A structured interview process is a streamlined and organized interview process. By having a set structure in place, you can optimize your interview flow and ensure no time is wasted while gathering as much relevant information as you can about the candidate. A clear and streamlined interview plan also ensures candidates go through the pipeline quickly without withdrawing before the offer stage. Generally, you can structure your startup interview process with these steps:

1. Screening call

The screening call is the first step and screens potential candidates to ensure they’re qualified for the role. This is usually a fairly short interview handled by HR or a recruiter. The screening call acts as a filter for candidates who may have gotten through the resume screenings but aren’t a good fit.

2. Hiring Manager Interview

The next phase is usually with a hiring manager, and this is a longer, more in-depth interview than the screening call. This is a good chance to dive into some behavioral and situational questions, as well as determine if they’re a good cultural fit for the company.

3. Technical Interviews / Tale Home Assignment

If they’re applying for a technical role within the company, this stage will test them on their skills. It could include take-home assignments and interviewing with technical questions to see if they can handle the responsibilities of their role. For non-technical roles, take home assignments or case studies are given to assess how candidates would handle workplace scenarios.

4. Onsite

The onsite is typically the longest stage in the interview process and often involves multiple interviews with leadership and other stakeholders from different teams. The onsite may also be conducted over several days or there is a final interview with the CEO or a founder.

5. Offer

The final stage is making an offer. Once you’ve found the right hire, make an offer quickly that's commensurate with their experience and benchmarks for the position.

To keep candidates engaged and in the interview pipeline, you should make sure to schedule the next interviews within 24 hours of each round. This way you don’t lose out on top candidates by making them wait too long.

Assessing candidate’s skills and experience

Now that we’ve covered the structure of the interview process. Let’s take a more in-depth look at some of the steps. Assessing a candidate's skills and experience is one of the more obvious steps of the interview process, but this is a where some startups get stuck. While you want your candidates to have the right skills and experience to complete their responsibilities, you may not want candidates who can only do one thing really well. At startups, having candidates with diverse and versatile skill sets can be especially useful because they might have to wear a lot of hats and jump between projects as the needs of the business shift.

With that being said, technical roles can be evaluated through practical assessments such as coding challenges, take-home assessments and other tests that evaluate their abilities. For non-technical roles, you can focus on asking questions about past experience and accomplishments. This is where those behavioral and situational questions we talked about earlier come in handy.

Evaluating cultural fit for startups

Cultural fit should never be undervalued during the interview process. At startups, your team defines your culture and workplace. You should always prioritize finding people who align with your company’s goals and vision, as this leads to more long-term hires who want to grow with the company. To evaluate cultural fit, ask questions about a candidate’s work preferences, values and how they handle conflict.

Don’t hesitate to ask specific questions that pertain to your company goals either. It’s good to learn what candidates think about your company's mission, so you can decide if they’re a good fit and if they’ll get along well with the rest of your team.

Making a decision

The penultimate step in the interview process is making a decision. You should meet with all interviewers and stakeholders to compare notes and talk about the candidates in the running. Come to a consensus on who is the best fit for the company from both a skill perspective and a cultural perspective. At Dover, we recommend all interviewers complete a feedback form that scores candidates. At the end of the interview process, we recommend that the hiring team and interviewers debrief about each candidate - their strengths and weakness - and recommend if they should be hired. Once you’ve decided on who is the best fit for your company, you can extend an offer.

Extending an offer

Finally, extend an offer to your top candidate. You should make the offer promptly to prevent delays and to avoid them taking an offer elsewhere. Make sure to include salary, benefits and other relevant details so they have all the information they need to make a decision. Also, ensure your offer includes a reasonable time frame that encourages a prompt response, while also allowing them time to respond with any questions they might have. You should also be prepared to negotiate, especially if the candidate is experienced and checks all of your boxes. Once they accept, then you’re ready to onboard them to your company.

Common recruiting mistakes to avoid

No company is immune to recruiting mistakes. But, there are some common mistakes that many startups make that you can plan to avoid. These common mistakes include:

• Not casting a wide net – Maybe you’ve made one or two great hires off LinkedIn, but that doesn’t mean you should be limiting your job listings to only one job board. Casting too small of a net could cause you to miss out on a lot of candidates. Take advantage of multiple channels like job boards, employee referrals and other sourcing options to widen your net.

• Rushing – Make sure you don’t rush the interview process just because you need to fill a role fast. Taking shortcuts could lead to bad decisions and costly turnover. Take the time to thoroughly vet candidates and make the right choice the first time.

• Lagging – On the flip side, taking too long can also be detrimental. A slow, inefficient hiring process wastes time and could cause you to lose out on top talent. Make sure your hiring process is thorough but efficient.

• Hyper-fixing on technical skills – Technical skills are important, but requiring super-specific expertise can hamstring your hiring efforts. Adaptable generalists are sometimes the best hires you can make.

• Undervaluing cultural fit – Cultural fit should always be a major priority for startups. You want to maintain a healthy culture that pushes your mission forward and makes the work environment enjoyable for everyone.

• Avoid hiring tools and resources – Some startups can get too tight with their budgets and avoid hiring software and other resources that can actually save them money in the long run. Plus, there are plenty of free tools out there like Dover’s ATS that are a no-brainer when it comes to optimizing your hiring pipeline.