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Recently my manager has started looking for candidates for our team. One candidate in particular he was very bias towards because he worked with him in the past and despite not having a lot of experience, he was really good friends with him -- he introduced the whole team and invited him to our daily stand up (something not customary for our past candidates) and he even sat in some of the technical interviews which I feel may have caused some of the interviewers to be a little more lax than usual.

If he was a really strong candidate, I don't think there would be an issue but I know at least one interviewer (one of the more senior engineers on the team) already has said he doesn't feel he's very strong especially for the role asked and it looks like the candidate may be going through.

How should I, or any of the interviewers bring this up to our manager's attention?

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    If it's his hire, you don't. It could be his brother-in-law, someone who did him a favour, his bookie, you may never know. Voice your opinion if asked, but it's his call at the end of the day, right or wrong.
    – The Wandering Dev Manager
    Commented Sep 30, 2016 at 22:27
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    If your manager asks you for your input, give your honest opinion, but stay out of it otherwise.
    – Hobbes
    Commented Sep 30, 2016 at 22:28
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    where u part of the interview committee or are you a part of the hiring process? I understand your good intentions but ultimately its ur boss's decision. Not yours, I suggest you stay out of it.
    – AleX_
    Commented Sep 30, 2016 at 22:30

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Unless it's your role, stay out of it. The bad review you got was not first hand. If the senior engineer wants to take it up with the manager then that's his business, not yours. And he/she has probably already given their opinion.

The only professional way for him/her to do this is in the interview review process. Just because the manager isn't being very professional about things, doesn't mean everyone else can do what they please.

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  • Thanks that's great advice. Sad to hear the best thing to do is to stay out of it but it does seem the most professional.
    – Kevin Xu
    Commented Oct 5, 2016 at 18:18
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This depends entirely on the company.

Some companies would see this as a clear conflict of interest - Your manager has no business in influencing the recruitment decision making process as he has a conflict. Especially as he seems to be going out of his way to influence other opinions too. If this is your company, raise it up the management line that you are uncomfortable with what you are seeing.

Other companies can be very relaxed about it taking the view that you only know how well someone is going to do at the job for sure when they have been doing it 6 months, and that your managers recommendation is good enough and the interview is a formality. Raising issues here probably won't make much of a difference.

A third possibility is possible in a small company. That your manager owns a large share of the company, and is free to bring in whoever he wants. Seeing to speak against this might not be a smart career move here.

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