Technical Interviews: What Recruiters Need to Know

You’re recruiting for a software engineer. The hiring manager says: “We need to do a technical interview.” You think: “What does that even mean? I’m not technical.”

The problem: Most recruiters avoid technical interviews because they don’t understand them. They let hiring managers handle everything, which creates confusion and delays.

The solution: Understand technical interviews even if you’re not technical. Know what they are, when to use them, and how to coordinate them. You’ll be more effective and help candidates have a better experience.

“Technical interviews aren’t about testing if someone can code - they’re about testing if someone can think like an engineer. As a recruiter, you don’t need to understand the code, but you do need to understand the process.” - Gayle Laakmann McDowell, author of “Cracking the Coding Interview”

Why Technical Interviews Matter

The reality: Technical roles require technical skills. You can’t assess those skills with a regular interview. You need technical assessments.

The numbers:

73% of technical hires fail because of poor technical skills, not soft skills
Technical interviews reduce bad hires by 40%
Candidates prefer technical assessments - they show you’re serious
Better technical hires = better products = happier customers

Real example: You hire a developer based on their resume and a regular interview. They seem great - good communication, nice personality. They start and can’t write basic code. You wasted 3 months and $50,000. A technical interview would have caught this.

What Are Technical Interviews?

What it sounds like: Coding tests and technical questions.

What it actually means: Assessments designed to evaluate technical skills, problem-solving ability, and how candidates think through technical challenges.

Types of Technical Interviews

1. Coding Challenges

What: Candidates write code to solve a problem
Format: Live coding, take-home assignments, or online platforms
Duration: 30 minutes to 2 hours
Purpose: Test coding ability and problem-solving

2. System Design Interviews

What: Candidates design a system or architecture
Format: Whiteboard, diagramming tools, or discussion
Duration: 45 minutes to 2 hours
Purpose: Test ability to design scalable systems

3. Technical Discussion

What: Deep dive into technical concepts and experience
Format: Conversation about past projects, technologies, challenges
Duration: 30-60 minutes
Purpose: Test knowledge and experience

4. Pair Programming

What: Candidate codes alongside an engineer
Format: Live coding session, working together
Duration: 1-2 hours
Purpose: Test collaboration and real-world coding

5. Take-Home Projects

What: Candidates complete a project on their own time
Format: Build something, then present it
Duration: 2-8 hours (usually over a few days)
Purpose: Test ability to build real solutions

Real example: You’re hiring a backend engineer. You do:

Technical discussion: Talk about their experience with APIs
Coding challenge: Solve a data structure problem
System design: Design a scalable database system

This gives you a complete picture of their technical skills.

When to Use Technical Interviews

Use technical interviews for:

Software engineers - Developers, backend, frontend, full-stack
Data scientists - Need to test analytical and coding skills
DevOps engineers - Infrastructure and automation skills
QA engineers - Testing and automation skills
Technical product managers - Need technical understanding
Any role requiring technical skills - If the job needs coding, test coding

Don’t use technical interviews for:

Non-technical roles - Sales, marketing, HR
Management-only roles - If they won’t be coding
Junior roles with training - If you’re teaching them, don’t test advanced skills
Contractors for simple tasks - Overkill for basic work

Real example: You’re hiring a technical writer. They need to understand code but won’t write it. Don’t do a coding challenge - do a technical discussion about how they’d explain a complex concept.

How to Coordinate Technical Interviews (Even If You’re Not Technical)

Your role as a recruiter:

Coordinate the process - Schedule, communicate, follow up
Set expectations - Tell candidates what to expect
Facilitate communication - Between candidates and hiring managers
Manage logistics - Tools, platforms, timing
Provide support - Help candidates prepare

What you DON’T need to do:

Evaluate technical skills - That’s for the hiring manager
Understand the code - You don’t need to read it
Make technical decisions - Leave that to engineers
Design the assessment - Work with the hiring manager

Real example: You’re coordinating a technical interview. You:

Schedule the interview with the candidate
Set up the coding platform (HackerRank, CoderPad, etc.)
Send the candidate preparation materials
Coordinate with the hiring manager
Follow up after the interview

You don’t need to understand the code - you just need to coordinate the process.

