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Interviews vs. auditions

ryanholiday.net

51–60 of 106 posts

Re: Interviews vs. auditions

#51
post #37
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Article says to politely take control. Seems like your candidates forgot the polite part of the equation.

Taking control and insisting on it is not polite, unless you the boss. It is pretty bad trait for college in cooperative environment.

I've been out of college for ten years this month and I can still remember those few students who could not get it through their head that class was not a one-on-one conversation between them and the instructor.

Re: Interviews vs. auditions

#52
post #25

I teach and coach people to get jobs through performance and it works. Schools teach people to react, take tests, and show how great they are. For a posted opening, you're presenting yourself as a commodity -- a slightly shinier one, you hope. It's based on compliance. Most analytical, geeky types got a lot of schooling. After decades of it, most people have learned that model without awareness of alternatives. If yo…

I'm interested in further defining "performance" here. The dictionary gives two distinct definitions. It could mean "capability to carry out or accomplish", which is great, and I'd argue what companies should be hiring for and what candidates should be demonstrating. You want the person who knows their stuff, is competent, and can carry out the job you're hiring for. "Performance" could also mean "presentation to an audience", which is, sadly, what more and more companies seem to expect/reward during the engineering interview process. We're all told you need to be in sales pitch mode to get through interviews for jobs that often have nothing to do with sales or persuasion. Companies on one hand, complain that there are so many incompetent candidates to filter out in the hiring funnel, yet their interview process gives talkers more of an edge over do-ers!

It's like wanting to hire people to sit down and compose music, but everything in your hiring process is selecting for showmanship and stage performing instead.

Re: Interviews vs. auditions

#53
post #2

Taking control audition style may work if you're a consultant trying to convince a client to hire them, but you had better know their business backwards and forwards, and unless you're in a very well defined space (like their football coaching example), you probably don't. However, if you attempt this at a standard FAANG job interview, it is emphatically not going to work. There's a set of questions you need to work…

It also depends heavily on what kind of role you're applying for. If you're applying as a product manager, then sure, present your big audacious vision on how you're going to transform XYZ widget. Even if they don't actually do it, it's a good way to showcase your capabilities.

But if you're applying as a software engineer? What exactly are you going to present then? Nobody wants to work with a guy who's never seen the code base, but wants to rewrite the whole thing in Rust.

Re: Interviews vs. auditions

#54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> However, if you attempt this at a standard FAANG job interview, it is emphatically not going to work. Agreed, do you know why? They're looking for yes men. (Ok, maybe not the A later in the alphabet - not sure today) Now if you meet someone "higher up the chain" outside of a formal setting, this might work.

No, they're looking for concrete evidence of having and being able to apply a well-defined set of skills. One of the things you learn pretty fast as an interviewer is that charisma and attempts to pitch yourself tend to correlate poorly with aptitude, and an interview that focuses solely on predefined technical questions is by design impervious to yes men.

So: if you are both skilled at tech AND at working with people, and you're shooting for a tech job with an experienced interviewer... BE MORE AWKWARD!

Re: Interviews vs. auditions

#55
After a thick paragraph about sports history I gave up, which is 100% my fault. The moment an abstracted "sports metaphor" becomes an actual detailed account of sports figures (players, coaches, teams, etc) my interest in the topic enters a death spiral.

Re: Interviews vs. auditions

#56

After a thick paragraph about sports history I gave up, which is 100% my fault. The moment an abstracted "sports metaphor" becomes an actual detailed account of sports figures (players, coaches, teams, etc) my interest in the topic enters a death spiral.

[deleted]

Re: Interviews vs. auditions

#57
post #53
post #2

Taking control audition style may work if you're a consultant trying to convince a client to hire them, but you had better know their business backwards and forwards, and unless you're in a very well defined space (like their football coaching example), you probably don't. However, if you attempt this at a standard FAANG job interview, it is emphatically not going to work. There's a set of questions you need to work…

It also depends heavily on what kind of role you're applying for. If you're applying as a product manager, then sure, present your big audacious vision on how you're going to transform XYZ widget. Even if they don't actually do it, it's a good way to showcase your capabilities. But if you're applying as a software engineer? What exactly are you going to present then? Nobody wants to work with a guy who's never seen t…

You don't necessarily need to present a vision for the specific things you can do for the company, but you can take the initiative and present why your specific set of skills will be well suited for the company in question.

I do agree that you need to be careful with this - many companies will want to put you through "their process", and attempting to take control of the conversation when it's not welcome will tank your chances at a position, but I do think it's worthwhile to try.

Re: Interviews vs. auditions

#58
post #25

I teach and coach people to get jobs through performance and it works. Schools teach people to react, take tests, and show how great they are. For a posted opening, you're presenting yourself as a commodity -- a slightly shinier one, you hope. It's based on compliance. Most analytical, geeky types got a lot of schooling. After decades of it, most people have learned that model without awareness of alternatives. If yo…

good comment the typically interview gotten through a college job fair, and a coding interview, prices human labor as a commodity sometimes commodities sell for high prices, but in general, you'll do better if you don't compete as a commodity this is a method for competing along a different axis

That's the one big problem with this piece of advice.

This style of interview (ahem audition) will NOT work when applying for your 1st, 2nd or even 3rd jobs. McDonalds and even Facebook need a lot of worker bees.

They need very few Performers (CEO, CFO, Chief Strategist, Head of Content and Marketing, etc. etc.)

It works only when you are no longer a commodity and have a specialization.

Its great advice that I hope to be able to use someday. Until then I will keep my head down in the trenches..and take some notes :)

Re: Interviews vs. auditions

#59
post #25

I teach and coach people to get jobs through performance and it works. Schools teach people to react, take tests, and show how great they are. For a posted opening, you're presenting yourself as a commodity -- a slightly shinier one, you hope. It's based on compliance. Most analytical, geeky types got a lot of schooling. After decades of it, most people have learned that model without awareness of alternatives. If yo…

An important thing to remember about ASEEP jobs is that the pay distribution is extremely unequal, with a long tail who may even be paying to participate.

Re: Interviews vs. auditions

#60
as an engine mechanic, is this sort of game play normal in office jobs?

When I've been taken on as an apprentice, its an interview to see my competency...where i stand i guess and what i need to learn. Questions like 'whats the hardest thing' and 'how do you handle grumpy people' are pretty normal.

Being hired on full-time, and having to hire another mechanic myself, The questions are pretty cut and dry. Can you stick to a schedule, describe a 4 cycle engine, what a cam profile, give me a reference.

Once weve hired someone new, we generally know if shes going to make it or not. we all chip in to help if theyre struggling, but we dont play weird games.

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