It’s common for candidates to be experts in some technical area that the manager knows little about. Sometimes managers don’t realize how to ask questions about the qualities, preferences, non-technical, or technical skills, so the manager asks, “Where do you want to be in five years?” Managers, if you want to know about ambition, ask […]
I was discussing how to hire a senior manager with a colleague the other day, and he said, “How do I know I’ll hire someone with integrity?” Good question. In my experience, a person requires at least dozen or so years of experience, taking on successively more technical leadership and/or more management tasks before the
I write a “management fix” column (alternating with Esther and Elisabeth) for Better Software and February’s column was Two Candidates, One Position. Enjoy! Labels: hiring decision
In Michael’s comment to When Candidates and Interviewers Disagree About “The Answer” he raised a critically important point: how much does the the candidate know about this issue and how hard will the candidate push to make sure that the interviewer hears his or her side of the issue? First, let’s separate the two issues
If you are (or work for) a fabulous manager, you have weekly one-on-ones with your staff and discuss their accomplishments, and file those accomplishments in a folder. At the end of a year, you know what people have done, you’ve given them feedback on their work, and writing their review is a piece of cake.
You’re a candidate. You’re talking to a couple of technical interviewers. One of the interviewers asks you a question. You answer “black.” The interviewer says, “No, it’s white.” Wishing to avoid confrontation, you don’t push the answer. Geek that you are, you check the answer when you get home. Sure enough, it’s “black.”Well, you have
Smart hiring managers know to use a phone screen to screen in appropriate candidates and screen out unsuitable candidates. And they know that before you start the phone screen, you verify this is still a good time to call. But what if you call the candidate and he or she answers the phone? Can you
Sometimes, I’ve found stock (equity) to be a motivating factor in an offer. But in my experience, it’s turned out to be more cynicism-creating (hey, it’s a blog, I get to make up words) than motivating. My good friend and colleague, Stever Robbins, has just written a great article about equity-based compensation. If you’re a
My teenage daughter is attempting to find a job this summer. She dutifully filled out an application for a camp counselor position at a not-so-close-to-our-house camp. The idea is that she and my nephew would both work at the camp, staying at my sister’s house. We discovered last week that the person reviewing the applications
I had an email conversation with Allen, a blog reader. One of the questions he asked is “What do you know about my company?” Allen used this question as a technique to determine how much initiative a candidate has and how much they want to learn about the company. Allen has a good question. And