Jeremy Burns

My rules

Show the candidate respect

• I always dial on the second the meeting is due. It shows attention, respect and planning.
• If they don't pick up, I'll try one more time in a few minutes. After that, I get back to the agent and carry on with something else.
• If I know I will be at all late (and I mean even less than a minute), I will try to let the candidate know ahead of time (either with a text message or through the agent).
• If I am inadvertently late, I will start by apologising fully and properly. It's bad form to be late. If I am more than a few minutes late I offer to rearrange.
• I try to speak way less than I listen but not to the point of creating awkward pauses. I use lots of open and clarifying questions to keep the candidate talking.
• I always put the feedback and the decision where it is needed immediately after the interview. I don’t want to leave the candidate waiting and wondering.

Sell the role

Always present the company, team and role positively. Make the candidate want it. It’s a competitive market and you need everything in your power to tip the candidate in your direction in the face of competing offers. I’ve often persuaded people to join instead of taking higher offers on the strength of the interview process.

What I’m looking for

I am looking for communication skills, relevant and recent experience, passion for doing something specific (front end, back end, app, even full stack is OK), manageability, teamwork and pride in their craft.

If I am unclear about the person, I give them the benefit of the doubt and proceed to the next interview stage. If there are any red flags or if there is a clear mismatch, I always decline to go further.

The rough script

I don't have a script but find myself running this method time and again.

Welcome

“Hello, is that [first name]? Hi, I'm [my name] from News UK - I hope you are expecting my call? Great. We probably only need 20 minutes today, but we have 30. It's very much a chance for us to get to know each other. This won't be terribly technical. And - please - let's make it relaxed - there really are no rules. Feel free to ask questions, interrupt, disagree, laugh, cry, argue - it really doesn't matter. There really are no rules. Is that OK? [People love this approach]So whilst this is very informal, I do have some rough questions to help steer our conversation. I'd like to start off by giving you an overview of the company, the team, the work and the tech stack so that you are really clear about it and can ask as many questions as you like. I'll give you straightforward answers. Is that OK? Cool, let's go.”

Introduction

“I'm [my name], [my role]. News UK is part of NewsCorp, which you might know is a huge global media empire. Here in the UK, we run The Times, The Sunday Times, The Sun (which I'll admit is a Marmite product - some love it, some don't - but it is the UK's biggest newspaper) and a bunch of radio stations, including Virgin, talkSPORT, talkRADIO and recently Times Radio. We're also in the process of launching a new news-based TV channel called News UK TV. So, exciting times.This role is for the [team] team doing [stuff]. There are about [count] engineers, and the tech stack is [tech stack]. We work in feature teams [add some context]. We're looking for a [role name] to do [stuff].Do you have any questions I can help you with around any of that?”