Hiring Geeks That Fit

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Interview Questions for Program Managers

One of the top posts on this site is Interview Questions for Project Managers. I bet some of you are interviewing for program managers, too. Here’s a little guidance for how to interview for those jobs. A program manager is a strategic job. Remember, a program is a collection of projects where the business value […]

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Series on Agile Recruiting Posted on Dice

I just completed writing a series on agile recruiting for Dice.com. Here are all the posts: What is Agile Anyway? How Tech Teams Manage Workload in Agile What the Heck is Kanban? Agile Culture and Recruiting–Hiring Geeks That Fit Five W’s of Agile Recruiting I hope you enjoy these posts. Tell all your recruiter friends!

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Are You Overspecifying Your Open Jobs?

Are too many job descriptions over-specifying what they need? I read these two posts: Shooting Ourselves in the Foot Isn’t an Effective Engagement Strategy and Top 3 Hiring Mistakes to Avoid. Both posts discuss poor job analysis. This is the issue of How Many Essential Skills Do You Require? Over-specifying a job is bad management and

hiring strategy, HTP

How Many Essential Skills Do You Require?

I read Latest figures increase digital skills gap fears as marketers struggle to fill jobs. (Tip of the hat to John Sumser.) What’s the problem? What kinds of people are hiring managers looking for? “companies seek the ‘all-in-one’ marketing and technologically capable employee” Well, that’s the problem of too many essential skills. Look, it’s great

HTP, interview

How Do You Signal That You Are Ready to Listen?

I just read How to Listen. (Tip of the hat to Naomi Karten who tweeted it.) I’ve been saying for years that great interviews are collegial conversations. The interviewer wants to learn enough about the candidate to know: can the candidate do the job and fit our culture? The candidate wants to know: can I

HTP, interview

How NOT to Look for Cultural Fit

I saw this post in ere.net, Do You Look for Cultural Fit or Innovation, as if you could somehow separate the two. Oh my, the confusion about cultural fit abounds. Let me set the record straight. Cultural fit is  NOT about a person’s preferences outside of work. It’s not about what you would to a

Hiring Geeks That Fit, HTP

Hiring is a Team Sport

Shane Hastie, my sometime coauthor, and sometime co-teacher, interviewed me for InfoQ about Hiring Geeks That Fit. We had a great time, and the interview shows it. I hope you enjoy the interview. One of the things I say in the interview is, “Hiring should be a team sport, too.” I’m speaking at Agile Boston

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Hiring Geeks That Fit Interview Posted on InfoQ

What’s the single biggest point of leverage you have in changing your team? It’s not the process. After the manager, it’s the people on your team. (Your manager is the single biggest point of leverage because of the political leverage the manager has.) This is why it is so important to become great at hiring

hiring strategy, HTP

What Google Has Learned About How to Hire People

Have you read this New York Times article, In Head-Hunting, Big Data May Not Be Such a Big Deal? It’s an interview with Laszlo Bock, senior vice president of people operations at Google. There are several points that are critical for you to read: We looked at tens of thousands of interviews, and everyone who

hiring strategy, HTP

Do We Have a War for Talent in Software?

I’m at the SHRM conference in Chicago this week, courtesy of Dice.com. I blog for them, and am working on an agile recruiting series. Watch for it, in the coming weeks. I read this piece, The War for STEM Talent is a Lie. I agree. Until we do all of these things: Hire the people

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