Dave Larribee has a great post, The High Cost of Losing a Developer. (Discovered via an ericlandes tweet) Dave suggested it might take a couple of years investment in terms of salary to make a developer productive. My experience is that it takes about 6 months of that developer and some number of months of […]
One of the most important things to do in an interview is to build rapport. I led a session last week at AYE, focused on conversations (not specifically interviews). One of the more memorable things I said is that you need to be personal but not intimate. A participant asked, “What is personal but not
I’ve been reviewing job descriptions from clients that are a laundry list of tools. Or, that ask for “significant experience” with a particular technology. No, no, no. People are not tools. They are human beings who have specific qualities, preferences, and technical and non-technical skills. When you think about those personal qualities, think about these
I recently spoke with a recruiter. “I don’t understand the QA market anymore. No one is hiring except for agile people. And they want people who are developers. What’s happening to QA?” Manual testing was never quality assurance; it was testing. And, manual testing is low-value, high cost work, especially when you compare it to
Hiring managers, recruiters, anyone on the phone or in the interview with a candidate: Don’t ask the “What Salary Do You Expect?” question. It puts people on the defensive before you’ve had a chance to build rapport. Instead, as part of the phone screen, say, “This job is in our ‘senior engineer’ level, which has
At Agile 2009, I had some informal discussions with hiring managers about how to hire for their agile teams. I’m considering writing an ebook. If you think that’s a good idea, please leave me a comment or send me an email. In the meantime, I was surprised by some mistakes hiring managers make. These are
A few colleagues have had this experience. They get a call about a job. It looks like a great fit. They apply. They go through all the interviewing. It takes forever. And, they don’t get the job. One asked, “Is it ok to ask why?” Sure, it’s ok to ask. Just don’t have a fight
I just read Most Likely to Succeed: How do we hire when we can’t tell who’s right for the job? by Malcolm Gladwell. He talks about how a football recruiter agonized over his decisions: …“This guy threw lasers, he could throw under tight spots, he had the arm strength, he had the size, he had
In yesterday’s Boston Globe there was an article, Start-ups stifled by noncompetes, which had a wonderful quote (go to the second page): Luckily, we have an academic here in Massachusetts who has dedicated the past few years to looking at the impact of noncompetes. Matt Marx, who recently joined the faculty of MIT’s Sloan School
When I was about 8 or 9, my father taught me to shake hands. “No limp fish!” he explained as he taught me to grip the other person’s hand making sure our thumbs met. (I really hate it when men prevent me from shaking hands properly by grabbing my fingers instead of my palm. They’re