In: Operations Management
Entrepreneurship in Action
Facebook Interview Process
Facebook has developed a rigorous application process for prospective employees that ensures that the company gets top talent and finds people who fit the Facebook culture. For those interested in technical jobs, Facebook offers an online timed coding challenge, open to all, where the best performers automatically win a phone interview.
The phone interview is the first major step in the hiring process. It covers the candidate’s résumé and questions about previous work experiences, especially about the leadership roles they have held in the past. Facebook recruiters pay close attention to candidates who have been successful in previous positions and show a passion for the work they did on that job. The length of the résumé is not important at Facebook. What recruiters look for is demonstrated excellence and accomplishments. For some positions, applicants may go through second, third, and even fourth telephone interviews. Some of these telephone screenings can be quite lengthy and may involve collaborative online problem-solving exercises with the person conducting the interview.
Those who pass the telephone screening are flown to the company’s Silicon Valley headquarters for a series of on-site interviews with the hiring manager and several team members who are part of the work group. These interviews are designed to determine candidates’ skills and their fit with the Facebook’s unique culture. Team members ask many questions about the candidate’s experience working in teams and make note of how they interact with the team members doing the interview. If a candidate is applying for a technical position, he or she faces more skill-based challenges and a take-home test. The team assesses not only the candidate’s skills and abilities but also the approach they take to problem solving. Creative solutions are particularly important.
Candidates have the opportunity to offer suggestions on how they might make the Facebook product or user experience better. Interviewers want to see specific solutions and metrics to assess how the improvements are working.
Some of the typical questions asked in Facebook interviews are not that typical. Questions such as, “If you were an animal what kind would you be and why?,” “What is the difference between Facebook ads and Google Ads?,” “Should Facebook be available in China?,” and “What do you see as Facebook’s biggest challenge in the next five years?” are common. The goal of these questions is to see how each candidate responds when faced with questions that they could not prepare for in advance.
Facebook employees who are involved in the interview process then make a collective decision on the candidate’s fit for the position.
Interview teams expect applicants for nontechnical positions, such as business operations, sales, marketing, or analytics, to have done a great deal of research into Facebook before they arrive for the interview. “If you are going to work for Facebook tomorrow, what project do you want to work on?” was one question posed to a recent applicant for a market research position.
Facebook managers recognize that once they have made the decision to hire, the candidate also must make a decision about his or her fit with the company’s culture. “After the interview, I wasn’t sure if I would be happy working at Facebook,” says one software engineer candidate, “so they let me come back and speak with my would-be manager and director, as well as some coworkers, so I could make a good decision.”
“We’re primarily looking for builders,” says Thomas Arnold, head of recruitment at Facebook, which prides itself on its entrepreneurial spirit. The company has maintained a flat organizational structure that is best for those who seek to be empowered in their jobs and are highly self-motivated.
Strong applicants also “just get the social space,” says Arnold, and interviewers confirm this by making sure that the candidate is an active Facebook user. If an applicant has not used his or her Facebook account for several weeks, recruiters take this is a sign that he or she will not be a good fit.
Answer the following questions:
What are the principles behind Facebook’s interview process? Do you think it is too complex? Explain.
What does the interview process tell you about Facebook’s culture? Explain.
Can Facebook’s interview process be applied in companies that are not technology based? How might it be applied to a company that makes golf clubs?
Why is hiring new employees so important for a small business? Why is it so difficult? How does the process at Facebook address some of the challenges that companies face when hiring?
Write a 1-2 page paper detailing the above questions, and be sure to cite your references.
1. What are the principles behind Facebook’s interview process? Do you think it is too complex? Explain.
Facebook follows 3 principles in hiring people for their work.
According to Lori Goler, Head of People, Facebook, three guiding principles they are following in recruitment process.
No, in my perspective following these three principles are not too complex. Now a days the persons who are seeking for the job are well prepared and have good ability to offer their performance what the company is expected.
First principle like Person's strength , Facebook evaluate the persons past performance and the persons future ability in order to meet the company's expectations. So that the candidates may highlights the important points regarding his/her past performances.
Second principle like creative and driven force of the candidates also can be easily identified with certain techniques and the questions asked. The most importantly the problem solving capacity is very essential for the candidate for any type of business. by giving case situations and problems asking them how they will solve that particular issues can help the recruiting person to find the right candidate.
Third principle like the candidates learning capacity in past what they learned in the past experience is vry important. Their ambition and the attitude for future improvement is very essential. By asking certain questions and the reviewing the information given by the candidate about their past experience the recriuter can identify the right candidate.
2. What does the interview process tell you about Facebook’s culture? Explain.
Facebook's interview culture shows how they are giving importance to the persons strength, Ambition and creativity. Facebook wants the things to be open ended rather that true or false statements. So that they can find out more that what they are expecting from the candidates. If they found positive signals then they cand find promising right persons for the right job. Facebook used to lookout the goods.
3. Can Facebook’s interview process be applied in companies that are not technology based? How might it be applied to a company that makes golf clubs?
All the companies wheather they are related with technology based or not can apply the same principles what Facebook is applied give great benefit for their company. Golf cubs may also applied the same techniques to recruit candidates which has the situational analysis of the same structure.
4.Why is hiring new employees so important for a small business? Why is it so difficult? How does the process at Facebook address some of the challenges that companies face when hiring?
Hiring new employees is so important which decides the success of the company. The new employee has to adjust the company new environments different attituds. Hence it is difficult to recruit new employees becouse from different culture and different locations. Facebook faces all the challenges in a successful manner.