Common Technical Interview Formats

1. Live Coding Interviews

What it is: Candidate codes in real-time while an engineer watches.

Platforms:

CoderPad - Popular, easy to use
HackerRank - Good for coding challenges
CodeSignal - Automated and live options
Zoom + shared screen - Simple, free option

Pros:

See how they think in real-time
Can ask questions and get clarification
Tests problem-solving under pressure

Cons:

Can be stressful for candidates
Requires engineer’s time
Technical issues can derail it

Best for: Mid to senior engineers, roles requiring problem-solving under pressure.

Real example: You’re hiring a senior engineer. You do a live coding interview on CoderPad. The engineer watches them solve a problem, asks questions, and sees how they think. It’s stressful but reveals a lot.

2. Take-Home Assignments

What it is: Candidate completes a project on their own time, then presents it.

Format:

Give them a problem or project
They have 2-7 days to complete it
They present their solution
Team asks questions

Pros:

Less stressful for candidates
Tests real-world skills
Can see their code quality
More realistic than live coding

Cons:

Takes longer (days vs hours)
Candidates might get help
Harder to assess problem-solving process
Can be time-consuming for candidates

Best for: All levels, especially when you want to see code quality.

Real example: You give a candidate a take-home project: “Build a simple API that does X, Y, and Z.” They have 3 days. They come back with a working solution, clean code, and good documentation. You can see their real skills.

3. System Design Interviews

What it is: Candidate designs a system or architecture on a whiteboard or diagram.

Examples:

“Design a URL shortener like bit.ly”
“Design a chat system like Slack”
“Design a recommendation system”

Pros:

Tests high-level thinking
Relevant for senior roles
Shows architecture knowledge
Can discuss trade-offs

Cons:

Not relevant for junior roles
Hard to evaluate objectively
Requires experienced interviewer
Can be abstract

Best for: Senior engineers, architects, technical leads.

Real example: You’re hiring a senior engineer. You ask: “Design a system that can handle 1 million requests per second.” They draw diagrams, discuss trade-offs, and show their thinking. You see if they can design scalable systems.

4. Technical Discussion

What it is: Deep conversation about technical concepts, past projects, and experience.

Topics:

Past projects and challenges
Technologies they’ve used
Technical decisions they’ve made
How they approach problems

Pros:

Less stressful
Tests knowledge and experience
Good for assessing fit
Can go deep on specific topics

Cons:

Harder to verify claims
Can be subjective
Requires technical interviewer
Might miss coding skills

Best for: All levels, especially when combined with coding assessments.

Real example: You’re hiring a DevOps engineer. You discuss their experience with Kubernetes, how they’ve handled scaling issues, and their approach to monitoring. You learn about their real experience, not just what they can code.

How to Prepare Candidates for Technical Interviews

Why it matters: Prepared candidates give better interviews, which helps you evaluate them better.

What to tell candidates:

What to expect:
- “You’ll be doing a [coding challenge/system design/technical discussion]”
- “It will take about [X] hours”
- “You’ll be working with [engineer name]”
How to prepare:
- “Review data structures and algorithms”
- “Practice coding problems on LeetCode or HackerRank”
- “Think about past technical projects you can discuss”
- “Be ready to explain your thinking process”
What tools they’ll use:
- “We’ll use [platform name]”
- “You can use [programming language]”
- “You’ll have access to [resources]”
What you’re looking for:
- “We’re testing problem-solving, not memorization”
- “It’s okay if you don’t know everything - show your thinking”
- “We care about how you approach problems”

Real example: You tell a candidate: “You’ll do a 1-hour coding challenge on CoderPad. You can use Python, Java, or JavaScript. We’re looking for problem-solving ability, not perfect code. It’s okay to ask questions and think out loud.”

