Are puzzle interviews effective? Here’s what you need to know!

A puzzle is a fun, open-ended way to assess a candidate’s thinking. While for some candidates, it may be the best way to show their tricks, some believe it is related to the job role they signed up for!

These days, many tech companies use a puzzle for interviews, including riddles and lateral-thinking challenges, to hire employees. Well, are they effective? 

Today, we will look at the reasons why choosing a puzzle will void a company’s hiring pipeline.

7 reasons why a puzzle for interview is a buzzkill

Having a puzzle for interview will only show how good a candidate is at solving it!

 Though, it will not lead the recruiters to find out how well they’re fit for the job role. Here are seven reasons why companies should stop using puzzle interviews to help save time.

Puzzles don’t link to the job

Usually, puzzles don't represent the job in its truest sense. It could appear like a good way to find the candidate’s skills, but in reality, it's only an add-on. The main reason why puzzles for interviews are off-goal is because anyone who indulges in books and the internet would know how to crack a puzzle. It’s always best to ask the candidate about their expertise, their projects, and other job-related questions to analyse their skillset.

Puzzles waste time

No lie, puzzles do consume a lot of time for both the candidate and the recruiter. Both the candidate and the recruiter will have a busy schedule, and wasting time on a tricky puzzle that takes hours is pointless. That very time can be used to ask various other questions that will help the recruiter make a final decision.

Additionally, experienced candidates might find the puzzle interviews disturbing, which in turn can lead to further problems. The candidates might feel the company’s hiring strategy is a low-curve and that in turn will make the hiring team’s reputation go down as well. 

Biased opinions emerge

There is a higher chance of recruiters judging the personality of a candidate based on their puzzle-solving approach. While candidates might be excelling in skills appropriate for the job role, their puzzle solving techniques can be rough.

 Imagine a recruiter giving such a candidate a puzzle, and when the candidate takes hours to complete, the recruiter might judge the capability of the candidate. This is why puzzles are not enough to determine a candidate’s skillset. 

Absence of body language and voice tone

When we let a candidate do a puzzle, we fail to analyse their body language, the way they present themselves, and their communication skills. For every firm’s culture, an employee with clear communication skills, compelling voice tone, and polite body language is a boon. To assess that, direct questions are advised rather than a puzzle that will only show how clever they are. 

Puzzles work for freshers only 

Imagine a programmer with 5 years of experience being asked a question about whether three ants that walked in different directions would collide. This would surely make the candidate wonder and also leave the recruiter with no way to observe how complex the programmer’s experience is. While puzzles related to the job role do work up to a limit, they’re much better suited to freshers. 

A computer graduate who just entered their first job might not be too skilled at answering complicated questions. So, a coding or programming puzzle would help the recruiter see their techniques and conclude the decision. But again, it only allows the recruiters to see the candidate’s smart thinking and not all of their capabilities. 

Puzzles have different answers

Not every puzzle has just one answer. If the recruiter sets up a puzzle with an answer in his mind and expects the candidate to derive it, then it can be troublesome. Sometimes, the candidate can use other techniques and come up with an innovative output. There are chances of rejection if the recruiter’s answer doesn’t match with that of the candidate. 

On the other hand, a candidate that did get the recruiter’s expected answer can also get rejected if another candidate won the show with an innovative output. This is one of the main reasons why a puzzle isn't effective in determining the best candidate for the job role.

Puzzles can be complex

There are many puzzles that have unclear instructions and require arduous solving techniques. When a candidate who has applied for a simple job is asked to do such a complex puzzle, they might wonder how the puzzle is even related to the job profile. This will also create fear in the candidate’s heart and make them feel unprepared. 

Interviews must aim at finding the candidate’s abilities rather than making them feel frightened with puzzles requiring extreme work.

So what’s best for an interview?

There are better ways for checking the ability and gauging an employee through an interview. Recruiters  use them too rather than fully relying on the puzzles!

Talk about previous experience

The best technique to determine whether the applicants will do well is to sit them down and ask them about their prior technical work. Asking questions about their past work will help in assessing their wide variety of talents, their ability to judge and handle repercussions. 

Give a task and work with them

Unsurprisingly, working with the candidate directly is a very effective technique to gauge how they would do in the workplace. Set a task with them and try to solve a problem together. In this way, you can see how they are able to work, grasp the instructions, and blend in with the team. 

Final thoughts

Hiring the right candidate is challenging! The idea of a puzzle for interviews does have its pros, but it cannot be solely depended on to screen someone’s abilities. Hence, direct questions and detailed discussions are highly preferred, and they also work effectively.

For a programmer role, the candidate’s complexity around data structure algorithms is much more important than their skill at cracking a puzzle. So, finding efficacy here is a big deal!