I worked at a company where we interviewed frequently in teams of two.
The pairs were chosen mostly at random from the large development team, except that at least one would be more experienced with the company, typically.
The first team of two would get to know the person.
The second team would do a technical interview.
If the candidate did well by getting four thumbs-ups, they would often be invited to have lunch with members of the team they could be joining. Unless lunch went horribly, they would then meet with a director for the final interview.
Eventually the lunch part was skipped, but it was a helpful way to expose potential culture or tech fit problems that were missed earlier.
This process worked really well, with the exception of the candidate often having to explain some part of their background three times.
I’ve never been part of an interview since that I liked as much, and we didn’t wear out.
> Eventually the lunch part was skipped, but it was a helpful way to expose potential culture or tech fit problems that were missed earlier.
Maybe it's due to how you wrote it, but this is a big red flag.
Firstly, lunch should not be an interview. Everyone enjoys themselves except the candidate who is carefully trying to navigate a high pressure unknown situation that's mixing professional and social expectations.
Second - "culture" is a bad word, it's loaded with bias. What "culture" are you exposing during lunch - that the candidate is vegetarian? Halal? Sober? Are you looking for someone "friendly" aka an extrovert?
Third - What are "tech fit" problems, and how are they identified during lunch? The candidate is busy trying to eat very politely and be friendly after a day of interviews, you shouldn't be expecting any technical performance.
Lunch is lunch. Give the candidate the option to take it on their own, or with a non-interview employee who's there to answer the candidate's own questions.
I’ve done this as well and agree. It’s also good to have one person taking notes and listening for cues while the other is driving the conversation.
We did encounter one issue though. We had a few engineering team leads involved that happened to be women, and there were a few candidates that basically didn’t acknowledge them and would look at me or other men when answering the technical questions. It was quite unnerving to see it so blatantly.
The pairs were chosen mostly at random from the large development team, except that at least one would be more experienced with the company, typically.
The first team of two would get to know the person.
The second team would do a technical interview.
If the candidate did well by getting four thumbs-ups, they would often be invited to have lunch with members of the team they could be joining. Unless lunch went horribly, they would then meet with a director for the final interview.
Eventually the lunch part was skipped, but it was a helpful way to expose potential culture or tech fit problems that were missed earlier.
This process worked really well, with the exception of the candidate often having to explain some part of their background three times.
I’ve never been part of an interview since that I liked as much, and we didn’t wear out.