Coordinating recruitment interviews and assessments

Overview

Finding the right fit when recruiting new members for your product team is essential to building a strong department with a positive culture. However, designing and executing a thorough interview process can be time-consuming. If rushed or not well thought out, this process may lead to suboptimal hires and a poor candidate experience.

Result

Our Product Ops Assistant will collaborate with you to create a tailored interview plan, complete with templates and assistance in planning an interview training for your team, if necessary. This approach ensures efficient filtering of candidates who are not a good fit, while creating an enjoyable, streamlined experience that attracts top talent. When it’s time to implement the interview process, our Product Ops Assistant can manage the coordination, allowing you and your team to focus on evaluating candidates without the operational stress.

Share playbook

Process

Formulate an interview plan outline

Product Ops Assistant & Product Leader

Meet to discuss the interview plan, which will vary depending on role. A typical interview process may include the following steps:

Phone screening: A 15–30 minute phone conversation with HR or the hiring manager to assess the candidate’s initial fit.
Video interviews: In-depth video interviews (45 minutes to 1 hour) with relevant team members or the hiring manager covering behavioral, experiential, and technical topics.
Assessment: This may include a take-home assignment, portfolio presentation, or coding test (for technical roles) to assess specific skills.
In-person interviews: A final round (if applicable) to assess culture fit and team dynamics.

Decide on check-points for each interview phase to determine if the candidate should proceed. Assign team members to specific interview stages and clarify HR's role. Consider scheduling an interviewer training for team members new to interviewing that can be run by either the Product Leader or HR, with support in planning and scheduling from the Product Ops Assistant. .

Miro offers an Interviewer training enablement template that can assist in planning training sessions for your team.

Collect interview requirements and templates

Product Ops Assistant

Meet with relevant team members to outline their preferred interview and assessment methods (e.g., a coding test for developers or a portfolio presentation for UX candidates). Collect templates and information to include in the interview plan.

Document and share the interview plan

Product Ops Assistant

Draft the interview plan and share it with the Product Leader for feedback and revisions. Key elements to include:

Candidate background template: If the company already uses an Applicant Tracking System (ATS), ensure that it will be set up to store any background information about the candidate that interviewing team members will need access to. Otherwise, create a standardized document to house information such as the candidate’s name, the role they are applying for, and links to their resume, portfolio, and LinkedIn profile. Having this information in one place will save time for interviewers when preparing to talk to candidates.
Draft emails to candidates: Pre-write any emails for each interview phase, with placeholders for personalized details (e.g., interview dates, times, expectations). Consider template emails for the following:some text
- Invitations to each interview phase.
- Confirmation emails that finalize interview times and details.
- Thank you or follow-up emails sent after an interview.
- Rejection notices.
- An email that will extend the formal offer letter.
- Status check or process updates in cases where there might be a delay in the interview process.
Candidate interview guide: Consider creating a guide for candidates that will help prepare them for the interviews by providing them with company and team background, along with tips for success in the interview.
Template interview questions: Prepare sample questions for each interview, along with goals and expectations for the interviewers.
Template assessments: Outline or provide full templates for assessments, such as take-home tasks or live coding tests.
Interview scorecard: Design a consistent scoring system to evaluate candidates and guide decision-making in each interview phase.

Product Ops Assistant

Share the finalized interview plan with the team, gather feedback, and make revisions as needed. If applicable, schedule interviewer training sessions to ensure consistency across the interview process.

Miro’s Candidate interview preparation template and Notion’s Interview guide template offer quick ways to customize a candidate interview guide for your organization. Miro also provides an Interview questions template complete with example questions for various product roles, while Notion’s Interview scorecard template helps ensure consistent candidate assessments.

Coordinate scheduling of all interviews and assessments

‍Product Ops Assistant

Once candidates have been shortlisted, begin scheduling interviews, or coordinate with HR. Ensure that team members are available and that candidates receive all necessary documentation ahead of their interviews.

Especially for larger hiring rounds, ensure that appropriate team members have access to the company’s Applicant Tracking System (ATS) to ensure that everyone is aware of where each applicant is in the process. If the company doesn’t use an ATS, consider creating a shared board to track candidate progress across the interview stages.

Notion’s Applicant tracker template can help manage candidate progress efficiently.

Check-in post interview

‍Product Ops Assistant

After each interview, follow up with the interviewers for feedback and identify any adjustments needed for future interviews. Collect interview feedback promptly and hold decision points to determine whether candidates move forward in the process (refer to our “Gathering feedback from interviewers” playbook for details on consolidating feedback and making final hiring decisions). After each decision point, ensure that appropriate steps are taken to inform the candidate, whether that involves extending an invitation to the next interview round or sending a rejection email.