I also agree with the sentiment of this post and have always been surprised how poorly prepared most engineers are to fairly conduct interviews. I'm reasonably convinced it's contributing seriously to inequality issues and the "tech labor shortage", and I'm absolutely convinced it's the reason I don't job hop more then I do (hrm, maybe that's part of why the system still sucks?)
That said, my wife happens to be a teacher. The process from what I can tell in private schools is pretty similar. Usually a recruiter ("placement agency") sends a bunch of resumes (CVs) to a hiring manager (department lead or school head). They pick some based on how they feel that day and conduct phone screens. Successful applicants then come in to do the equivalent of a whiteboard interview -- they are evaluated on their ability to teach a classroom of students they've never met a lesson plan they've probably not seen more then a day or two in advance (although at least they get that much warning!)
edit On reflection I hope that teachers are at least a little more capable of objectively evaluating candidates then your average sysadmin/software engineer (how often are you asked to assess someones ability outside a handful of interviews?), but believe me the sample lesson causes as much stress on the candidate as a whiteboard interview. It also stresses the teacher whose class is being "donated" to candidates and depending on the length of the process can derail what's usually a carefully planned out quarter/semester/etc.
That said, my wife happens to be a teacher. The process from what I can tell in private schools is pretty similar. Usually a recruiter ("placement agency") sends a bunch of resumes (CVs) to a hiring manager (department lead or school head). They pick some based on how they feel that day and conduct phone screens. Successful applicants then come in to do the equivalent of a whiteboard interview -- they are evaluated on their ability to teach a classroom of students they've never met a lesson plan they've probably not seen more then a day or two in advance (although at least they get that much warning!)
edit On reflection I hope that teachers are at least a little more capable of objectively evaluating candidates then your average sysadmin/software engineer (how often are you asked to assess someones ability outside a handful of interviews?), but believe me the sample lesson causes as much stress on the candidate as a whiteboard interview. It also stresses the teacher whose class is being "donated" to candidates and depending on the length of the process can derail what's usually a carefully planned out quarter/semester/etc.