3-step interview

A 3-Step Interview Process Defined

• Initial Examination: This is the first point of contact between the candidate and the company. It generally includes a review of the candidate’s resume and is followed by a brief interview to verify the information shared and gauge basic fit with the role.
• Technical Assessment: This includes tests or tasks that measure technical proficiency or aptitude. For example, this may involve coding tests for technical positions, design tests for creative positions, or case studies for analytical roles.
• Final Interview: The final stage centers around assessing fit with company culture and growth potential. Typically it includes interviews with upper-management and conversations about your career goals and company values.
• Technology Sector: The first round tends to be a phone interview about past projects. The technical assessment could involve a live coding exercise, and the final interview would be intended to assess you for teamwork and problem-solving skills.
• Healthcare Sector: Applicants might begin with a certification review in the early stages of the process and a technical assessment with a patient case study or simulation. The last one would be the opportunity to evaluate how they handle stressful scenarios and dealing with patients.
• Do: Set out clear criteria for each stage so that the assessment is focused
• Do: Give candidates feedback at every stage of the process, which can enrich their experience and leave them with a favorable impression.
• Don’t: Add unnecessary steps to the process.
• Do: Ensure the final interview probes cultural and interpersonal dynamics, not just technical assessments.
•  “Can you take us through your resume?” This open-ended has the purpose to evaluate how the candidate presents their professional experience as well as the applicability of that experience to the role.
• “Now, looking at [specific problem], how would you go about solving it?” And this tests your problem-solving skills and technical knowledge.
• Describe a difficult project and how you overcame it.
• This question evaluates your leadership skills, resilience and project management capabilities.

The 3-step interview process is a structured method used by organizations to select and hire theoknowledge for job roles. Technically, this process comprises three separate phases for which each measures an aspect that relates to a candidate’s and/or the company’s fit in regards to the role. By conducting a 3-step interview process, candidates are holistically evaluated on their technical and practical fit for the role.In step one, organizations are trying to get rid of undesired candidates in the initial screening. During this stage, resumes and cover letters are typically reviewed, and a preliminary interview, typically over the phone or by video call, is conducted. It is aimed at confirming that candidates possess minimum eligibility and suitability.The second step, called the technical evaluation, goes deeper into the professional skills of the candidate. Stage 2: Proficiency assessment This stage can take the form of technical tests, problem-solving exercises, or hands-on tasks tailored to the job role. This one is to test the candidate on their level of expertise, subject depth, and the applicability of their learnings. Last comes the deep dive interview, the one where candidates face off with senior management or the hiring team. At this stage, judgments may be made that are more subjective, looking at issues of cultural fit, interpersonal skills, and potential for growth within the company. Thus, the 3-part interview process is a mix between technical and practical relevance which will help in shortlisting the right candidates.

Core Principles of the 3-Step Interview Process

Components

The interview has three steps: STEP 1 → Initial Screening STEP 2 → Technical Evaluation STEP 3 → Final Interview

Principles

The three principles( thoroughness, relevance and consistency) that guide the 3 step interview process. A thoroughness does mean that each candidate is grilled on all fronts, leaving no skill or disposition that is critical to success, unassessed. The relevance of the assessment is ensured by adapting every stage to the needs of the job role. By applying consistent criteria across stages, all representatives of the corporate fit are given the same opportunity and evaluated on the same factors.

Implementing the 3-Step Interview Process, with Examples

Industry Relevant Contexts

Flexibility helps further refine the 3-step interview process for any industry, with each building out each stage according to need. “The technical assessment, for example, will vary within your industry—the tech sector may have a coding challenge or system architecture discussion.” The finance sector, on the other hand, may emphasize case studies and quantitative analysis exercises.

Examples For Implementation

A top software company realized that the format of the interviews should be different for hiring senior developers and switched to this 3-step process. A technical test and project management scenario during the technical evaluation phase helped them shortlist candidates with the right coding capability and team leadership.

The 3-Step Interview Process

Do's and Don'ts

To streamline the 3-step interview process, companies should apply specific best practices:

Common Pitfalls

Common mistakes on the 3-step interview process include overlooking the need for cultural fit, overemphasizing technical skills at the expense of important competencies, and failing to communicate to candidates in a timely matter. Thus these were a few pointers which can be avoided in order to ensure a better process of hiring in Organizations.

3-Step Process for Interviewing Common Interview Questions

Basic Level

So, during the first stage questions like:

Advanced Level

For the technical evaluation and final interview, questions could look like:Providing specific examples and detailed explanations in response to these sorts of questions can demonstrate a candidate’s expertise and capacity to tackle the challenges of their role effectively.

Related Ideas in the 3-Step Interview Process

Supporting Methods

The 3-step interview process could be improved even further by adding things like behavioral interviews to assess how someone's past behavior can be an indicator of future performance or situational interviews that put candidates in hypothetical situations to see how they react and what their thought process is like.

Dependencies

Candidate management and communication are often streamlined using tools during this interview process, such as applicant tracking systems (ATS) to help keep everything organized. It can also be used in conjunction with pre-employment assessments that offer more insight into a candidate's mindset and cognitive abilities. By learning how these related concepts work together and combining them effectively, companies can build a strong and integrated interview process capable of selecting not only for skills but also for fit and room to grow with the company.

This 3-step interview process represents a new approach to hiring by determining if someone is the right technical fit without losing sight of what this means in practice, helping companies to pick people who are good performers and cultural fits.