I’ve done a fair number of interviews in my time as a LinkedIn employee. While it takes time away from my “day job”, I reckon it’s pretty rad that I get to directly contribute to selecting the incredible individuals that I get to work with on a daily basis. The process has room for improvement (like any process ever in the history of processes), but on the whole I’d say it’s pretty solid and provides a reasonably consistent rubric for evaluating incoming talent.
This experience has also provided me with some insight into a few Do’s and Don’t’s of interviewing. I thought I might share some of these in the form of a few anecdotes about a few extraordinary interviewees. Some of the below are things I’ve seen personally, some are other people’s experiences that came out in post-interview debrief.
The Thief
The LinkedIn employee escorting this candidate out of the building post-interview helpfully offered to return the LinkedIn coffee mug the candidate had been using back to one of the micro-kitchen bus tubs. The response (paraphrased): “Nah, I’ll just hang onto it, I’m sure you’ve got plenty.”
Lesson
Do not steal from your employer…and certainly do not steal from your prospective employer.
The Impostor
“I was a co-founder of Tinder.” (He wasn’t.)
Lesson
Do not lie in interviews, particularly if your claim can be discredited by googling. (Exception: If you are actually a co-founder of Tinder, you might consider lying by omission.)
The Dervish
Took full advantage of the rotational capabilities of the office chair, spinning through the entirety of the module.
Lesson
This one I’m actually sympathetic about. Being interviewed can be super-fucking-nerve-wracking, and different people have different ways of coping with that. (This went a little beyond a “nervous tick” - it was 45 minutes of putting those Herman Miller bearings to the test - but even so.) The best I can say here: Breathe. Focus up. Stay calm. …and perhaps consider that you might be just as intimidating to the people conducting the interview as they are to you.
The Uncouth
Took off shoes and socks during an onsite interview.
Lesson
I suppose this could be chalked up to nerves as well…but seriously. Keep your shoes on. Remove neither your shoes nor your socks - nor your pants nor your shirt - during an interview, unless the role you are interviewing for explicitly requires you to remove said piece of clothing in order to perform in that role.
The …
This candidate - who was interviewing for a position in SRE - was asked what interested him about Site Reliability. His response (paraphrased): “SRE is for engineers who can’t hack it as SWEs.”
Lesson
There’s a lot to unpack here. My initial reaction was “fuck this guy”, but thinking through it a bit I chalk this one up to mis-gauging rapport. Interviews are inherently social activities - people interacting with people - and sometimes one doesn’t “read the room” quite right. I have done this in both my personal and professional life.
To give an awful, cringe-y example from the other side of the table: I was interviewing a candidate one time who I had a fair bit in common with in terms of prior work experience. I thought we were hitting it off, so I repeated a joke I’d heard offhand: “SRE are sysadmins, but with social skills.” The (sullen, mumbled) response from the candidate was “…I’m a sysadmin.”
Oof. Way to fuck that one up, Cliff.
This is the kind of thing I think about when I wake up in the middle of the night because I have to pee and feel bad about myself.
I could write a whole thesis on what the “Lunch Module” is actually for, but I think I’ve said enough for now. I’ll reserve it for a future post.