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Sloan the DEV Moderator
Sloan the DEV Moderator

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How many interviews do you take per week or per day or per month?

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In my company we are taking around 6-8 interviews per week (20-30 mins each).

This is because we are facing a resource shortage in our company because of the covid situation, I think.

Is it normal for a software engineer to take this many interviews + the daily work or is it just for me? I think taking interviews is a task/job in itself it is not a side job that one can do with their main work. What do you think?

Top comments (5)

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theaccordance profile image
Joe Mainwaring

Are 6-8 interviews a lot? That all depends on context that is missing from your question. What kind of context?

  • Are you filling one role, or a dozen roles?
  • What kind of engineer are you looking for? The more specialized the role, the harder it can be to find the right fit.
  • Will filling this role reduce the work assigned to you?
  • Is your organization having you interview with them as an introduction, or a further step in the process?
  • What purpose are you serving in the interview process? Examples: Looking for red flags, seeing if they have the skills for the job, seeing if they'd be a good fit with the team and culture

Now, if you're feeling stressed by the volume of interviews and your regular responsibilities haven't been adjusted to compensate for the loss of time, then I would encourage you to have a conversation with your manager. A good manager will work either adjust your workload, or reduce the number of interviews your fielding - based on what the priorities of the org are.

You could also ask your manager to schedule interviews during certain times of the day/week, that way you can focus on your daily responsibilities in-between interview blocks.

Generally speaking, it's rarely not in your favor to participate in the interview process. If you're being asked to interview candidates, it's likely because you'll have to work alongside them. This gives you a voice in the decision making process, one that becomes more valuable as you experience both good and bad team members.

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jeoxs profile image
José Aponte

Yes and No. Please, let me explain! For obvious reasons, HR people cannot help you. The company needs your technical knowledge for these interviews. Now, let me focus on one important thing:

IT IS normal for a software engineer to take interviews. It is NOT normal to have too many interviews per week. Nevertheless, that doesn't mean it's unreasonable, as your company is facing a resource shortage. Having a technical interview is one of those tasks that you will have to do eventually. Unfortunately, it is not a job itself. Example: HR people like recruiters have more responsibilities than just interviews.

Finally, If you consider you cannot handle the task for whatever reason (Maybe investing 4 hours a week on technical interviews is impacting bad on your main job), talk to your boss and see what can be done.

Best of luck!

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joelbonetr profile image
JoelBonetR 🥇

Interviews or meetings?

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frikishaan profile image
Ishaan Sheikh

I think it's normal, but if you feel its too much maybe you can talk to the recruiter/manager. Or maybe your company needs to review their hiring process too.

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John Peters

90 per month if needed