What should the “pass rate” be when you interview someone for a job?
The pass rate is just a simple measure of how often you move any one candidate to the next round. Let’s say you interview someone for a software engineering job, and you can give the candidate a “thumbs up” or a “thumbs down” — what should the “thumbs up” rate be?
The short answer is: it’s complicated.
If your pass rate is 1%, you will be spending all your time interviewing. You rarely think the person you interview would be a good eventual hire, which leads to more interviews with other candidates. It will take you forever to fill the position.
However, if your pass rate is 99%, you are likely too discriminatory against people to do a round of interviews in the first place. You are choosing not to hire people that could be great hires for your organization.
And if your pass rate is 99%, what is the use in interviewing people in the first place? Almost every “candidate” is making it to the next round.
Imagine a sports league where all the teams that competed against each other in the regular season make the playoffs. What was the point of the regular season? It was a waste of time.
So is having a pass rate of 99%.
Pass rates should depend on how many people you’ve hired for a particular position in the past.
Imagine you’re a super software engineer, and you have hired hundreds of software engineers in your career. You should have a reasonably good idea of what you are looking for in a new hire. During the interview process, your rate of giving someone a “thumbs up” should be 30-50%.
If your pass rate is below 30-50%, you need to screen your candidates better.
If it is below that, you (or the colleagues before you) did not vet the candidate enough before you interviewed them. You may not have gone through their resume closely enough, examined their portfolio in enough detail, etc.
With a pass rate below 30-50%, interviewing is not a good use of your time. You can screen candidates who are right for the job, but you or your team are not doing it.
If your pass rate is above 50%, you need to take more risks.
If your pass rate is above 50%, you need to bring in more “riskier” candidates - those who may not look exactly the part on paper, but who may bring a different perspective. This will simultaneously lower your pass rate and expose you to outliers who can change the dynamic of your company.
This is important. The best candidate may not be the one who looks like a perfect fit on paper right now. But, A-Players grow at a tremendous speed. You’re better off finding an A-Player who can grow into the position (and eventually surpass it) than hiring a C-Player who is a perfect fit right now.
With a pass rate of less than 50%, you do not take enough risks within your interview process.
A simple rule is that the more familiar you are with the position, the higher the pass rate.
That makes sense. The more you hire for a position, the better you should be at identifying the right background in candidates. And if you’re bringing in the right candidates, more of them should make it to the second round, giving you a higher pass rate.
You should also already have systems in place for this kind of hire, be it skill-testing questions, programming questions, etc. The more familiar you are with the process, the more you know about the type of candidate you want in the room.
But now, let’s say you are interviewing for a position that you don’t have a lot of experience hiring for. You are a new founder and have a lot of experience hiring engineers, but now you need to hire salespeople.
This is more tricky. In this case, you might want to broaden your search (be less discriminatory) and talk with a broader set of people. The irony is that by interviewing a full spectrum of people, you’ll learn a lot about the specific kind of salesperson you want on your team. You’ll also learn some stuff about sales you probably didn’t know before.
This wide-net approach means you will have a significantly lower pass rate (maybe it gets as low as 10%) because you’ll be meeting all different kinds of salespeople with diverse backgrounds, and many of them won’t be the right fit.
It’s kind of like eating at a buffet. If you don’t know exactly what you want to eat, you pile a bunch of different things onto your plate and then really decide what you want once you’re back at your table and nibble on a few.
So the less familiar you are with the position, the lower the pass rate.
CEOs spend a lot of time recruiting for positions they have little experience in.
One of the reasons CEOs spend so much time interviewing is that almost anytime they are recruiting someone who reports to them, it is more of a one-off hire. It’s not a repeatable process that can be optimized.
You hire only one CTO while you might hire 100 engineers. You hire only one CRO while you might hire 100 salespeople.
So, CEOs need to see lots and lots of candidates early in every process. The more people they see, the more they’ll learn about precisely the kind of person they want for the “one-off” (and incredibly important) hire.
For these interviews, their pass rate should be very low because they see a TON of candidates and are not sure what they want.
It also helps to have a support system (excellent management team, industry peers, etc.) who can provide some level of feedback on what your ideal hire looks like. It’s hard operating and hiring in a vacuum. Try and get as much feedback as you can from people you trust.
So, what should the “pass rate” be when you interview someone for a job?
It depends. The more you’ve hired for a role in the past, the higher the pass rate (30-50%), and the less you’ve hired for a position in the past, the lower the pass rate (10-30%).
If you feel something is “off” in your interview process, the pass rate can be a good indicator of where the problem is. Track it, adjust it, and play with it depending on the role.
Like every company, you’re only as good as the people you hire.
If you are interested in a career at SafeGraph, please join us!
Special thanks to Thomas Waschenfelder for his help and edits.
As a seasoned expert in the field of hiring and recruitment, my experience spans various industries, with a particular focus on software engineering and leadership roles. I have successfully hired and managed teams, demonstrating a nuanced understanding of the intricacies involved in selecting the right candidates for the right positions. My insights are not just theoretical; they are derived from practical experience and a track record of building high-performing teams.
Now, let's delve into the concepts discussed in the article about determining the "pass rate" in job interviews:
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Pass Rate Defined:
- The pass rate is a simple measure of how often a candidate progresses to the next round after an interview.
- It's a binary decision: "thumbs up" or "thumbs down."
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Complications with Extreme Pass Rates:
- A pass rate of 1% can result in excessive time spent on interviews, delaying the hiring process.
- Conversely, a 99% pass rate indicates potential discrimination and renders the interview process less meaningful.
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Pass Rates in Relation to Hiring History:
- For seasoned professionals who have hired extensively for a role (e.g., a super software engineer), a pass rate of 30-50% during interviews is recommended.
- A pass rate below 30-50% suggests a need for better candidate screening.
- A pass rate above 50% suggests a lack of willingness to take risks and consider diverse perspectives.
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Risk-Taking and Pass Rates:
- A pass rate below 50% indicates a reluctance to take risks in the interview process.
- Bringing in "riskier" candidates, even with a lower pass rate, can lead to the discovery of exceptional talents and dynamic individuals who can positively impact the company.
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Familiarity with the Position and Pass Rates:
- Pass rates correlate with the interviewer's familiarity with the position.
- The more familiar one is, the higher the pass rate, emphasizing the importance of experience in identifying the right candidates.
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Wide-Net Approach for Unfamiliar Positions:
- When hiring for a less familiar position, such as a CEO recruiting for a one-off executive role, a broader search and a lower pass rate (as low as 10%) may be acceptable.
- The wide-net approach allows for learning about diverse candidates and refining the understanding of the ideal hire.
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CEO's Unique Hiring Challenges:
- CEOs, especially when hiring for unique, one-off positions, often spend a significant amount of time interviewing to gain insights into the type of candidate they need.
- The pass rate for these interviews may be intentionally low due to the exploratory nature of the hiring process.
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Adjusting Pass Rates Based on Experience:
- Pass rates should be adjusted based on the level of experience one has in hiring for a specific role.
- If there's a sense that something is "off" in the interview process, the pass rate can serve as an indicator and should be tracked, adjusted, and experimented with.
In conclusion, the pass rate in job interviews is a dynamic metric that should be tailored to the unique context of the hiring process, considering the interviewer's experience, the position's familiarity, and the need for risk-taking in selecting the right candidates.
