When is a year of experience not a year of experience? When that experience doesn’t match your needs. Take my friend Zack for instance. A VP of Development, he recently came to me with a problem. “We hire the best people money can buy,” he said. “They have degrees and tons of experience. Why can’t […]
If you’re interviewing for a position, you’ve heard the old adage: “Research the company.” Yes, that’s true, and it’s not enough. It’s time to research the hiring manager also. Here’s how you research the company and the hiring manager: Research the company by reading the web site. Read the annual and quarterly reports. Read the
I had a heated discussion last week with a hiring manager. He was convinced games and puzzles helped him discriminate between suitable and unsuitable candidates. I told him I’d probably fail the games he had for project managers. “Uh, what do you mean the games for project managers?” “Don’t you have separate games or puzzles
You’re hiring someone. You don’t want to waste your time in the interview. So, if you want to ask good interview questions, ask people about how they’ve worked in the past. People repeat perceived successful behaviors (whether those behaviors were successful or not). Behavior-description questions elicit the candidate’s story of how they worked in the
Ok, so you’re all nodding your heads saying, “JR, why wouldn’t I ask about what’s important? Do you think I’m an idiot?” No. You are absolutely not an idiot. You may not remember to ask about everything that *is* important. A colleague on Jerry Weinberg’s Shape forum was discussing a problem she had with a