tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22953994758612936462024-03-08T16:02:19.461-08:00Facebook Recruiting FeedbackUnknownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00813267086080005701noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2295399475861293646.post-61292434146176371072012-12-19T05:51:00.000-08:002012-12-24T00:24:44.372-08:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span id="internal-source-marker_0.6672309777944434" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I wrote this a few hours after I've completed the phone screening,
grossly dissatisfied with my own performance and with the interviewing
process, and I believe that the two are related. The recommended reading
for the interview, "Get that job at Facebook" by Carlos Bueno, advises
to "</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Give feedback. We regularly survey candidates about the interview process and take feedback seriously.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">" This leaves me some hope that my opinion on the process would be heard.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">1) The scheduling</span></h2>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I've
submitted my application on Oct 2nd. I've received a reply explaining
that the interviewing would take place in December, and inviting me to
suggest date and time ranges when I would be available.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Do
you have many candidates that know three months in advance their
available timeslots? Do you expect all these timeslots to remain
reserved for the three months, until the interview is finally scheduled?
To me, this seems ridiculous -- especially as the proposed
"availability slots" are ultimately ignored, as seen further.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I
have send the rough estimate of my December availability to Marianne L
Dove on Oct 3rd. Receiving no response by Oct 29th, I've asked her
again, receiving the response "</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I do apologize, as I thought I had responded, but now see that I had not.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">" Talk about HR competency.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">By
Nov 11th, I've settled my plans for December, so I've emailed Marianne
with the updated availability schedule. Her response was "</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">We will be back in touch in early December, via email, to confirm the day/time of your technical phone interview</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">."
However, there were no updates by Dec 7th, which I believe is
not-so-early December already. I've emailed Marianne again, and she
replied that she had "</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">submitted a request to have you scheduled for one day next week, or the week of 12/17</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">",
indicating that she had been totally ignoring my application for the
first week of December -- neither requesting my interview to be
scheduled, nor informing me of the occurring delay. What's more, she had
submitted the request using my October estimate of the availability,
not the updated one. Talk about HR competency again.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">On
Dec 13th, I've finally received the confirmation of my interview being
scheduled on next Tuesday 11AM PST -- despite me requesting the
interview on a Thursday or Friday. What's the point of asking the
candidate their availability, if you then ignore their preferences, at
each and every step of the process?</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I've
replied to Chelsea Ganan that the scheduled time is inconvenient for
me, and asking for a postponement. My request was totally ignored -- not
even a "sorry can't do that". Well, at least this was consistent with
Facebook not showing any respect to the job applicants.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">2) The suspense</span></h2>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The "December Interview Preparation Tips" describe the interview as "</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">In terms of preparation... like a CS exam.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">"
No problem -- any of us has taken countless CS exams before, and knows
what it takes. Any of us, no matter how good his studies, needs to
review the material before the exam, to make it "pop out of the head" in
the limited time given. This is why CS exams are scheduled long in
advance -- a few weeks, if not a couple months. No CS student would read
up for an exam a month or two before it, "just in case" -- this is why
the "early warning" that the interview would be "some time in December,
probably" doesn't help any.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">My
interview was finally scheduled three weekdays in advance, leaving me
in fact one day to prepare, because I've already had plans for the other
weekday and the weekend. Do you have many candidates who can prepare
for a CS exam in one day? Or do you expect them to be ready to abandon
their plans at zero notice?</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I
mean, scheduling the interview even one day in advance is no problem if
you position it as a "come as you are" interview. But if you want us to
treat it like a CS exam, do make it like a CS exam on your end! Do
allow some time for the preparation for the industry candidates who
haven't had any CS exams in years.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">In
the one day that I've had available, I've been reading up like mad, and
still obviously I couldn't prepare as well as I'd like to. The feeling
of coming to a CS exam unprepared builds up the lack of confidence
during the interview, and contributes to the stress -- as if the stress
from the important interview itself wasn't enough.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Then
comes the punch: the coding exercise during my interview didn’t involve
any intricate algorithms or data structures, none at all, just robust
coding. Exhausted and stressed by the rushed preparation, turning out
useless, I was so perplexed -- as if I’ve not only come to an exam
unprepared, but after all to a wrong exam.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>Upd 24 Dec:</b> several commentators have noted that if I need a week of preparation for the job interview, it just indicates I don't have the required skills for the position. While true for many other places, at Facebook they themselves emphasize that the practical skill requirements aren't much related to the content of the job interview. Quoting the "December Interview Preparation Tips" again: "<i>In terms of preparation, think of it like a CS exam. There is a wide gap between industry experience and fundamental coding exercises so I urge you to take some time to prepare for the type of questions we'll be asking.</i>" </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">3) The connection</span></h2>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I've
been using the best Internet connection available -- the wired LAN at
the Israel Institute of Technology. (To give an impression of its
network infrastructure: the Institute had been allocated two of the
handful Israeli class-B IP ranges.) On the day of the interview, I've
made a test call to a friend in Israel (some 120km away from the
Institute), to confirm that the call quality is perfect. Nevertheless,
when the interviewer called me, I couldn't hear him properly.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I
realize that Facebook network connections are no less solid than at the
Institute, and that Skype may have intermittent "glitches" routing the
voice traffic via a slow intermediate node. But still, isn't it
worthwhile for Facebook recruiting to prepare for such a case, and make
the interviewer able to switch to a different Facebook IP range, to give
Skype routing a second chance? For a network as big as Facebook, this
certainly must be easier than for a private person, which normally has
no control over the IP address allocated to him. I don’t think I’m the
only candidate ever who has run into such problems with the Skype
connection, so why is Facebook so unhelpful about them?</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">We
had to resort to phone conversation, which had to be interrupted when I
needed both hands to type my code -- meaning I could get no feedback,
whatsoever, from the interviewer during the code exercise, nor could I
explain my code as I typed it. This certainly did affect my performance
and, together with the unanticipated technical failure, contributed to
the stress level, as if it wasn't high enough already.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">All in all</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">,
I'm highly discouraged from ever retrying to interview for Facebook.
Maybe this was the intent, so that only the most determined would
remain, I do not know. But the impression that Facebook recruiting has
made is really really messy and frustrating.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></div>
Unknownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00813267086080005701noreply@blogger.com40