A well-rounded hiring process blends both technical and behavioral interviews. Just like building a strong product requires both solid engineering and great teamwork, evaluating candidates from both angles helps you find people who can code and collaborate.

This lesson will show you how to:

• Understand what each interview type uncovers and why both are essential.
• Spot gaps that appear when you rely too much on one approach.
• Weigh evidence from both sides to make fair, informed hiring decisions.

Technical interviews are all about skills and problem-solving. You might ask a candidate to debug code, design an API, or solve an algorithm. This shows you if they can handle the technical demands of the job. But technical interviews alone can miss important qualities, like how someone communicates, adapts, or works with others.

Behavioral interviews focus on real-life situations. Questions like, “Tell me about a time you had to quickly learn a new tool to meet a deadline,” reveal how a candidate adapts, learns, and collaborates. You’ll get a sense of their teamwork, resilience, and fit for your team’s culture. But behavioral interviews don’t directly measure technical depth.

If you only use one type, you risk missing key information. For example:

• A candidate might ace every coding challenge but struggle to explain how they handle disagreements.
• Another might have great stories about teamwork but can’t solve the technical problems you need them to.

To help balance your assessment, use a simple comparison table to track strengths and gaps in both areas:

As you interview candidates, fill in each cell with notes, ratings, or checkmarks based on their performance. This side-by-side view makes it easier to weigh evidence and make fair, well-rounded hiring decisions.

The best hiring decisions come from blending both interview types. Technical interviews show what a candidate can do; behavioral interviews show how they do it and how they’ll fit in.

Imagine this scenario:

• A candidate solves every coding problem quickly, but when asked about a past team conflict, gives a vague answer with no clear resolution. This hints at strong technical skills but possible challenges in collaboration.
• Another candidate shares detailed stories about teamwork but struggles with technical exercises. They might not be ready for the technical demands of the role.

By combining both, you can answer: Can this person do the job? Will they thrive in our environment? How do they handle challenges and feedback? This balance helps you avoid hiring someone who’s technically strong but a poor team fit or vice versa.

When it’s time to evaluate, look for patterns across both interview types. Consider your team’s needs:

• If a candidate is technically strong but weak on collaboration, ask yourself how critical teamwork is for the role.
• If someone is a great communicator but struggles with core technical tasks, can they grow into the technical requirements, or is the gap too large?

Use specific examples from both interviews to guide your decision. For instance:
“Candidate solved the system design problem efficiently, but when asked about a past conflict, gave a vague answer with no clear resolution.”

This approach helps you discuss trade-offs with your team and make more informed, fair decisions.

Up next, you’ll have the chance to practice evaluating candidates using information from both behavioral and technical interviews. You’ll review sample scenarios, weigh the strengths and weaknesses from each side, and decide how you’d move forward — helping you build the skills to make balanced, confident hiring decisions in real-world situations.