You should always be “Open to Work”
In 2022, one of the best senior Java developers I knew reached out to me about leaving his current company—where he had been for a decade—and asked if I knew anyone hiring. Instantly, I let the recruitment team where I work know and got him into the process to work with us. I had worked with him before, I had seen him on stage at events, and I knew he had the right personality to make a big impact on the business. I knew he would get hired. Except he failed the coding interview.
I was genuinely shocked—so shocked that I did something I had never done in 20 years of work: I assumed the interviewers were wrong and escalated so he could get a second chance. And he did get a second chance—and wouldn’t you know it, I was proven to be a fool because he failed the coding interview again—it was the same question too!
I spoke to my friend about it, read the interviewer’s notes, and concluded that despite everything I knew about him, the skill he lacked was the ability to interview. We were his first (and second) interviews in a decade, and he just handled them the way one would handle a meeting.
As I am a fool, I should’ve expected this, since I’ve held a belief since 2013: always be open to an interview. You can love your job, but if you get an offer to interview—take it.
I’ve lost track of how many interviews I’ve done in the 11 years since this realization, and I’ve experienced the full range—from rejection to offer letters. In that time, I’ve only taken two roles.
It sounds like a waste of time to do hundreds of interviews and get nothing for it, even if you love your job. But I don’t think it is. First, as with my friend, interviewing is a skill—and like any skill, it needs to be practiced and kept up to date. This includes not being stressed, and doing more interviews helps with that, which leads to a better understanding of what’s being asked and allows you to demonstrate your skills better.
In tech, especially, the language we use and the tools change often, and being able to speak to the state-of-the-art is important—especially if you’ve been in a company working on one tech stack or architectural design for a long time. Equally, as you grow, you need to know what questions will be asked of you so you can practice your answers and find the anecdotes and examples to share to show your experience.
The second reason is market data—because like anything, it’s only worth what someone will pay for it. Interviewing gives you real-world data on how what you earn today compares to the market. The same goes for demand: you can see how many roles exist for your preferred skill or level.
When it comes to salary discussions in your own organization, being armed with real-world data will help you have realistic expectations.
The third reason? Improving your own company’s hiring process. I can’t explain how many terrible interview processes I’ve seen—and it totally puts me off working with that company. But I’ve also seen many good ones. I’ve taken those ideas and shared them where I work, allowing the companies I’ve worked with to develop amazing interview processes.
This isn’t without risk—people you work with might jump to incorrect conclusions about your happiness if they hear you’re interviewing. To solve this, I’ve always been open with my managers about interviewing and told them they’d never be blindsided if I left. If I ever found something better, I committed to discussing it with them ahead of time.
Some of my best managers fully bought into it, and I think that speaks volumes to their confidence in providing a great work environment and building trust with their teams.
So, in summary, I encourage you to get your CV on OfferZen, set yourself to “Open to Work” on LinkedIn, and sharpen your interview skills—just tell your manager first.