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Hi Guys I am looking to switch to Amazon, Microsoft in a Data Scientist position by normally applying to website but haven't seen any success. If any you Amazonian can help me out with referrals or help me reach out to the HR for an interview, it would be highly helpful. Please reach out for detailed discussion and resume. Please drop your Linked I'd on Mail- rajatabhi605@gmail.com (Don't have enough privileges on the platform for DM)
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Pay them please. Narrow the talent pool and temp hire a few finalists for a test project/design challenge. I've only ever had one potential employer ask for this as part of the hiring process. First test day, I did a design for an existing client using a brief that they had already delivered. Passed that, so they extended my test do a second small job to test a real work flow with other team members. It was one day of design pitch and two days of building out the product. I appreciated the investment to see if it was a fit because in the end, it wasn't for either party and we parted ways amicably.
Make sure the challenge has nothing to do with your product or company.
This is really important. If you are a B2B company, make a B2C design challenge. If you are a large company, make a startup oriented question - and vice versa. Make sure they can’t prep for it.
So years ago I was asked by Spotify to do a design assignment as part of the interview (I had the weekend to complete). I CRUSHED the assignment, then turned down the job offer. They aggressively tried to get me onboard, but honestly the process was too long and a bit of a turn off.
A big part of hiring is trust and the “leap of faith”. Remember it’s a leap of faith for whoever you hire as well. Just know that while your dragging them along other companies are aggressively hiring. Good luck.
Yeah, very true. Good skilled candidates are evaluating the employer and their culture. Design challenges, esp. time intensive, very specific ones send a message of "are corporate culture is not one of trust. We saw your portfolio and resume, we did some interviews with you: all great, but you may be a fraud! So here's a design challenge." Or the other culture signal it represents is "are org is a hot mess with lots of incompetent hiring managers. We sure hired a lot of duds because we suck at this process! So now we're doing design challenges!". All of that just tells good, smart, high caliber prospects to stay away and avoid that employer IMO.
One of the designers on my team once said to me "You cannot edit and create at the same time" and it really stuck with me. I believe it comes from this Kevin Kelly quote:
"Separate the processes of creation from improving. You can’t write and edit, or sculpt and polish, or make and analyze at the same time. If you do, the editor stops the creator. While you invent, don’t select. While you sketch, don’t inspect. While you write the first draft, don’t reflect. At the start, the creator mind must be unleashed from judgement."
When you do an in person design exercise you force the designer to edit in their head while trying to create because, well, it's an interview. There is a level of judgement inherent in an interview scenario that does not breed creativity. It's not you as a company are judgemental—but you are there to judge whether or not the designer could be a fit for the role and the company, which creates an environment entirely incorrect for the creative process and evaluation.
This process is broken in so many ways. I know the weight of the “take home” design exercise has pushed companies toward in person sessions—but I think it’s a huge mistake and an unfair data point, as well as a huge amount of stress to put on your candidates.
Mentor
Instead of a challenge, why not ask them to tell you about a time they did whatever you are hiring them to do?
Ex: need someone to focus on design systems for a large SaaS? Ask them when they’ve done some of the key tasks of it. Ask for specifics. A design challenge doesn’t really prove much imo