George Dinwiddie asked me a question in email, “Why do companies hire junior-level contractors? I feel bad about spending the company’s money trying to teach these junior contractors to be better software developers. A junior-level direct hire makes sense, as you expect them to be around long enough that the education pays off. But a […]
Many hiring managers are looking for initiative, especially for agile team members. (In agile, the team members self-organize, which means they are looking for ways to do work better and to solve problems without requiring management’s involvement.) I was thinking about initiative how to look for it, and I realized that at least some people
One of the nice things about the social networking sites such as LinkedIn, is that they allow me to reconnect with people I worked with years ago. I recently re-met a colleague from my undergraduate days, and a colleague I worked with 25 years ago. I mentioned to one of these colleagues’ peers that I’d
SlackerManager agrees with me in his How do you hire great people?. I said Hire for Intangibles; You Can Teach Technical Skills. It’s a person’s attitude, passion, and ability to work with other people that counts.
I met a software developer recently, who studied physics as an undergrad. He’s now working in an IT organization on financial processing software. He’s part of the interviewing team for his organization. They’re trying to hire 6-7 more developers before the end of the year. He told me, “I like to ask a question about
In Hiring the Best …, I recommend you hire for today’s projects, not for tomorrow’s projects.Now that we are back in a candidate’s market, it’s even more important to hire the people you need now. You can’t tell who you’ll need in the future. That “guaranteed” project? I’ve seen many of them postponed again and
If you’re a hiring manager, read Mike’s Life Is A Hire Way: 5 Tips For Startup Hiring. Great ideas, Mike! (And not just for startups.) Labels: hiring decision, hiring strategy, interview, recruiting
Jason Yip’s Hire squirrels instead of turkeys has a link to a discussion of Harvard’s hiring of Faust as the new president. Looks like Harvard got smart and thought about cultural fit, and those critical influencing and negotiation skills. (See my other post A Perfect Example of Insufficient Cultural Fit.) On the other hand, read
I’m having an email conversation with someone who’s trying to hire some developers. He said, “For some reason, I think that developer who is comfortable in Lisp can take on any project, because I do know Lisp, and I feel that I can take on any project :)” Unfortunately, I don’t buy the transitive property
Whether you’re organizing a project team or hiring a whole new test group, you need to discover if the testers you’re considering can perform the job you need them to perform or not. When you think about the job, don’t just think about the testing—although that’s critically important. Consider these skills when you’re defining what