Companies often have a codified process when it comes to interviewing potential technical hires: Interview questions, whiteboarding, and code samples can all be evaluated in a relatively straightforward way. But when it comes to hiring for non-technical roles such as sales and customer support, there isn’t as clear of a rulebook. An interviewer may be impressed by a candidate’s personality or résumé, but find out after making the hire that his or her actual skills aren’t quite up to snuff.

Interviewed is a startup in our current summer class that simplifies the process of interviewing non-technical hires, by enabling job candidates to prove what’s on their résumés. By creating a system of advanced simulations for what a candidate will actually be doing on the job, Interviewed has created a way for companies to tangibly assess how well a person may fit in with a job opening.

TechCrunch’s Fitz Tepper wrote about the company’s platform this week:

“The simulations on Interviewed are extremely realistic, and include
the use of mock tools like email and phone calls. For example, a
three-part sales simulation first had me write a cold email, then reply
to a customer inquiry, and lastly make a cold sales call (using my real
cell phone) for a potential client.

…Darren Nix, cofounder of Interviewed, explained that some companies
currently run their own mock simulations, but the process is so
time-consuming that it is often done at the last stage before hiring.

By automating the simulations, Interviewed’s platform allows
companies to administer these simulations on a mass scale, reducing the
chance that companies pass over someone who is actually awesome at the
required skills.”

Read more about Interviewed in TechCrunch here, and check out the related discussion on Hacker News here.