The second biggest hiring mistake I see is to hire for the eventual future — but not to create the future from the current reality. I see this mostly when hiring managers and senior staff. Here are some examples: A CTO knows he needs a program manager to manage multiple releases and release operations, so […]
As part of an interview, a reporter asked me what the single biggest mistake managers make when hiring. Unfortunately, I see three common mistakes: Hiring based on a tools checklist (some number of years of Java or WinRunner or some other tool) as opposed to hiring someone who can adapt his/her knowledge to the products
As far as I know, this is the first review of the book. Take a look at here. I loved the part where Valentin said: During the trip, Johanna will hand out numerous check lists that will help you organize your work more efficiently and prevent you from going too deep into the mud. Thanks,
Dave Liebreich gave me feedback yesterday that I’d forgotten to include a template of a rejection letter (after the interview) in the book. Argh. I’ve started an errata page for this and other potential problems. A rejection letter has only three components: No. Thank you. Good luck with your job search. Write the no part first.
I love it when the experts agree with me. So imagine my glee when reading, Against Types by Drake Bennet. The subtitle is “Personality tests are everywhere — from the workplace to the courtroom. But critics say the tests themselves don’t pass the test.” I don’t know anything about the academic personality tests used to
While perusing some of the Joel on Software discussions, I saw the pointer to “Mini-me” syndrome…a major hiring risk for companies. Heather discusses her concerns: Recruiting from certain schools can prevent you from hiring the best — because that recruiting limits your intake of candidates. It tightens your screen before you’ve even gotten to resume
Candidates need to know where they stand — from the time you receive a resume until you’ve either hired them or rejected them. Make sure your autoresponses — or real rejection letters — don’t look like this: Subject: Got your pathetic resume. To: (name withheld out of decency) Look: We here at insult.com got this
Recently, I spoke with a senior manager who’d outsourced new development to a non-local group. The development team has worked together in the past, and knows each other well. However, they are used to working on mature products, where you can actually write down the requirements and have them stand still for a few months.
Sorin’s comment says (in part): If, on the other hand, he is an alumnus of one of the “Grandes Ecoles” (which are themselves finely ranked), then it means that guy has what it takes to compete in the system. I believe that competing in the education system is different than success at work. I had
A colleague asked today “What keywords should I look for on a resume?” I wish there was a list and you could just scan resumes looking for keywords. (Yes, there are software packages that do that. I’m not talking about tools and technology keywords. Don’t get me started on ruling out people because they’re missing