Endless interview process?Appeal to a hire power

Sarkar, 29, joined PWC and has since quit to join another firm. But his ordeal is fast becoming the norm at established conglomerates, ambitious start-ups, and small firms aiming to scale up. In addition to endless rounds of interviews, prospective employers have also been assigning work projects to test candidates. Hiring cycles are long, tiresome, sometimes downright unfair. How did we get here?

Starting points

The pandemic, and the great resignation it spawned, are only partly to blame. In some instances, companies haven’t quite adjusted to online interviewing. In other cases, multiple tests are needed to rule out malpractice in technical tests. Employees are smarter now. Many candidates share interview tips, hacks and questions on online forums, making it hard to discern the skilled from the merely well prepared.

Moreover, with more companies now operating on hybrid working models, it’s hard for employers to create a panel of senior management for recruitment, says a Human Resources executive with a global consulting firm, who did not wish to be named.

It puts job seekers at a tiring disadvantage. Utsa Sarmin, a 29-year-old journalist and researcher was looking to join the Indian Political Action Committee last year. The organisation initially responded to her application with interest. They asked her to prepare a presentation on the new education policy. She did. A couple of weeks later, they set up a telephone interview. She obliged. Then, a few weeks of silence. She contacted them. They set up yet another in interview, this time at their Kolkata office.

The interview went well, Sarmin says. But the company still hadn’t worked out where to place a candidate who had both academic and journalism experience. Another round of interviews followed, to evaluate her ability to work with their media team. Then, she was called again for another set of tests for another team.

“A whole month had passed by then,” Sarmin recalls. She’d already started work at another company, but still asked them to make her an offer. So, after the seventh round of conversation, she gave up. “I had no clue what was going on.” The firm did not respond to a request to participate in this story.

Time after time

For those on both sides of the hiring process, a longer screening process isn’t always a bad thing. In an age when a candidate might be a stockbroker, content creator, LGBTQ+ activist and podcaster all at once, single interviews barely scratch the surface. It also offers job-seekers longer exposure to a company’s culture, values, and expectations and leads to a better choice, says Mohita Uchhil, HR head of uKnowva, a tech-based HR solutions company.

“We once interviewed a candidate who applied for a job in sales and marketing,” says Uchhil. “But he also had experience in digital media. So we offered him the role of a digital marketing executive. These are additional skills and talents that are often revealed during interviews.”

Surely there’s a way to speed up these revelations. While HR experts agree, they also believe it’s not always possible in some jobs. Each additional interview can serve a different purpose. But the use of AI models to screen resumes and analyse interviews may save time.

Uchhil believes that more companies should draw on AI and video tech when they hire for remote positions. That way they won’t miss out on talent just because the candidate is not physically present. But one thing they all agree upon is that in the short term, the endless interview is the best way forward.

You’d best list patience as your core skill.