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What do candidates want to know? Data from 1000s of interviews

Amos Cariati

Customer Success

November 8, 2023

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3 min

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At Dover, we’ve conducted over 27,000 interviews on behalf of hundreds of startups, across various roles including engineering, marketing, product, and sales.

This provides us with remarkable perspective (and data) about what candidates actually want to know about your job opportunity!

Below are some of the most frequently asked questions we encounter regularly. We’ll start with some of the most critical questions we see followed by role-specific (ie. Engineering) topics.

Consider this: Is your team ready to confidently field these questions? Mastery in responding to these could very well be the deciding factor in securing your ideal candidate.

At Dover, we’ve conducted over 27,000 interviews on behalf of hundreds of startups, across various roles including engineering, marketing, product, and sales.

This provides us with remarkable perspective (and data) about what candidates actually want to know about your job opportunity!

Below are some of the most frequently asked questions we encounter regularly. We’ll start with some of the most critical questions we see followed by role-specific (ie. Engineering) topics.

Consider this: Is your team ready to confidently field these questions? Mastery in responding to these could very well be the deciding factor in securing your ideal candidate.

Interview Process

One of the top questions candidates have is about the interview process, and timeline.

What does the rest of the interview process look like?
What is the hiring timeline?
How many people are you hiring for this role?

Company

A lot of these are easily addressed on a job description but are vital to helping candidates paint a basic picture of your team and work environment. Save yourself the trouble and make this information publicly available (plus then you’ll know if someone hasn’t done their homework).

What is the team culture like?
What is the current team size / structure?
How does the company prioritize DEI, if at all?
Where are your offices located / where is the rest of the team based?
How do you differentiate yourselves from competitors?
What is your company’s growth trajectory?
Do you support visa transfers / sponsorships?

More Sensitive:

What is the company’s runway / burn rate? Are you profitable?
Have there been layoffs?
What’s the next milestone for the company?

Role Basics

Job descriptions often outline relevant skillsets, experiences, and requirements - but often they miss out on describing what a day in the life will actually look like. This is your opportunity to excite candidates with descriptions of unique challenges and opportunities they may face in-role.

Who will I report to / who will I be working with on a regular basis?
What does the day-to-day look like in this role?
What are the responsibilities?
What does the onboarding process look like?
What are the short and long term expectations for this role?
Are there growth opportunities?
Is this your first hire for this type of role?

Work location, compensation & benefits

Candidate expectations around compensation and benefits are rapidly evolving - especially with the prevalence of remote work opportunities. Unsurprisingly, these are big topics on candidates’ minds.

Is remote work an option?
- (Hybrid) What’s the breakdown of in-office vs. remote days?
- (Remote/Hybrid) Will a home office budget be offered?
- (Relocation) What does a typical relocation package look like?
What is the base compensation for the role?
- OTE / Bonus?
- Other added benefits?
- Do you offer any professional and personal development allowances?
- What’s your cadence for doing compensation adjustments?
- Does the offer include equity?

Engineering

What is the tech stack?

What is the product development process?
What is the code review process?
How do you handle the oncall rotation?
Is the focus on front-end or back-end for this role?

Sales

Are sales primarily inbound or outbound, or a hybrid of both?

What does the sales process / deal cycle look like?
What are the sizes of the businesses I will target?
What is the quota and what are the goals and expectations?
What CRM do you use?

Product

What is unique about the product?

What part of the product would I be owning?
What is the planning process?
What is the product development process?
What does the product roadmap look like short-term and long-term?
Will I be working on a product from scratch or has the product already been launched?

What is unique about the product?

What part of the product would I be owning?
What is the planning process?
What is the product development process?
What does the product roadmap look like short-term and long-term?
Will I be working on a product from scratch or has the product already been launched?

What is unique about the product?

What part of the product would I be owning?
What is the planning process?
What is the product development process?
What does the product roadmap look like short-term and long-term?
Will I be working on a product from scratch or has the product already been launched?

Marketing

What is the “North Star” for the marketing team?

What type of budget will I be able to work with?
What types of campaigns will be produced?
Would this role be focused more on platforms or would it be working more with agencies?

What is the “North Star” for the marketing team?

What type of budget will I be able to work with?
What types of campaigns will be produced?
Would this role be focused more on platforms or would it be working more with agencies?

What is the “North Star” for the marketing team?

What type of budget will I be able to work with?
What types of campaigns will be produced?
Would this role be focused more on platforms or would it be working more with agencies?

Operations

Does the role entail traditional Customer Experience / Operational work?

What processes need to be scaled up?
Is there product oversight for scaling?
What does scaling the operations team look like?
What is the company’s process for setting OKRs?

Does the role entail traditional Customer Experience / Operational work?

What processes need to be scaled up?
Is there product oversight for scaling?
What does scaling the operations team look like?
What is the company’s process for setting OKRs?

Does the role entail traditional Customer Experience / Operational work?

What processes need to be scaled up?
Is there product oversight for scaling?
What does scaling the operations team look like?
What is the company’s process for setting OKRs?

Design

Is there core product a mobile or web-specific product?

What is the biggest design challenge the team is currently facing?
What is the team’s design process?
Will the role focus on platform or user interface?
What is the dynamic/environment like for UX design on the team?

Is there core product a mobile or web-specific product?

What is the biggest design challenge the team is currently facing?
What is the team’s design process?
Will the role focus on platform or user interface?
What is the dynamic/environment like for UX design on the team?

Is there core product a mobile or web-specific product?

What is the biggest design challenge the team is currently facing?
What is the team’s design process?
Will the role focus on platform or user interface?
What is the dynamic/environment like for UX design on the team?

Human Resources

What are the one-year goals for the growth of the HR function?

How much recruitment is involved in this role?
- Is there a separate recruitment team?
- What ATS do you use?
What HR systems do you currently use?
What is your HR technology stack?
Does this role include payroll processing?
Will I be able to work in employee engagement?
What is your employee Net Promoter Score?

What are the one-year goals for the growth of the HR function?

How much recruitment is involved in this role?
- Is there a separate recruitment team?
- What ATS do you use?
What HR systems do you currently use?
What is your HR technology stack?
Does this role include payroll processing?
Will I be able to work in employee engagement?
What is your employee Net Promoter Score?

What are the one-year goals for the growth of the HR function?

How much recruitment is involved in this role?
- Is there a separate recruitment team?
- What ATS do you use?
What HR systems do you currently use?
What is your HR technology stack?
Does this role include payroll processing?
Will I be able to work in employee engagement?
What is your employee Net Promoter Score?

If you’re interested in working with our team of expert interviewers, check out our Embedded Recruiter offering.