In It’s the People, Stupid!” David Hornick quotes an unnamed friend discussing hiring (it looks as if it’s a startup): [T]he best advice I have for you is this: UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES make any one of your first ten hires anything less than an outstanding, 10’s from all judges, blow your head off superstar. Then […]
Shawn Taylor, in his article Mismatching workers, jobs a costly mistake, (free registration required) has an astounding US statistic: employers lose a total of $105 billion a year by failing to recognize the talent that’s in front of their face. That’s a lot of money. Taylor’s article goes on to discuss the usage of tests
Some hiring managers use certifications to filter resumes. I specifically caution against that practice in the book. I’m not a fan of certifications. Michael Schrage’s column Hiding Behind Certification is another article about why certifications are not a good predictor of job success. Here are two quotes I particularly liked: “The truth — as we
Seth Godin talks about his search for interns in Needles, haystacks & magnetism. He makes several points I like: Employers don’t hire candidates because the candidate deserves a job. Employers hire people because they like the way they feel about you when they interview you. Employers are looking for something special, something non-commodity about candidates.
Laurent has a great posting on Hiring Programmers. Note that he doesn’t say people have to be great writers. On the contrary, the bar is fairly low: awareness of spelling and typos, introduction, structured discussion, conclusion — that’s it. My kids practice this kind of writing all the time in school (in preparation for the
If you’re a hiring manager and you haven’t started using a blog to help people find you, consider it. Right now, there are still tons of great technical people looking for jobs, but it’s hard to find just the right candidates. And, I’ve been reading articles in the popular press that say we’ll have a
I’ve also been writing intermittently on the Job and HR blogs. I don’t cross-reference the blog postings here, so look for different posts there. I haven’t been writing a lot in those blogs due to my work schedule, but that seems to be working out.
See Esther’s article on Hiring for a Collaborative Team. (Yes, Esther was one of my book reviewers.)
I was talking to a hiring manager recently, and she said, “I’d like to get another developer just like Stan.” Well, Stan is a good guy and a talented developer, but why look for someone just like him? The manager explained, “I’m staffing a particularly risky project and with someone just like Stan, I know
Ok, I admit it. I have this strange fascination with “The Apprentice.” This morning on the “Today” show, Donald Trump and Matt Lauer “interviewed” 8 candidates to be on “The Apprentice” next season. (If you’re watching for interview tips, stop. Watch for the entertainment value 🙂 I heard one fabulous interview question: “Do you love