> It’s not perfect, but I won’t hire anyone that can’t pass a live coding round
I'd like to add two points to this:
First, I like that you said "live coding" rather than leet code. The floor for live coding should be super low, with a high ceiling and lots of flexibility. That allows you to say, nope, they didn't pass the floor level, easy binary decision, no hire. Pick a fun toy to build in 90 minutes and the high ceiling + flexibility will yield tons of signal from applicants.
Second, I see live coding sessions like this as a positive sign from potential employers. It lets me know that my future colleagues will have some baseline level of competence. If you've worked on a team that didn't do live coding, and you've had to carry water for someone who can't actually do the day-to-day technical "hard skill" work of software engineering, you probably feel the same way. Never again.