[jiaweihli]

I strongly disagree with this. I've been on the other side of the fence, trying to hire people for an early-mid startup (5-40 people) as an early employee.

There are more people than you'd expect who can talk the talk but can't code at the same level. In the majority of companies, I'd bet there aren't too many openings for engineers in such a narrow role. If you don't want to work with an 'idea person', would you want to work with an 'idea engineer'?

Multi-day interviews are likely overkill, but a full day interview is completely fair. There's no need to do 4 back-to-back algorithm whiteboarding sessions, but testing other aspects such as data modelling, general architecture, and coding style/ability are all high-signal.

[ryandrake]

Look at it from the candidate's point of view. Depending on what company I'm working for, I get 10, maybe 15 crappy days of paid time off that I have to split between vacation, sickness, and YOUR interview. If you take an entire day of my time, I can only do that max 10-15 times in the year, and that's if I don't get sick and have no vacation. I'm going to highly favor a company that does not make me blow one of those days entirely.

Multiple days? Not a chance.

[Clubber]

I agree. If it's between two companies that pay "competitive rates," and one company wants me to interview for an hour and one company wants me to interview for a day, I'm not going to waste a day.

If you were paying 2x rates or real equity, ya I'd slog through a day long interview, but I bet you aren't.

What does your company have to offer that would compel me to spend 8 hours interviewing that another company doesn't?

[user5994461]

You need to charge more if you get two competitors for you.

Maybe they'll be only one company willing to pay then, maybe that will be the one with the one day interview :D

[jiaweihli]

Yeah, I get that. There's not a good way to interview for many companies within only PTO.

Something that's worked well for me in the past is to secure at least 1 good offer - compensation you feel comfortable with, recognizable brand, but still an offer you're willing to walk away from - and then give notice.

Then, after leaving, spend additional time (up to 4 weeks) interviewing with all the other companies you want to. Keep in mind that many companies offer a sign-on bonus, and using it to cover this in-between time is high-return, likely more so than buying a new car/vacation/entertainment system.

You can be upfront about this break in your interview loops - "I'm no longer working at company X, but I have a very competitive offer from company Y and considering several other ones." There's no guarantee you'll be able to keep all the offers you receive (many of them will explode), but you should have a steady pipeline.

Whenever you feel comfortable, you can exit the pipeline, and begin negotiation with the outstanding offers you have. Last I did this, I went onsite ~15 times among even more interview loops.

[user5994461]

While I agree with the concept, I think it's dangerous.

There aren't that many good companies to work for in any area (even in SV), to have 10 on sites simultaneously, and you might burn bridges for later [e.g. don't reapply before 1-2 years policy].

IMO: If there is that much interest for you, you need to charge more.

[user5994461]

You're kidding right? You americans only got 10, 15 days top per year? really?

I have a hard time taking seriously a company that doesn't give me 25 days in EU. (better be with 25 sick days :D).

[Clubber]

Ya, standard is 2 weeks starting off, then it increases over the years. You also usually have to actually accrue those two weeks over an entire year. Usually caps out at around 5 weeks or so.

For me it isn't the PTO. Say I want to interview at 10 companies to see which is the best fit. That's 10 days of interviewing. If they are all 3 day interviews, that's an entire month.

I get tired of talking to people about nothing after an hour. If someone wants to bring 5 people for me to talk to about smalltalk and nothing really of substance, I won't do very well.

20 years ago, a friend who worked for a guy who would hire 10 people then after a few weeks, fire most of the ones leaving just the best. I live in an "at will" state. I guess most people just don't have the stomach for that sort of thing, so they try to make up for it with 3 days of doing nothing really relevant to the job.

[twic]

Perhaps my openness to longer interviews reflects the fact that I get 25 days of leave a year. Plus public holidays. And sick leave.

[user5994461]

As someone who's been at such a startup. The best tip I can give you is HackerRank.

Make a 1h test, NO fancy problems, just the basics. Think: summing some numbers, displaying some stuff on the console.

That doesn't substitute to the on site but it goes before to ensure a minimum level and some screening.

It's win-win for everyone. It's efficient and straightforward. On the top side, it's easier for the candidate to take 1h whenever he wants than to schedule a full phone call that will ruin half a day for both of you.

[TheOneTrueKyle]

Yeah, I'm not wasting vacation time on your multi-day interviews.