Meta Hiring Lead On Behind The Scenes of Senior+ Eng Hiring

Austen McDonald is a former hiring committee member at Meta, where he led mobile hiring and conducted hundreds of interviews. In this episode, we talked about what happens behind the scenes in a hiring committee, unethical candidates, and the role referrals play.
🔸 (Sponsor) Hello Interview's Website - https://www.hellointerview.com/
𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀:
• YouTube: https://youtu.be/nOapM8i5jr0
• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835
• Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/meta-hiring-lead-on-behind-the-scenes
𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀:
00:00:00 - Intro
00:00:49 - What goes on in hiring committees
00:09:02 - Unethical candidates
00:12:50 - How leveling is determined
00:23:12 - Can you negotiate level mid-process
00:32:30 - How non-tech leads can signal scope
00:39:11 - Referrals and bias
00:45:28 - What the rubric looks like
00:50:00 - OpenAI and Anthropic specific discussion
00:52:22 - Most common mistakes senior candidates make
01:02:31 - How to prep depending on your level
01:08:34 - Subjectivity and bias
01:21:02 - The questions you ask at the end matter
01:23:59 - Storytelling tips
01:30:31 - How he got promoted to Senior Manager (M2) at Meta
01:33:32 - His biggest career regret
01:38:13 - The best advice he ever received
01:39:54 - Advice for younger self
01:41:46 - Outro
𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗔𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗻:
• LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/austenmc/
• His book - https://thebehavioral.tech/
𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝘆𝗮𝗻:
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