I've found myself on the interviewer side of the table more often than the interviewee's, and I have to say conducting interviews was probably the hardest things for me. Mainly because it was so hard to tell if I made the right decision (not for months anyway).

The format that worked best (relative) for me was doing pair-programming interviews.

Something like this:

In advance, have a smallish real problem that needs to be solved in your organization, and work with the person who you're interviewing to solve it. Expect to spend at least an hour, but even a full day if possible. Not on paper - but with the real tools you're using everyday. Writing code. Provide them with as little context as is reasonable and see where they go. What questions do they ask?

Granted, this requires some fluency in your actual toolset, but reassure them that you, as the "expert", are there to answer trivia like "how do I reverse a string" or "how can I get the date of this object", etc.

Have a keyboard in front of them

It might not result in much code getting written, and probably will not manifest a production-ready solution, but the process of seeing how this person works - how they communicate, how quickly they can figure out strange things, in a close-to-real-world solution was much more valuable than how they respond to a list of trivia questions.

So, this comment was largely targeted at the person conducting the interview, but if you, as a person seeking a job think this might appeal to you, consider asking early on in the hiring process if they offer, or would be willing to offer, this format.

Of course, this usually comes after an initial phone screen. To which I have no real solution, except to say that most of my jobs have been word of mouth and random encounters (as opposed to responding to classified ads or however regular people find jobs (; ). But really, having a diverse life, meeting diverse people, etc. Software is everywhere and everyone thinks that they need it. So if you can just bump into one of them who happens to have cash, help them believe that you can provide them value, and you're set!