I would suggest putting a barrier to hiring that flavors younger candidates that have graduated from a CS program more recently as unethical.
The point I"m making here is: Is your interviewing bar set to hire individuals who are qualified and capable of performing the job you're hiring for? The leetcode interviews hire those who are good at leetcoding, not the ones that are experienced.
> To be frank, if you don't have the time or ability to review 1-2 classes worth of college material, then that raises some serious red flags.
Not nearly as much of a red flag as your stance is on this.
These questions have their own tricks and expectations. For example, in place shuffling. The way that question is worded implies you would know "oh yes fisher yates shuffle". Without looking it up, would you know what that algorithm entails? Would you know to study it? Would you even be guaranteed to cover it in your studies?
It's hardly a consideration about IQ when you have questions like detecting a loop in a linked list. (Theres a restriction that common question has.. but the solution of it was the product of an academic research paper in the 60s) Asking someone, where that's not fresh in their head is no longer an iq test but a trivia hazing ritual. Will they use that in their job? (No they shouldn't)
So back to your statement-
Reasons why they didn't have enough time:
1. They just got laid off and they're navigating the new life change and possible loss of income. It's really hard to manage the interviews, the recruiters, opportunities, and emotional challenges at that time. It's not a conducive time to interview well, go through all of these coding challenges, and review 1-2 classes worth of college material (which may or may not be relevant at the time).
2. They have a family or dependents (there are laws that protect against this)
3. Their current work place is expecting unrealistic hours and they're trying to get out. (Weekends+nights)
4. Their age, the longer you're in software engineering, the less that it becomes about "I submitted optimal code always" and the more it becomes about managing the project in the correct order and execution. (Are good practices being followed, how do we identify the nasty corner cases, etc) If you're a senior engineer or higher and they can answer about how to implement a red black tree from scratch.. that's a red flag. (Also, Age discrimination is illegal)
I would suggest putting a barrier to hiring that flavors younger candidates that have graduated from a CS program more recently as unethical.
The point I"m making here is: Is your interviewing bar set to hire individuals who are qualified and capable of performing the job you're hiring for? The leetcode interviews hire those who are good at leetcoding, not the ones that are experienced.