…

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8.  Let’s talk about freedom!

Can candidates come up with and test ideas or is everything decided in advance?

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9.  What about opportunities for further career advancement?

Is it possible to ascend to a leadership position one day? Or will this job put these professionals in a position where they can pick up skills to achieve their career goals?

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10.  Finally, the rate of production is important to know.

How many times does the team go through production?  Is the product already out? Is it tested every week? If production is tested every week, it is a good sign and refers to the health of the project – the business trusts developers to develop something every week.

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Of course, providing information about the company and position is only a part of what you do in an interview. To learn the technical knowledge that will allow you to see if someone is truly qualified, join a one-day training. This will make the difference between an uncertain hire and a deeply certain hire!

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