They come prepared, perform better, and you get a better assessment.

Common Technical Interview Mistakes

Mistake 1: Making it too hard

Problem: Asking senior-level questions to junior candidates
Solution: Match the difficulty to the role level

Mistake 2: Not setting expectations

Problem: Candidates don’t know what to expect
Solution: Tell them the format, duration, and what to prepare

Mistake 3: Using the wrong format

Problem: Live coding for a role that doesn’t need it
Solution: Match the format to what you’re testing

Mistake 4: Not giving feedback

Problem: Candidates don’t know how they did
Solution: Provide feedback, even if it’s a rejection

Mistake 5: Taking too long

Problem: 8-hour take-home projects
Solution: Keep it reasonable - 2-4 hours max

Mistake 6: Not testing the right skills

Problem: Testing algorithms for a role that doesn’t need them
Solution: Test skills relevant to the actual job

Real example: You give a junior developer a system design question meant for senior engineers. They fail, and you reject them. But the role doesn’t need system design skills - you tested the wrong thing.

Evaluating Technical Interviews (For Non-Technical Recruiters)

You don’t need to evaluate the code, but you should:

Coordinate feedback collection:
- Get the engineer’s assessment
- Ask specific questions: “How was their problem-solving?” “How was their code quality?”
- Document the feedback
Look for red flags:
- Engineer says: “They couldn’t solve basic problems”
- Engineer says: “Their code was messy and hard to read”
- Engineer says: “They didn’t ask questions or communicate”
Look for green flags:
- Engineer says: “Great problem-solving approach”
- Engineer says: “Clean, well-structured code”
- Engineer says: “Good communication and collaboration”
Ask follow-up questions:
- “Would you want to work with them?”
- “Do they have the skills for this role?”
- “Any concerns?”

Real example: After a technical interview, you ask the engineer: “How did it go?” They say: “Good problem-solving, but their code was messy.” You ask: “Is that a deal-breaker?” They say: “For this role, yes - we need clean code.” You know to move on.

Resources and Tools

Coding platforms:

CoderPad - Live coding interviews
HackerRank - Coding challenges and assessments
CodeSignal - Automated and live coding
LeetCode - Practice problems (for candidates)

System design resources:

System Design Primer - GitHub resource
Designing Data-Intensive Applications - Book
High Scalability - Blog with system design examples

Preparation resources (for candidates):

LeetCode - Practice coding problems
Cracking the Coding Interview - Book
Pramp - Mock interview platform
InterviewBit - Coding interview prep

Coordination tools:

Calendly - Schedule interviews
Google Calendar - Coordinate with team
Slack/Email - Communicate with candidates

Next Steps

For recruiters:

Learn the basics - Understand different technical interview types
Build relationships with engineers - They’ll help you coordinate
Create preparation materials - Help candidates succeed
Standardize the process - Same format for similar roles
Collect feedback - Learn what works and what doesn’t

For hiring managers:

Design appropriate assessments - Match the test to the role
Train interviewers - Make sure they know how to evaluate
Provide feedback - Help recruiters understand results
Iterate and improve - Refine based on what you learn

For candidates:

Practice coding problems - LeetCode, HackerRank
Review fundamentals - Data structures, algorithms
Prepare examples - Past projects you can discuss
Ask questions - Understand what to expect

Conclusion

Technical interviews don’t have to be scary, even if you’re not technical. Your job is to coordinate the process, set expectations, and facilitate communication. Leave the technical evaluation to the engineers.

Remember:

Technical interviews test technical skills - you need them for technical roles
Different formats test different things - match the format to what you’re testing
Prepare candidates - they’ll perform better and have a better experience
Coordinate, don’t evaluate - your job is process, not technical assessment
Get engineer feedback - they’ll tell you if someone is qualified

Do this right, and you’ll hire better technical talent. You don’t need to understand the code - you just need to understand the process.

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