Work backward from the job. Define the three or four competencies that genuinely predict success in the role, then give each one a dedicated stage with a calibrated rubric and trained interviewers. Favor practical exercises close to the real work over algorithm puzzles, keep total candidate time reasonable, and require written evidence in every debrief. Decide through a structured discussion, not a show of hands.
Why interviewers ask this
The interviewer wants to know whether you hire consistently or by instinct, because hiring quality compounds across everything else you do. They listen for competency mapping, written rubrics, interviewer calibration, bias reduction and candidate experience. Strong answers also acknowledge the cost: every stage you add loses good candidates, so each one has to earn its place by predicting something the other stages do not.
How to structure your answer
- Start from the competencies the role actually needs.
- Map one stage per competency with a written rubric.
- Choose exercises that resemble the real work.
- Describe the debrief and how the final decision gets made.
Example answer
I start by writing down what somebody has to be good at to succeed in this specific role, and it is usually three or four things: system design at our scale, hands on code quality, debugging in unfamiliar code, and raising the people around them. Then one stage each, no duplication, because a fifth stage that measures nothing new only loses you good candidates. For the coding stage I stopped using algorithm puzzles years ago and use a small realistic codebase where they add a feature and fix a bug with the tools they normally use. It predicts far better and candidates prefer it. Every interviewer writes their evidence before they see anybody else's notes, which kills the anchoring problem where the first strong opinion sets the room. In the debrief we go competency by competency against the rubric instead of round the table for thumbs up or down. I also take the reverse side seriously: senior candidates are interviewing us, so I give them time with an engineer with no evaluation attached.
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See how it worksFollow-up questions to expect
- How do you calibrate a brand new interviewer?
- What do you do when the loop is split and there is no consensus?
- How do you assess somebody from a very different technical background?
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