Shopify has an initial round with recruiter called "Life Story interview". You basically start from the beginning, talking about your high school experience, what did you like there and what did you study, your childhood hobbies ...
A few years ago I worked at a place that wanted to implement "Life Story Interviews." I had the experience of several candidates responding, basically, WTF?? and hanging up.
"My high school career was defined by the discovery in my early teens that I had been raised in an obscure Jesus People offshoot cult, followed by a several year process of distancing and extricating myself from this environment without excessively antagonizing my family.
Coding was as much a stimulating intellectual challenge as it was a pretext for gradually increasing the time I spent away from both home and my customary social obligations, down at the library's computer lab."
> This seems strange for a middle aged candidate, what are they looking for here? Communication skills?
Culture fit, probably looking for a few keywords or experiences that match a profile.
Seems fraught with peril from a legal perspective, IMO. Lotta hooks or opportunities for discrimination.
OTOH I could also see the appeal, e.g. you're not the ideal-on-paper candidate, but you did a bunch of X and Y, had experience w/ Z, tell me about the other stuff, sell me a little. I'm not an MIT hyper-literati type but give me the chance to show why that doesn't matter, etc. etc.
I think the part that most "worker" people reading this are missing, is that with mature markets you get someone that is vaguely, a little bit, experienced and on your side, to give feedback over time.
The last "team" you want setting every question, and expectation, and results.. is the adversarial side that is trying to get the most out of all candidates with the least trouble to themselves..
