© 2004 Johanna Rothman. This article was originally published in Better Software, February 2004. Scenario You have one open position to fill—two outstanding candidates. What do you do? Both candidates performed well in the interview and on a technical audition. You used behavior-description questions to understand what each candidate has accomplished professionally, and consensus decision-making to […]
John Kador, who’s written a number of books about interviewing and a new one coming out, has an article about brainteaser and riddle interviews on Darwin. Kador gives pointers on how to answer the questions, and if you’re a candidate, you should read his suggestions. They will help you in the interview. I have a
I read somewhere in the past week that candidates should be willing to work for a couple of weeks or up to a month as a contractor to show potential employers how great they are. (I thought this was in the Boston Globe, but I can no longer find the article, nor the pointer to
I didn’t see NBC’s show “The Apprentice,” but I did hear about it on the news this morning. (Live through a few weeks of “work” with Donald Trump and then he’ll hire you for a job.) Seems as if the first hurdle the contestants had to overcome was selling lemonade in New York. What a
If you need a chuckle, read John Kador’s parody of a rejection letter. I laughed out loud. John is writing a book about the brainteaser interview, available in 2004. Since I’m sure not all hiring managers will heed my advice about not using puzzles in an interview, you candidates may want to read John’s book.
I spoke at a graduate class last week, presenting my “Interview with Ease” (candidate version, not the hiring version) workshop to the class. One of the questions that arose was: What do I do when I’m faced with a puzzle? In Down with Games and Puzzles, I suggested using an audition instead of a game
In a comment on my last post, Roy asked if I could elaborate on what I mean when a candidate runs the interview. Here’s what happened to me at one interview years ago: I arrive on time for the interview, wearing a suit (hey, it was the early 80’s, that’s what we wore). The interviewer
A colleague described his interviewing setup this way: “We work in a high-pressure environment. So when we interview, we sit 4 or 5 people across the table from the candidate, and throw questions at the candidate. If they can live through the interview, we hire them. The only problem is, we can’t keep people past
One good thing about the slow economy is that organizations are no longer spending money on extras such as teambuilding sessions. Those sessions typically come in two styles: physical challenges such as ropes courses or shooting rapids; or touchy-feely sessions where you’re supposed to confess your deepest, darkest secrets to your co-workers, and then hug
In Laurent’s Hiring and Testingpost, he wondered why we spend so much time in the up-front stages of hiring. Why not use the probation period that seems to be the law in France, and is part of many companies’ stated HR procedures?A bunch of reasons: as managers, we need to give substantive and useful feedback