I received some great comments on Why Puzzles and Riddles Discriminate. Adam has a terrific list of the things he’s looking for when he uses “puzzles and/or brainteasers and/or random programs to test”: Do they give up right off the bat? Do they ask questions or sit silent pondering? Do they make different attempts or […]
At last week’s Agile 2006 conference, I led a tutorial called “Hiring for an Agile Team.” I made a statement that some of the participants challenged: Using puzzles and riddles discriminate against anyone who isn’t a (middle-upper class) white American suburban male. (I’d forgotten the middle-upper class part when I was leading the session.) So,
Last week at the Agile conference, a participant in my “Hiring for an Agile Team” session asked how to know if the people she was interviewing–who had no experience as part of an agile team–might actually work in the team. As she said, “I can’t wait for the perfect person. I can train, but I
Tester extraordinaire Mike Kelly pointed me to Interviewing the Interviewer: Beyond Getting the Job. If you’re a candidate, you should read this. Dave lists a bunch of questions that help a candidate see the culture of the organization. And yes, I’ll take this as another ding to post my cultural fit article.
I’m in Israel now, getting ready to work with a client tomorrow. When I travel, I watch CNN, and in Israel, I see the international edition. Jon Stewart had a funny segment on his show tonight, American Resolution: New Job. It shows a candidate doing everything wrong. I practically fell off the bed laughing. Enjoy!
Hiring managers love the ‘Why did you leave your last job’ question. As an interviewer, too many people are willing to tell all, and those stories explain a lot about a candidate. Anthony in Been Fired Lately? says it’s not a big deal–everyone’s been fired. And for many candidates, I would agree. But here are
I always thought it was easier to ask senior managers and senior technical staff questions, because they had so much experience. But especially with managers, much of their experience is about judgement calls and the way they make decisions. So, I’d ask about that. But from some questions I’ve received recently, I’m in the minority
The Alito hearings this week made me cringe. If you watched or heard any of them, you saw senators orating, leading, and in general asking ridiculous questions (both sides). Why didn’t anyone ask either of these two sets of questions: Have you been in a position to have to rule against the executive branch? What
I led a very short interviewing class when I was in Israel, mostly teaching project management. One of my classes wanted a few tips on how to interview more successfully. I asked them what they were doing now, and they claimed to be asking behavior-description questions and using auditions. Those techniques should work, so I
Take a look at HBS’s Working Knowledge, Hiring for Executive Intelligence. Some quotes that rocked my world: IQ test questions don’t assess the practical, on-your-feet thinking skills needed in business. What’s more, these tests have been repeatedly accused of racial and gender bias. Yet, despite these very real shortcomings, IQ tests are still a better predictor