When I got hired by Klarna I never had to do any programming. I had actual code out there in the wild that I could point to.
Getting to the interview stage at Klarna is easy. Getting an actual job offer is harder.
(Btw. If you don't like IQ tests then don't look for a job at Klarna...)
A friend who is a really smart guy got in touch with a recruiter from google during his last year at the university doing his PhD. At first it seemed interesting but when he saw how much time the recruiter expected him to put in for interviews and tests he wasn't so interested any more and continued his career in academia instead.
It's also good to start out with consultancy before actually hiring someone to screen and to set up expectations of level of delivery - consultants work harder and have a more professional attitude than a straight-up employee. Though I don't know if the transition from consultant to employee is that easy, I've certainly preferred to stay a consultant and seen no benefit in becoming an employee.
That is because consultants are getting paid by the hour and are often not in their home town so their option is 1) get paid more or 2) go to the hotel alone and watch TV. I always chose option 1 if I could.
In a company with vested employees who believe in the company, there will be no comparison between the employees and consultants in their dedication and professionalism.
If you want me, let me show you what I have done - I don't want to compete in a programming contest where the grand prize is a poorly paid job, where you are expected to work unpaid overtime and be subservient. I know my worth, and is pretty happy running my own startup business defining my own terms as I go along.
I looked at a job at klarna but the thought of spending some time re-sharpening my skills at Erlang and then spending some days doing their code challenge unpaid - not so interested. I'd rather do something else and get my moneys worth for my time. Although I'm kind of tempted for a job where I get a chance to work face-to-face with some more senior people to learn from them.
Some time though I might want to take a job, my plan to be able to skip all these silly programming contests is to have some open source projects or contributions to show. I have a couple of project that I wish I had been able to open-source, but I think that I will go by the route of contributing to some existing project. I feel that recruiting by looking at open source is a very good thing, where the interests of both employer and employee are upheld.