Don’t do interviews, do discussions
thinkingthrough.substack.com
Don’t do interviews, do discussions
1–10 of 432 posts
Re: Don’t do interviews, do discussions
#2To me it comes down to the following: you're not going to advance your career at a place you don't do your best in, and the best way to find out is to see how well you do with future _peers_. Treating your interview as talking with your peers frames your thinking in a much more productive manner.
Life's too short to be stuck with mediocre employers.
Re: Don’t do interviews, do discussions
#3To me it comes down to the following: you're not going to advance your career at a place you don't do your best in, and the best way to find out is to see how well you do with future _peers_. Treating your interview as talking with your peers frames your thinking in a much more productive manner. Life's too short to be stuck with mediocre employers.
> Life's too short to be stuck with mediocre employers.
Billboard worthy quote right there.
Re: Don’t do interviews, do discussions
#4To me it comes down to the following: you're not going to advance your career at a place you don't do your best in, and the best way to find out is to see how well you do with future _peers_. Treating your interview as talking with your peers frames your thinking in a much more productive manner. Life's too short to be stuck with mediocre employers.
> Life's too short to be stuck with mediocre employers. Billboard worthy quote right there.
At the risk of sounding cynical it sounds exactly like a slogan that would appear on billboards for one of those low-rent employment agencies.
Re: Don’t do interviews, do discussions
#5Not the main topic of the article, but in my opinion an interview/discussion also is supposed to answer another (third) question:
Does the company fulfill the expectations of the potential employee?
Not only the candidate has to sell their own service/skill during the interview/discussion, the company is being evaluated, too.
Re: Don’t do interviews, do discussions
#6To me it comes down to the following: you're not going to advance your career at a place you don't do your best in, and the best way to find out is to see how well you do with future _peers_. Treating your interview as talking with your peers frames your thinking in a much more productive manner. Life's too short to be stuck with mediocre employers.
> you're not going to advance your career at a place you don't do your best in
Hard disagree. I've worked at a lot of places where I was frustrated, didn't give a damn and felt like I was completely underperforming. And yet, my career has been advancing both in terms of title and earnings. So, unless you have a different metric for "advancing your career" I disagree.
That being said, I agree with your main point :)
Re: Don’t do interviews, do discussions
#7Not the main topic of the article, but in my opinion an interview/discussion also is supposed to answer another (third) question: Does the company fulfill the expectations of the potential employee? Not only the candidate has to sell their own service/skill during the interview/discussion, the company is being evaluated, too.
This so much. This would be on the syllabus of the missing Employment 101 course. Very few people I've seen try to evaluate the company as much as they're being evaluated.
We all grow up with the false, ingrained assumption that it's some sort of one-way privilege for you, the employee, to rent your time/body/mind to the employer.
Re: Don’t do interviews, do discussions
#8I'm not sure why but it seems that most of my "interviews" end up with me asking lots of tough questions along with the reasoning behind my questions. I end up leading the discussion. I don't have numbers but it seems I get offers when I take the lead and ask tough questions about the business, what challenges exist, and how the interviewer deals with them. Anecdotally when I've been passive in the past I've not moved forward in the process.
On the flip side, when doing the interview and when I'm answering/explaining something to a candidate, I'm not really able to think ahead to the next tougher question in a chain of questions. I wonder how that impacts my assessments. I used to do 3-5 interviews per week, it is a shame I didn't take notice of this and compare to the group's consensus and outcome.
Re: Don’t do interviews, do discussions
#9To me it comes down to the following: you're not going to advance your career at a place you don't do your best in, and the best way to find out is to see how well you do with future _peers_. Treating your interview as talking with your peers frames your thinking in a much more productive manner. Life's too short to be stuck with mediocre employers.
> you're not going to advance your career at a place you don't do your best in Hard disagree. I've worked at a lot of places where I was frustrated, didn't give a damn and felt like I was completely underperforming. And yet, my career has been advancing both in terms of title and earnings. So, unless you have a different metric for "advancing your career" I disagree. That being said, I agree with your main point :)
You can advance your title and earnings while also simultaneously not lose your will to live.
I've done the whole money+title things at places where my work barely made any impact. You'll pay for it later on; 40+ hours of weekly grind takes a toll on your mind and body.
Re: Don’t do interviews, do discussions
#10Discussion will only be possible/advantageous if the interviewer decides to engage in a less strict and structured approach. I've had interviewers sticking to very specific questions and wanting very specific answers (not necessary what they needed to know me, but what they wanted to complete a form).
A discussion means an organic, constructive exchange. If anyone is too stuck-up, it way not work well.
Obviously getting to know the candidate through discussion is best.