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Interview Guidelines

Having interview guidelines for your hiring teams to access before and during each interview is important for setting best practices in recruiting! Make a copy and customize to add details that is specific to your company org.
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As an interviewer, you represent your company! Here are a few general best practices on interviewing that is DEI friendly, will help increase engagement, and prevent bias in the hiring process. A positive candidate experience can have a ripple effect for employer brand.
Slack Channel Etiquette
(Note: Create private interview slack channels for your hiring team on the day of final onsite interviews - this will allow for seamless communication between the hiring team. The channel can be archived when interviews are finished.)
Use your slack channel to communicate with the interview panel, and to let the next interviewer know if you’re running late or over on your session. This ensures a more seamless transition of interviews for our candidates.
Do not discuss any feedback regarding the candidate’s interview in the Slack channel because it can create a bias for other interviewers.
Please make sure that your feedback is private, and should be submitted using your ATS (Applicant Tracking System) scorecard.
If your interview is running over time, make sure to let the other interviewers know in the slack channel.
Practical Tips
Show up to the interview on time!
Turn on your video display
Introduce yourself 😊
Ask candidates the same questions in the same order
Send Positive Non-verbal signals
body language (try to face them, or explain camera position if using external monitor)
tone of voice
eye contact (explain that you’re taking notes)
a friendly smile goes a long way
Use inclusive language
ie: “hi folks” vs. “hi guys”
Avoid questions that might cause bias towards a
protected class
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Avoid pointing out observations of their video background (unless it’s a virtual background)
Leave time for the candidate to ask questions at the end
Leave the candidate MORE excited about the company after your session together

If you are unsure of something, reach out to the recruiting team!
slack channel #recruiting-questions (Note: Create a general recruiting-questions slack channel for folks to ask hiring related questions)
Interview Bias & Illegal Questions
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'What is Interview Bias & How to Avoid it While Hiring'
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Illegal Interview Questions
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Unconscious Bias
Bias is a prejudice in favor of or against one thing, person, or group. Unconscious biases are social stereotypes and opinions about certain groups of people and situations that are formed outside our own conscious awareness.* We all have it. They’re formed from your knowledge, culture, and experiences throughout your life. Unconscious bias is more prevalent than conscious prejudice, and is often incompatible with one’s conscious values.
Whether positive or negative, unconscious biases can result in unfair and inaccurate judgment in hiring, and can impede a team from hiring more diverse candidates. Awareness will help us to identify and overcome our own implicit biases.
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Unconscious Bias
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Types of Unconscious Bias
Search
Type
Description
1
Affinity Bias
When we unconsciously prefer people who share similar qualities to you (ie. candidate shares the same alma mater or hobbies)
2
Attribution Bias
The way we perceive your own actions and those of others (ie. attribute accomplishments in others to luck or external benefits, and their failures to a lack of skill or personality. causing more focus on faults.)
3
Confirmation Bias
When we look for evidence to back up our own opinions, selective observation (ie. the candidate was 10 mins late, and throughout the interview you look for evidence to back up your judgment of their poor organizational skills)
4
Contrast Effect
When we compare two or more similar things to one another, rather than on it’s own merit (ie. comparing the last two recent candidates to one another vs comparing the skills and attributes for the job)
5
Halo Effect
When we overly focus on one great feature about a person, and it overshadows any negatives
6
Horns Effect
When we overly focus on one negative feature about a person, and it overshadows everything else
7
Conformity Bias
When our views are more swayed by others (ie. when one surrenders their own opinion in favor of the majority)
8
Gender Bias
A preference for one gender over another for certain roles, and the attributes you associate with them
9
Beauty Bias
Unconscious note of a person’s appearances and associate it with their personality (ie. assuming someone who dresses professionally is an organized or more skilled person)
There are no rows in this table
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Ways to Overcome Bias
Search
Type
Description
Awareness
1
The first thing we can do is to identify our unconscious biases. Recognizing how our experiences have shaped our perspective is important.
The
Implicit Association Test
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(IAT) measures attitudes and beliefs about different topics. This test helps draw data on unconscious biases you may have.
Engagement
1
Set up a diverse interview panel and ensure interviewer engagement and etiquette
Bias
4
Setting up Job Descriptions with more balanced and neutral word choices (adjectives)
Focus on qualifications and talents vs demographic characteristics when reviewing resumes
Gauge for skills, knowledge, and potential through a Coda exercise. Have a clear rubric for grading pass / no pass for moving on to the onsite stage
Structure interviews by having standardize interview questions with a grading scale that you go through in the same order for each candidate. Questions should focus on gauging what directly impacts performance
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What If...❓
Search
Who
Scenario
Solutions
Interviewer
I'm running late for my interview
Ping the interview slack channel, and let the current interviewer and hiring team know that you’e running late.
Make sure the current interviewer knows to spend extra time with the candidate or inform them that the next session might be starting late.
My interview is running long
Reach out to the next interviewer over Slack to let them know.
I don't see a Zoom link in the invite
Check the interview slack channel for the zoom link
Reach out to your recruiting coordinator
If no response, send the candidate a new Zoom invite via email (you can find their email in the interview kit link in your cal invite.)
I can’t make my interview
Let your recruiting coordinator know, and try to find a replacement if it’s short notice (ex: interview is in < hour)
Candidate
I'm on the Zoom call, and the candidate is late.
Be sure you’re in the correct zoom (there is one for comp presentation, and one for 1:1 interviews.)
Give the candidate 3-5 minutes (it’s possible they are taking a quick break). Reach out in the interview slack channel to see if the cand is taking a quick break.
Ping your recruiting coordinator to follow up with candidate.
The candidate has bad wifi/noisy background.
Troubleshoot if you can:
Ask the candidate to exit and rejoin Zoom
Have the candidate try to call into Zoom using Zoom's phone feature instead of internet audio
See if the candidate can move to a quieter place or somewhere with better wifi
If it's still not working out and affecting the interview, kindly let the candidate know it'll be best to reschedule. Reach out to your recruiting coordinator to let them know as well.
The candidate is having trouble sharing their screen.
Walk the candidate through screen sharing via Zoom. The candidate needs to go to Zoom's toolbar (which is sometimes hidden at the bottom of the screen) and click the 'Share Screen' button. They can choose to either share a specific screen or their whole desktop.
The candidate's audio isn't connected.
If the candidate can't hear you, please use Zoom's chat feature to instruct the candidate to 'Join Audio'.
If the candidate can't hear you and they don't see the chat, please send them an email to try troubleshooting steps shown above.
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