Overview

This document outlines how to conduct interviews.

New documentation here (incomplete, please also read the old stuff below, but Google Drive isn’t used anymore):

Filtering application packages

Conducting interviews

Old

Resume Selection

When selecting resumes, it is important to assess holistically and pay attention to elements that indicate that a candidate will be good to interview.

What to look for in a resume:

• Projects and/or experience in tools/languages used by sub-team

• Passion/interest in aviation

• Attention to detail and care (good formatting, etc.)

Process

• Sub-team leads create a group to select resumes

  • Assign the “co-op hiring team” role

  • Create a private chat for the subteam that is only viewable by those who are part of the co-op hiring team.

• Make a spreadsheet in which each member ranks each candidate on a scale of 1-5. Sum it up and interview those with the highest scors

  • Select a reasonable amount of people to interview - this will depend on people-power and time

• Take note of poor performance in courses relevant to the subteam (ex. Poor performance in a C++ course for the embedded subteam).

  • This is more so true for introductory courses as we expect to be hiring <2A generally.

• Set a deadline to ensure that resumes are reviewed in a timely manner

Interviewing Candidates

Interviewing candidates is something a prospective co-op manager is expected to do. Fortunately, they’re not hard to do and having experience being interviewed helps a lot.

...

• Questions should be used to gauge:

  • Interest in WARG

  • Passion for engineering and aviation

  • Experience using tools/languages used by subteam

  • Strength of teamwork, individual learning, etc. 

  • Any other character traits the team lead finds important. Lots of flexibility here!

Scheduling Interviews

When scheduling interviews, do so outside of Waterloo works when permitted. Calendy appointments or a shared spreadsheet work well for this purpose (as the waterlooworks UI is not preferred).

• Interviews should be no longer than 45 minutes.

Interview Conduct

Follow these guidelines when conducting interviews

...

• Two people should attend each interview, one taking notes (indicate who took the notes) and one asking questions.

  • Note that if different pairs of people are used for interviews, a rubric for interviews should be made to evaluate each candidate holistically, as it may be hard to compare candidates who different people interviewed.

• Interviews incorporate a technical question to test proficiency in tools/languages used by the subteam

  • i.e. A coding challenge/mechanical/electrical equivalent.

• Try to finish all interviews within a week to avoid recency bias

• Ask about poor performance in relevant courses if applicable At the end of the interview, do the following:

  • Ensure you provide an opportunity for them to ask questions

  • Restate that the role is unpaid

Selection:

• All people who were interviewed will gather for a debrief to share notes and observations.

• Ranking decisions should strive to be unanimous with the subteam lead’s final approval. The subteam lead retains final authority to rank the candidates as they see fit.

• Strive to decide within a week of completing interviews.  

...