Johanna Rothman, Management Consultant
Expert in Managing Product Development
Did you see Cultural Fit Trumps Competence? I don’t know that cultural fit trumps competence. I know that it’s critically important. For geeks, you need a minimum of technical skills and then cultural fit is critically important. I do agree with Feld that the more senior you are, the more cultural fit is critical. Why? …
There’s an article in the Huffington Post about asking candidates to turn over their Facebook login credentials, so the interviewers can see their “private” pages. If you provide your login credentials, your private Facebook pages are no longer private, are they? I have a difficult time understanding why an interviewer wants this information. Is the …
I was talking with a client recently, who was professing his desire for younger candidates. “Can anyone older than 35 or 40 really know anything?” was his concern. I sat there, a little nonplussed. “How old do you think I am?” I paused. “No, don’t answer that. Just remember that age is not the issue. …
Recently, I spoke with a hiring manager. He wanted to make sure a person he thought was overqualified for a position stayed in the job for two years. (!!) He was asking candidates to commit to his job for two years in the interview process. If an organization can commit to a candidate for two …
You may have noticed my most recent post was back in October (ouch). That’s because of the past 6 weeks, I’ve been out of town 5. With that much travel, something has to go, and some of my blogging is it. In any case, I hadn’t stopped thinking about hiring issues, I just momentarily stopped …
So I’ve spoken about women and other kinds of traditional diversity, personality and experience, new grads, and now it’s time to discuss a difficult topic. What about “overqualified” people? People who have tons of experience are looking for jobs. Too often, hiring managers don’t want to hire them because the manager thinks the candidate will …
Continue reading “Hiring for Diversity, Pt4: “Overqualified People””
I hear this story again and again. A hiring manager can’t find the right candidate. Why? You would think it would be easier to find great candidates, because so many people are out of work or are looking for better jobs. But that’s exactly why it’s so hard for hiring managers to find people–there are …
There’s a push in the agile community to recognize women and see if we can’t get more women on agile teams. Whatever you think about the program, the goal is a laudable one. Hiring women creates a diversity that is difficult to match with an all-male team. Women tend to bring more collaborative skills and …
Continue reading “Hiring for Diversity, #1: Women and Other Traditional Diversity issues”
Several of my colleagues are concerned by their “back-door” references, or unintentional references. They’ve gone on interviews, felt as if they’d aced the interview, were told “we just need to check references” and boom, they are out of contention for the job. One colleague was told, “Oh those people you worked with > 10 years …
Jurgen surprised me in a comment, when he said that only the worst employees provided references. He said he doesn’t check references. I was astonished. I check references each and every time I extend an offer. I check references for people who do work on our house. I check references for people we ask to …
Continue reading “I Check References Each and Every Time I Extend An Offer”