Checking References

Every Tandem applicant should be able to provide 2-3 professional references whom they have directly worked with. Ideally at least one of these will be a teammate, and another will be a former manager or client.

Introduction

Thank the person for taking the time. Tell them this will take 15-30 minutes and ask if this is still a good time.

Introduce yourself and Tandem.

I'm a X at Tandem. We're a web development and strategy company in the Bay Area. We help transform complex workflows, outdated technology, and cumbersome processes into elegant web applications that solve big problem.

Establish Relationship

1. What is your relationship to the candidate?
2. How long have you worked with the candidate?
3. What were some of the candidate’s responsibilities?

Skills

General

1. What are some of the candidate’s strengths?
2. What are some of the candidate’s weaknesses?
3. If the candidate has weaknesses, do you believe the candidate can overcome with within the first 90 days and with training?
4. Does the candidate have good listening and communication skills?

Dev Skills

1. Do you have experience with the candidate's development skills? AKA reviewed their code.
2. If so, would you classify them as more of a front-end or back-end developer?
3. What is the most difficult development task you've seen them complete?
4. Did they take the lead in architecting solutions? Participate in that process?

Departure

1. Why did the candidate leave the position?
2. Was the candidate a valuable member of your company?

Fit

1. Do you think the candidate is qualified for this job? Why or why not?
2. Why should I hire this candidate?
3. Would you work with the candidate again?