Some thoughts on interviewing

Recent experience interviewing candidates, reflections on the job market, and the shift in how people are seeing work fitting into their lives

I’ve been dealing with a lot of seemingly conflicting emotions these days — the desire to let myself slow down and do less and the desire to do more, to write and publish more, to feel energized for growth and progress. I’m trying to be with both of those feelings with less resistance.

While I’ve previously pushed myself to publish every other week, I’m experimenting with letting go of that expectation and trying to ride the ebbs and flows of my energy, which are much more drastic than I expected in this second trimester of pregnancy. It may look like a post every month, and then a post every week for a few weeks, or something different altogether. More than anything else, I want this to continue to be a space where I can express myself, connect with you all, and feel a sense of joy rather than obligation.

Thank you for your support ❤️

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At work, I’ve had a few weeks deep in interviewing land, as we have had two roles to fill and lots of candidates come through. Here are some of my recent thoughts on interviewing (from the side of the interviewer, not the interviewee).

 It’s wild out there

The last time I was actively involved hiring was around 2022, and it was a totally different market. There was a trickle of qualified candidates, and they had a lot of leverage. Salary bands were bumped across the board, and companies really had to differentiate themselves to close candidates. Even if someone didn’t have the exact skillset we wanted to fill, but displayed an appetite for growth and learning, we’d stretch to make it work and get them onboard.

The job market these past few months is vastly different. I caught up with someone recently who told me that when he did a job search a few years ago, he interviewed at 15 major tech companies and ended up with 12 job offers. When he did a job search again recently, it took half a year to get an offer from a company he was interested in.

 Other friends have been applying to jobs they thought for sure they’d have an easy chance at, only to be rejected at the resume screening phase (even with a warm intro!).

A lot of qualified candidates have opted out 

Given the difficulty of the job market currently, it seems like a lot of people are taking the opportunity to travel internationally, take unpaid sabbaticals, or take on personal projects while they wait for the market to pick back up. 

For those who can afford to, this feels like a pretty solid plan. It can be difficult, even for the most confident and qualified candidates, to experience a slew of rejections after putting in so much effort and time. Setting aside a few months to intentionally not be actively job-searching, with plans to resume when the market picks back up, can create space for other interests, and with likely similar outcomes on the career front.

Other folks I know have checked out the full-time job market and opted instead to explore variations in how work fits into their lives, outside of the typical full-time W2 paycheck, by taking on fractional work or exploring self-employment and consulting work. 

There are a LOT of candidates out there, but they’re not all good fits

In this climate, job-seekers are applying to more jobs and widening their net. Friends who have been on the market for a while are reporting that they’re loosening some of their criteria (often seniority of role, salary expectations, or enthusiasm about the product), while staying firm on others (often related to remote work and return-to-office policies). Hiring managers are seeing a much wider range of candidates applying — often hundreds within days just by making a job posting public — many of whom are not great fits.

There are highly qualified people out there, but they’re harder to find in the sea of résumés. Some candidates I interviewed blew me out of the water with their competence, experience, and how perfectly they seemed to fit exactly what we were looking for, and I ended the interviews genuinely excited about the possibility of working with them. Other candidates were so clearly not a good fit for the role.

Interviewing can be exhausting

I’ve conducted interviews after a few hours of back-to-back meetings where I am already exhausted going into them, and am surprised to find that I thoroughly enjoyed the hour I spent with a candidate, and am feeling more optimistic and energized.

I’ve also conducted interviews where I went in feeling great, and by the end, I am completely wiped. Like I need to go lay down for an hour and recover kind of exhaustion.

Whereas internal company meetings have a more predictable outcome (if you typically have the same set of recurring meetings, you generally have a sense of how they will feel), I find interviews exhausting because of how unpredictable they can be. 

I’m not sure if this affects me more as an introvert, or if I am just out of practice at meeting new people after a few years of pandemic life, but I’m finding I need to account for recovery time in my day, and after my work day ends.

Be kind

It’s rough out there. As tiring as hiring can be, it takes just a bit of effort to be kind and respectful, especially with candidates you have no intention of hiring. Follow up with folks, communicate timelines, and try not to take advantage of the upper hand it feels like employers have right now in the market. It’s a small industry, and people will always remember who treated them with dignity and respect, and who treated them like a disposable resource.

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Two topics I’d like to explore more soon:

Interviewing and job-searching, continued

I’d like to write more about interviewing in the coming weeks, including general mindsets about hiring, as well as a comprehensive guide for the behavioral / career history interviews I’ve been conducting for over a decade now. Within the constraints of an interview setting, I believe they are one of the best ways to understand a candidate and get at some of the more elusive traits like growth trajectory, how they deal with challenges, whether they take initiative or expect others to solve their problems, and more. Let me know if that would be of interest to you.

If you’re actively searching for a job, I know it’s rough out there. I’m hearing the same from a lot of people, and I hope you’re able to see it as an industry-wide shift and try not to take it personally. I’m interested in hearing how the experience has been for you, and how you’re doing. What’s been challenging? 

How work fits into your life

A theme I’d love to explore in the coming months is how people are thinking about work and how it fits into their lives. As I mentioned in this post, many people I know are considering consulting and fractional roles in their areas of expertise, or contemplating how they might try something different altogether. 

With a combination of COVID years fundamentally changing how people work, the rise of remote work and now the push to return-to-office, the tough hiring market, challenges with mental health, and the struggle to do it all, it feels like many people are reconsidering what it is they want in work, and how it can be more aligned with what they want in life. 

If this is something that is top of mind for you, I would love to hear from you. Email me at jean@jeanhsu.com with your thoughts and questions. What are you struggling with? What do you want more clarity around? What transitions are you contemplating but don’t quite know how to get started?