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How to hire an idiot

nukemanbill.blogspot.com

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Re: How to hire an idiot

#11

Post by iand »

ww520 wrote: post #7
iand wrote: post #4

Number one rule of hiring: take up references

Does reference checking really work? People pick references that can put them in the best light. How would one phrase questions to get the true answers from references?

They do work but are not foolproof. I always ask to speak with the person's current manager. Its usually possible to discerne whether the manager is sorry to lose the employee or not.

Re: How to hire an idiot

#12

Post by lukev »

So he was a highschool dropout. How do you not notice something like that on a resume?

College degrees are always listed on resumes, and while they aren't that important in most cases, it should at least be brought up as an interview conversation point if it's missing entirely (and from there, launch into a discussion of how a person gained their skills, which would have completely unveiled this guy).

Re: How to hire an idiot

#14

Post by FreakLegion »

iand wrote: post #4

Number one rule of hiring: take up references

Absolutely. My current employer never asked for references, and in fact, they didn't even get my full legal name until after they'd hired me (no background check, in other words). Luckily it's not an issue in my case, but even so, this is an InfoSec company. They really ought to be more careful, even with charming fellas like me!

Re: How to hire an idiot

#15

Post by ams6110 »

ww520 wrote: post #7
iand wrote: post #4

Number one rule of hiring: take up references

Does reference checking really work? People pick references that can put them in the best light. How would one phrase questions to get the true answers from references?

If the candidate says he was a latex salesman for Vandelay Industries, that could be a red flag.

Seriously... I've found that people in sales are so used to bullshitting their way to a deal that you have to double and triple check everything in their backgrounds.

Re: How to hire an idiot

#16

Post by ianl »

lukev wrote: post #12

So he was a highschool dropout. How do you not notice something like that on a resume? College degrees are always listed on resumes, and while they aren't that important in most cases, it should at least be brought up as an interview conversation point if it's missing entirely (and from there, launch into a discussion of how a person gained their skills, which would have completely unveiled this guy).

The point was he didn't have a resume nor did he do any background checks because he was obsessed with the fact that this guy must be good because he was a former vp of a $100m company.

Re: How to hire an idiot

#17

Post by matdwyer »

I don't think anyone gets it right the first time. My first two "hires" were horrific. I ended up learning from the experience and better shaping what I wanted, what I needed to do differently, etc.

Most recent hire has been a much better fit into that mould, but still not perfect. HR isn't at all my specialty, and I know it will be years before I perfect it.

Glad to hear that the company recovered - one of mine didn't.

Re: How to hire an idiot

#18

Post by joezydeco »

iand wrote: post #11
ww520 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does reference checking really work? People pick references that can put them in the best light. How would one phrase questions to get the true answers from references?

They do work but are not foolproof. I always ask to speak with the person's current manager. Its usually possible to discerne whether the manager is sorry to lose the employee or not.

When you say "current", you mean you talk to the manager that probably doesn't know his employee is interviewing for a new job? I bet that ends well.

Re: How to hire an idiot

#19

Post by rdl »

A founder should not be delegating sales to a hire, and if you have multiple cofounders, it is moronic to have only one of them aware of sales (with 3 people, you could maybe get away with 2 people knowing about most of the clients, or a different subset of 2 for each client, but even then).

Re: How to hire an idiot

#20

Post by rdl »

iand wrote: post #4

Number one rule of hiring: take up references

I'm curious how people feel about (criminal, credit) background checks. Our lawyers suggested that both those and drug tests are sometimes done, but might not be appropriate in silicon valley. We're pretty anti drug-tests, but especially for an infosec company or someone with access to sensitive customer data, running at least a criminal check and possibly credit check makes sense. I wouldn't say having previous convictions necessarily excludes someone, but refusing to disclose and being unable to explain something is probably a big problem.
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