Let me pose a situation facing one of my clients now. Their business is expanding, and they’ve agreed to develop a product that’s tangential to their current product line. This new product requires a new piece. If you’re a software company, imagine it’s a piece of hardware. If you’re a hardware company, imagine it’s software. […]
During a recent workshop, one of the hiring managers asked, “How do we attract people to unattractive jobs, such as contract or temporary positions?” The first thing is to change your mindset. This job might be unattractive to you, but it’s bound to be attractive to other people. This job is an opportunity to some
I’ve ranted about certifications before. But I recently encountered another job description with a certification that I just don’t understand. For a Quality Manager (not a Director or VP), the description asked for PMP. (The PMP is the PMI’s certification for project managers.) Here’s why I think requiring any certification is nuts: all the certification
My colleague, Will, has been attempting to hire developers. He’s a bit frustrated. Take a look at Explaining the tech job market. Will is frustrated with the level of competence he’s seeing in candidates. That prompted him to discover Parnas’s Law of Hiring: Parnas’s Law: The more incompetent developers you hire, the more you need.
Via Curious?, I found Give Curiosity and Chance. Here’s a telling quote From a hiring perspective (you just knew this was coming, right?), hiring managers are in love with deliverables and narrowly defined requirements. Look at job postings these days and you’ll find a litany of mandatory experience and skills. Innovation requires curiosity. And, it
In a previous comment, a reader points to a resume that’s written like a cross between a cover letter and a resume. While the resume has a number of useful points, the resume is too quick to tell possible hiring managers what they are doing wrong. That dismissal of what hiring managers sometimes do also
Set Godin, in his The ever-worsening curse of the cog says something profound: The end result is that it’s essentially impossible to become successful or well off doing a job that is described and measured by someone else. I still think managers can describe parts of a useful, non-cog job. But jobs where a person’s
In More on the labour shortage, Michael points to The Coming Labor Shortage. Here’s a quote : What’s interesting about Deloitte’s prediction of a “critical talent” shortage is that they’re onto the fact this isn’t about bosses alone. The biggest skills gap will be smack in the middle of the so-called creative class workforce. “Critical
Eric Sink’s ad for a software developer is a terrific example of an ad that screens out people who aren’t suitable for the position. Note the description of deep expertise in that SQL stuff, and the emphasis on knowing how to read code, not just write code. Sure Eric may receive a bunch of unsuitable
I’m presenting a webconference on Thursday, Feb 10, 2005 (EST) via Kennedy Information called “Detecting and Resolving Cultural Fit Issues.” Here’s the information and signup page. I’ll be discussing: The myth of “corporate” culture as the only culture you need to care about Five key areas to probe for culture issues How to use context-free