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How to hire an idiot

nukemanbill.blogspot.com

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Re: How to hire an idiot

#41

Post by jwallaceparker »

Wow a similar thing happened to a friend of mine in what he calls the "flying dragon" story.

About 5 years ago my friend Bob (not his real name - real name is Andrew) started an entertainment business to do shows like Cirque du Soleil.

He advertised on websites looking for acts. A man came in saying he was an agent that represented a flying dragon. Bob was incredulous. He asked to see the dragon. The agent told him the dragon would only come out for performances.

Bob paid the agent $1000 up front and spent another $3000 on marketing for the dragon's first performance. On the night of the performance, the agent called Bob and told him the dragon was sick but that he could definitely do a better, bigger show the following week.

Bob paid another $1000 but the dragon didn't show up again. Three weeks later the agent told Bob that the dragon died but had already spent the $2000 on his lair.

Bob now says, "Make them show you the dragon," as advice for almost any situation.

Re: How to hire an idiot

#42

Post by wisty »

ianl wrote: post #16
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.

VP of sales is the worst proxy for start-up skills you can think of. Firstly, a salesman in a big company might be good at reading off a script, or writing a highly polished script for worker bees to read off; but they aren't necessarily a good all-rounder. Second, it's common practice to give a VP position to anyone who asks for it, because it helps them convince customers that they are a mover and shaker in the company:

"Look, I'll ask the engineers to put it in the next patch." ... "Well, I'm a VP - they should listen."

Re: How to hire an idiot

#43

Post by jarek »

jwallaceparker wrote: post #41

Wow a similar thing happened to a friend of mine in what he calls the "flying dragon" story. About 5 years ago my friend Bob (not his real name - real name is Andrew) started an entertainment business to do shows like Cirque du Soleil. He advertised on websites looking for acts. A man came in saying he was an agent that represented a flying dragon. Bob was incredulous. He asked to see the dragon. The agent told him t…

A certain adage regarding a fool and his money comes to mind...

Re: How to hire an idiot

#45

Post by rcthompson »

3pt14159 wrote: post #40

Dude was a psychopath. I've been tricked by them before, cost me at least $20k. They lie. Straight to your face. They are often terrible at spelling, grammar, and just general "this document should look right" skills.

Does that mean he was also faking his regret when he finally got "caught" so he could get off scot-free?

Re: How to hire an idiot

#46

Post by daeken »

Bartlet wrote: post #33
tptacek wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How would you notice that on a resume? High school drop-outs don't write "high school drop-out" on their resume. In fact, many people, including many of the best people, don't put "education" on their resume at all.

I think an "education" section is a boilerplate resume item. If it wasn't there, I'd at least ask for details.

I don't have an education section on my resume, as I'm a high school dropout myself. Last year I was looking for a new job and shot my resume to probably a dozen different companies. Of those, the only company who asked about the lack of an education section was Bloomberg (of the ~8 people I had in-person interviews with, at least half of them asked me about it, in fact, which told me a lot about what the company was looking for). I'm not sure if it's indicative of the tech market at large, but no one else batted an eye at my lack of an education section and focused purely on my skills and experience.

Re: How to hire an idiot

#47

Post by thwarted »

Bartlet wrote: post #33
tptacek wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How would you notice that on a resume? High school drop-outs don't write "high school drop-out" on their resume. In fact, many people, including many of the best people, don't put "education" on their resume at all.

I think an "education" section is a boilerplate resume item. If it wasn't there, I'd at least ask for details.

Interests and Hobbies seem to be boilerplate resume sections too, but no one with any significant experience should include them.

Re: How to hire an idiot

#48

Post by tptacek »

thwarted wrote: post #47
Bartlet wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think an "education" section is a boilerplate resume item. If it wasn't there, I'd at least ask for details.

Interests and Hobbies seem to be boilerplate resume sections too, but no one with any significant experience should include them.

Interests, hobbies, and education are what you put on a thin resume to fill it out.

Re: How to hire an idiot

#49

Post by rphlx »

Titles are bullshit. At some companies almost every salesperson is a VP of Sales, Western Antarctica (or whatever) -- it's a free way to make customers feel important.

Re: How to hire an idiot

#50

Post by philwelch »

rphlx wrote: post #49

Titles are bullshit. At some companies almost every salesperson is a VP of Sales, Western Antarctica (or whatever) -- it's a free way to make customers feel important.

Likewise, I've been cold-called or cold-emailed by many a "senior recruiter", but never a "junior recruiter" or even simply a "recruiter".
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