Let's start with a definition. I've decided to build on an existing definition of mental fatigue.
Interview Fatigue can manifest itself both as somnolence (decreased wakefulness) or just as a general decrease of attention, not necessarily including sleepiness. It may also be described as more or less decreased level of consciousness. In any case, this can be dangerous when performing tasks that require constant concentration, such as interviewing a billion candidates for one software developer position.
I have a reputation amongst recruiters for being very hard to please. Of course, I believe that this is totally unwarranted and simply put it down to the fact that most recruiters are too dependent on resume keyword scan and don't even understand the industry that they're paid to serve. But that's a topic for another post.
I guess the reason that I'm hard to please is that I look for developers that have both attitude and talent. That's not easy to find in an industry that is mostly populated by the stereotypical geek that still lives in his parent's basement.
For me, it's a source of pride that I've been able to build fantastic teams full of developers that could not only produce great results but could also have fun and work together as an actual team. That sort of thing is not easy to do, especially when you have recruiters constantly bombarding you with mediocre developers. With all of those so-so resumes and interview sheets in front of you, you start to think that those mediocre developers are actually representative of the market. Even worse, you start to second-guess yourself and contemplate lowering your standards. And just like that night where you had too many drinks at the bar, lowering your standards makes it easier for you to make a choice that you'll regret.
But there's hope. Here's my 3-step system for coping with Interview Fatigue.
Work in Teams
Don't do all of the interviews yourself. While you may already bring other folks (senior developers, architects, HR, etc.), chances are that you're still running the interview. While you may be the one that makes the final choice on which candidate gets an offer, you don't need to do all of the ground work too.
Create a standard list of interview questions (you can even get together with your team to create this) and work with your team so that they can perform interviews with you. Take the lead in a couple of interviews and then have a post-interview debrief with your co-interviewers so that they can take the lead on the next interviews.
Not only does this start to free you from being involved in every interview, it also starts to build leadership and confidence in your team.
Limit your Choices
The gut instinct when faced with a series of mediocre developers is to find more avenues into the market. Maybe picking up a couple more recruiters. Or placing an ad on Monster or Workopolis. However, this strategy is the exact opposite of what you should be doing.
Gaining greater access to the market will only inundate you with more mediocrity. The problem is that most recruiters, and definitely most career websites, don't know how to filter the wheat from the chaff. They simply log resumes and forward them to clients. Rather than perform a valuable service of selecting appropriate candidates, they rely on you to perform that selection.
The strategy that has worked for me in this situation is to actually reduce the number of recruiters that I deal with and focus on building a relationship with them. Work with them to understand what you're looking for. Come up with some pre-qualification questions that they can ask candidates so that you don't have to. "Drinking from the firehose" is the number one cause of Interview Fatigue. It only makes sense that the way to combat this is to reduce the size of the hose.
Stay Gold
The lower standards that come with Interview Fatigue can cause you to undermine your team with bad choices. Remember that you're not just trying to build a team - you're trying to build a great team. A team that is made of the top 10% of the market. That takes time and discipline. Find ways to remind yourself of that. Reiterate it in your meetings with your team. Find posters that are inspirational (but not too cheesy) and put them up. Make sure that everyone you work with knows your goal is to build the best team in town. Your words will be reflected back to you.
Thoughts?
Building a strong team of developers that have both attitude and talent is a difficult but extremely rewarding goal. I've found success following these pointers but I'm always willing to learn from the experiences of others. Share your thoughts in the comments.