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Why Baselining Your Technical Interviews is a Game-Changer
In this first issue, we explore how baselining interviews can transform your hiring process, helping you identify top tech talent faster and more effectively
Yuliia Yerokhina
April 03, 2025
Hey there! This is our very first issue, and we’re thrilled to have you here. Every two weeks, we’ll be sharing the best tips and strategies to help you hire top tech talent. Let’s get started!
Why Baselining Your Technical Interviews is a Game-Changer
One of the most important yet overlooked aspects of technical hiring is baselining your interviews. Many companies create an interview process, start screening candidates, and only later realize they lack a clear benchmark for evaluating skills effectively.
What is Interview Baselining?
Baselining means testing your interview process on your own team before using it externally. Take some of your top engineers—and even some who may not be as strong—and have them go through the same technical assessment. By doing this, you create a reliable benchmark that helps you compare external candidates objectively.
Why This Matters
Without a baseline, hiring teams often “fly blind,” making it harder to distinguish between a truly great candidate and one who simply performs well under pressure. A strong baseline allows interviewers to:
✅ Identify top talent faster
✅ Ensure consistency in hiring decisions
✅ Reduce bias and gut-feel hiring
Real-World Results
A well-structured interview process can dramatically impact hiring success. In one case, the same technical interview was conducted over 500 times across different regions. The pass rate varied significantly:
India: ~150 interviews to find a passing candidate
U.S. & Ukraine: ~20 interviews to find a passing candidate
These insights highlight the importance of adapting hiring strategies based on location, market, and talent availability.
Final Takeaway
If you haven’t already, start baselining your interviews today. It will make your hiring process more structured, fair, and effective, helping you find the best software engineers faster.
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