Interviewing Apprentices as a Lead
Scheduling Interviews
Once you (and co-lead) have determined who and how many applicants to interview it is time to start reaching out to them. Try to keep the interviews to just one week in keeping with the timeline sent by the Project Coordinator.
If you have not set up your own Calendly yet, it is recommended you do. Not only will this make scheduling easier for Tech Fleet, but also for the job hunt and recruiters. Instead of a lot of back and forth have your calendar synced and the apprentice can choose a time you are available. There are certainly other options you could use, but we recommend Calendly. Interviews are usually no more than 30 minutes long.
After your Calendly (or other option) is set up, send direct messages to your applicants through Slack.
Here is an optional template that you can use:
<aside> 📬 Hello, Hope this message finds you well! Thank you so much for applying for _________ Apprentice role. We really enjoyed reading your application & we’d love to get to know you more in a 30-minute interview.
If interested, please fill out this Calendly invite to schedule a chat. INSERT LINK HERE
We look forward to getting to know you!
</aside>
Interview Goals
Determine if this project is a good fit with the applicant's goals and passions.
Depending on the role
Discover what aspects of Design, Strategy, Content, Development or Research they are most passionate about and think about the qualities that would make a well-rounded team
Gain insight into how well they work on a team (vibe check)
Communication is really key here. We are all volunteers and so many of us are looking for jobs or have other responsibilities in life and that is okay, we are here to support each other! The only ask is that people communicate with their leads and team.
Determine if availability aligns with project needs (15-20 hours)
Determine how you as a leader can best support apprentices
Sample Interview questions
Just like the criteria for choosing who to interview, you are also empowered to choose the questions for your interviews. What do you think is important for the success of your team?
Here are some different examples of the types of questions you could ask:
For any role:
Tell me about yourself.
How did you get your start in UX (or Dev, etc)?
Why do you want to work on this project?
What drew you to apply to this project in particular?
What are you most looking forward to learning during this apprenticeship?
Can you walk me through one of your recent projects?
What recent project or accomplishment are you most proud of?
How do you prioritize projects or tasks under pressure?
What aspect of UX (or Strategy, etc) are you most passionate about?
Describe what the relationship between (research) and (design) should be in an ideal project?
Describe a time when you faced conflict and how you addressed it..
Tell us about a time you had to overcome a challenging team dynamic?
Tell me about a time you needed to get information from someone who wasn’t very responsive. What did you do?
How can we as leaders best support you through this journey?
Are you on any other projects?
What does your availability look like…?
How did you hear of Tech Fleet?
Role specific:
Tell me about a project you used React on?
How comfortable do you feel creating design systems?
How do you prepare for dev handoff?
What kind of research methods do you use?
And so on…
If you didn’t move forward with an applicant
Please slack them the following message and the team wants to do the Next Up Program:
📬 Hello _____, Thank you for taking the time to chat with us and getting to know each other for the UX __________ Apprenticeship role. We’ve enjoyed talking to all the impressive candidates and choosing __ applicants to move forward with was a very tough decision.
While we won’t be moving forward with your application, we enthusiastically invite you to observe/shadow ______ future meetings and encourage you to apply for future phases of the project. There’s no shortage of opportunities to get involved and learn in the TechFleet community, so we sincerely hope you continue to apply to projects and jump in whenever you can. Your unique perspective, experiences, and passions are valuable and needed. We can’t wait to see what you do next!
We are offering a program called NextUp, this program is for applicants who are willing to join a project at any stage of the 8-weeks. This will be beneficial in case of unexpected departures or changes within the team! (new jobs/anything that may come up! If you applied to the project as a lead or apprentice and would like to be considered to be on the "Next Up" list please fill out this quick survey INSERT LINK HERE.
Kind regards,
P.S. In the meantime, 👉Check out TechFleet’s Apprentice Handbook for tips and info regarding applying for apprentice roles. 👉 Keep an eye on the #calling-all-shadowers Slack channel and the Tech Fleet Google Calendar for opportunities to observe meetings for all projects, including__________! You can also check out the The Observer Handbook for more info on shadowing meetings.
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