Auditions – Testing for Team Fit

We’ve been talking about using auditions, or test projects, in hiring technical talent. In the first article, we talked about why auditions are important, and reviewed at a high level how to run a successful audition. In our next article, we covered how to test for technical competency during the audition.

In this article, we’re going to talk about how you use an audition to test for team fit as a part of your audition. In the last part of this series, we’ll cover how you assess growth potential during the audition.

When we talk about team fit, we’re talking about answering the following questions:

  • Can they work with your existing team?
  • Can they work like your team works?
  • Can they deliver within the given deadlines?

Working with Your Team

Aside from technical competency, which we covered in our last article, assessing work style is the most valuable part of an audition. Someone may have all of the required technical chops, but if you and your team can’t work with them, they’re still a bad fit. How do you structure your audition to answer this question?

First, make sure all of the resources required for the audition are available and ready to roll. This includes your existing team, as well as any other resources such as specific hardware or software related to the audition.

Second, make sure the goal of the audition is clear to your existing team. They need to work with the candidate as if they are already a member of the team, and to be recording observations along the way that can be discussed at the end of the audition.

Last, prepare the candidate properly. If they are going to be leading the audition, they need to know that going in. If there’s a specific goal or goals you’re trying to achieve, let them know this as well. Set them up for success rather than failure.

Working Like You Work

You want to run the audition as close to everyday life as possible. What does that mean, exactly?

  • If your team all works in the same office, the audition needs to take place in the office
  • If you’re considering hiring remotely, the audition should be remote
  • If you work primarily through chat apps like Slack, then run the audition through Slack
  • If your team plays ping pong, get the candidate involved in a ping pong match
  • If you start every new feature with a design session, start the audition with a design / whiteboard session

You get the idea. What are you looking for here? Two things: (1) Can the candidate fit in to your existing processes and (2) do they have suggestions or ideas about your process that make things better?

Hitting Deadlines

Any good audition has a well-defined conclusion and a specific time to be done. This should be communicated at the start of the audition. You can ask the candidate for when they can reasonably complete the project, or you can set the deadline yourself, or some combination of the two. The most important thing is that everyone is clear on expectations.

The main goal of setting a deadline is to assess how the candidate responds to pressure. You want them to either complete the project fully or to make reasonable decisions about what doesn’t get done if they have to compromise. You also want to pay close attention to how they work with others as the deadline approaches. Do they start getting short with the rest of the team? Do they start assessing blame?

Whatever you see on small scale here is what you will see every day if you hire them, so pay attention!

Just Remember

Along with assessing technical competency, understanding if the candidate can fit into your team and process is a key part of any successful audition. You’ll want to test their ability to:

  • Work with your team in the role you’re hiring them for. If they’re going to be leading, they should lead the audition. If they’re going to be reporting to someone, they should be led by that person in the audition.
  • Work like your team works. This includes the geography, process and chemistry of the existing team
  • Hit agreed-upon deadlines. Inability to produce results on time is an immediate disqualification

In our last article in this series, we’ll cover how to assess growth potential in a candidate.

I know you’re missing not having an assignment, but don’t worry. When we’re done with this series, you’ll get the chance to design some auditions on your own that we’ll share here on the site and with the community.