Find people you can squeeze harder without paying them more.
A cynical approach! How about: 'find people who care enough to do it right the first time'
Hiring for conscientiousness (2019)
21–30 of 50 posts
Re: Hiring for conscientiousness (2019)
#22I've always been conscientious and it really backfired. When something breaks at 2am they call me to fix. They never call the recently hired slick-talking guru who experiments with the latest cool technology but can't actually deliver anything and who will leave before the end of the year anyway.
If more people read this article maybe they'll stop optimizing for slick-talking gurus only, and people like us will have more options!
Re: Hiring for conscientiousness (2019)
#23Re: Hiring for conscientiousness (2019)
#24Was anybody else completely turned off by the pop-up that screams "Keep Reading..."? Ugh. I quit after that. Also, please don't confuse conscientiousness with bed-side manner. They are plenty of people have excellent "bed-side manner" (all industries), but are not conscientiousness. Think of a school librarian who is loved by the children, but cannot manage the day-to-day work of library operations. The two may be co…
In different interviews, candidate might be asked the same literal question but be expected to produce very different responses. The interviwer will ususally provide no context for the situation or state what he is looking for. Interviews are not a simulation of reality, so you don't have context like you would in a real situation. Like in dungeons and dragon, what moves are allowed? What are the rules of engagement?…
I haaaaate it when interviewers ask vague questions and then fault you for taking it in a direction they didn't want.
So many interviewers act as if they expect to hire someone who has already worked at their company for five years and knows the codewords of the local cult.
Re: Hiring for conscientiousness (2019)
#25I've always been conscientious and it really backfired. When something breaks at 2am they call me to fix. They never call the recently hired slick-talking guru who experiments with the latest cool technology but can't actually deliver anything and who will leave before the end of the year anyway.
are you bragging about how you let your employer call you at 2am to fix things?
Re: Hiring for conscientiousness (2019)
#26Unless you are working for a charity or in a field like healthcare with direct patient care, buying into the vision of a company that you yourself do not actually own is one of the stupidest and most naive things you can do. The more you treat it like an exchange of your time and skills for money, the better you will be. Otherwise, people will ruthlessly exploit you and then leave you out to dry at the whenever is go…
That's one calculus for sure. But most of us choose a career in a field we find congenial. Consider, if you actually like what you're doing and the impact it has on the world, you will likely excel past all those 'in it just for the money'. I'd guess that many fields are managed and run by those who fit the former category. I prefer to be one of those.
I think the cynicism is because organizations hire both kinds of people, but for different roles.
Management is hired to be mercenary, while employees are hired to be conscientious.
Re: Hiring for conscientiousness (2019)
#27I'm surprised they are using "conscientiousness" exclusively in the sense of being careful and nothing about knowing right from wrong. There are so many jobs in the tech industry that a truly conscientious person should steer clear of. If you plan on hiring from the world's precious pool of conscientious people, please make damn sure that the job warrants that quality. Take a hard look at your employer's effect on th…
Conscientiousness means you do your duty, knowing right from wrong is called "conscience".
Re: Hiring for conscientiousness (2019)
#28Was anybody else completely turned off by the pop-up that screams "Keep Reading..."? Ugh. I quit after that. Also, please don't confuse conscientiousness with bed-side manner. They are plenty of people have excellent "bed-side manner" (all industries), but are not conscientiousness. Think of a school librarian who is loved by the children, but cannot manage the day-to-day work of library operations. The two may be co…
>Was anybody else completely turned off by the pop-up that screams "Keep Reading..."? Ugh. I quit after that.
> Also, please don't confuse conscientiousness with bed-side manner. They are plenty of people have excellent "bed-side manner" (all industries), but are not conscientiousness. Think of a school librarian who is loved by the children, but cannot manage the day-to-day work of library operations. The two may be correlated, but certainly not 100% as this author implies.
Well, you actually lost the best part of the article.
No paywall: https://12ft.io/proxy?q=https://www.holloway.com/s/trh-hirin...
Re: Hiring for conscientiousness (2019)
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
I agree. In 2022, it is amazing that people are still using (public) "side projects" as a very strong signal for good job candidates. Taken to the absurd: > That also means most people with heavy emotional labour duties (pregnancy, family care, illness, health issues, etc.) are excluded, almost by definition.
Thank you for this. I have spent the last few years bringing up my kids, and now dread the application process in getting back to work, lots of interesting little projects that are not online and yes health issues have been in my way. How do I present myself as worthy in this landscape?
> How do I present myself as worthy in this landscape?
I do interviews at my company. What I do consider is:
- can we (you and me) talk about a problem in technical terms and come up with a solution in a decent time (e.g., 30 min.)? If so, I want you in my team (so I vote "hire", but others decide)
- your past experience (professional or not). Similar as above: walk me through your most interesting projects/products
If you are good enough that you can mock the previous 2 points (talk BS and the like) without actually knowing what you are talking about and you even convince me of the contrary... well, you are hired as well (that's like the Chinese Room problem, right?)
Re: Hiring for conscientiousness (2019)
#30Folks there's good science on the topic of conscientiousness and work performance. Numerous meta-analyses. I'm not a fan of personality assessments for decision making in the workplace. But I encourage you to at least familiarize yourself with a bit of the existing research base before sharing opinions and anecdotes. You sound kinda silly.