📈 #67 A modern playbook for interviewing Operations Research Engineers

A reliable 2-interview approach to find the best candidates

Interviews are challenging for interviewees.

I’ve been involved in lengthy processes without an offer and shorter ones that were direct.

Commonalities include reviewing my CV, a technical assessment, and another interview for the assessment review.

Other phases applied too, like the initial discussion with HR or meeting the team I’d collaborate with.

The processes I enjoyed most were agile, with straightforward parts and thorough profile reviews.

I disliked the long processes, live coding interviews, difficult assessments that consumed my free time, and the focus on specific algorithms instead of solving a meaningful problem.

I’m sure you feel the same about interviews.

I’ve also interviewed candidates for my team. I took effective examples from processes I enjoyed to create my own.

Today in Feasible I’ll tell you:

• 🎯 What core competencies to assess when interviewing OR practitioners?

• 📝 How to design an effective interview process to understand your candidates better and more efficiently

• ✅ My 2-interview approach works towards those basic principles and allows me to extend an offer to the best candidates

This is a guide on best practices for interviewing OR practitioners. It’s based on my evolving experience and focuses on the technical aspect, while the rest are cross-functional (like HR meetings).

🎧 At the top, you can listen to a podcast-like version of this post!

Remember I started Local Optimum, a new section deliver to you on Thursdays where I share short, imperfect-yet-useful ideas. Here’s the first edition.

Ready? Let’s dive in… 🪂

🎯 Core competencies to assess

In Operations Research careers: paths, skills, and PhD considerations, there are three types of valuable knowledge for OR practitioners:

• Expertise in optimization algorithms and mathematical modeling.

• Software engineering skills for clear, maintainable, and production-ready code.

• Business acumen that demonstrates your understanding of how technical solutions translate into business value.

Add communication and iteration skills to the top.

What core competencies should you evaluate in a candidate? The ones from the list.

Let’s take a moment, as everyone comes with a backpack of experiences. Ask yourself this key question: