As an idiot I take offence
How to hire an idiot
121–130 of 186 posts
Re: How to hire an idiot
#122Earlier quoted context omitted.
It sounds like you're a tech recruiter or another guy from big corporate heritage. I say this because your answers are a shining paragon of why most of the participants at HN avoid and loathe big corporate jobs. Do you have any particular programming qualifications yourself? I'm curious. While it is of course a great sign that you are reading HN, it doesn't sound like you know how to rate candidates in an objective a…
Your "legends" have (had) no need to apply for jobs, so your point seems off-topic. More importantly, I found your comment unnecessarily offensive. The post you're replying to was fairly amicable and argued to the point, imo.
I don't believe my response was offensive and I agree that the OP is arguing his point within bounds. I just strongly disagree with that point, and as stated, believe it is typical of a non-technical hiring manager instead of an "in the trenches" programmer.
How would you have preferred I phrased my response? I don't think any part is "unnecessarily offensive". It is a forgone conclusion that people on HN don't want to work for big companies, so if he is a hiring manager, he shouldn't be surprised.
Re: How to hire an idiot
#123There is an art to checking references. Even if a company has a policy of giving bare minimum information, find out a TELEPHONE NUMBER of someone in that company who knows your candidate and start a conversation. I was given a specific script of questions to ask back in the 1990s when I was a community volunteer for my local public school district, doing reference checks on superintendent candidates. A consultant adv…
The reference-checking process described there is skewed towards certain types of personalities (liars, job-hoppers, social butterflies, etc.).
Re: How to hire an idiot
#124Earlier 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.
Education is absolutely a boilerplate resume item. I can't even count the number of time irregularities in just that one section ended up providing deep insight into a good or bad candidate. Everybody who has an education puts it on their resume even if it's 30 or 40 years old and they jam it at the bottom in a small font. For example: A weird school name - "International University of America", "University of New Yo…
I'm curious how you'd regard someone with the following on their resume:
1. a decade of military service, 2. a link to a healthy portfolio on github, 3. A couple of years of professional experience as a developer, 3. but only a 2-year degree or coursework for a CS degree.
I'm not in the market, just curious as I weigh my options for continuing school.
Re: How to hire an idiot
#125Earlier quoted context omitted.
I spend a huge amount of time every week reading resumes and talking to candidates and it simply is not my experience that everyone who "has" an education puts it on their resume. The only people who ever put their GPA on their resume are people with one or fewer jobs after college. Unless the best conversation you're prepared to have with a prospective employer is about your years in school, leave your GPA off your…
As somebody who also spends a lot of time in the resume weeds, I have to absolutely, but respectfully, disagree while keeping my feet warm this cold night on the burning embers of shredded resume fodder. To be clear, lack of an education section does not equal lack of an education and lack of a formal education does not equal lack of an education. Almost to the person, people who made it to an interview despite havin…
> 15 years as a "Programmer I" is not a good sign.
What is "Programmer I"? Is it some kind of specific grade scale, how standard it is? Then how does a startup of 5 people assign "Programmer" grades. How high does it go? Can't they just assign to each other the highest "Programmer" grade so it looks good on paper?
We spend the whole day with a candidate testing and interacting with them but we never bother looking at "Programmer" grade.
Re: How to hire an idiot
#126Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have no idea how to respond to this, which I promise I did read, other than to say that across my whole career, some of the very best and most qualified people I've hired didn't have their "Education" on their resume. Some of them had degrees from very solid engineering schools, others didn't, but I didn't find that out until after we had hired. You're suggesting you'd shred their resumes. If you're serious, you're…
>you seem to put a lot of thought into what is on people's resumes. I actually really don't. I screen resumes pretty quick and just check for a few things. Can they format their resume like a grownup? Does the information appear to be accurate? Does it show relevant skills for the position we're looking for? Does it show an upwards career progression? Are their any oddball things that I'd like to talk with them about…
It is not a buyer's market for talent right now. It's a seller's market. You may be getting 100 candidates for every position, but they're terrible candidates.
Re: How to hire an idiot
#127Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have no idea how to respond to this, which I promise I did read, other than to say that across my whole career, some of the very best and most qualified people I've hired didn't have their "Education" on their resume. Some of them had degrees from very solid engineering schools, others didn't, but I didn't find that out until after we had hired. You're suggesting you'd shred their resumes. If you're serious, you're…
Ok, Monster is bad, agreed. But what sources would you use then?
HN, GitHub, Stack Overflow --- if all you're prepared to do is run a job ad. We do other things; for instance, we run free classes in Chicago and Mountain View.
Re: How to hire an idiot
#128Number 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 conv…
California and several other states have imposed legal restrictions on using credit checks in hiring decisions. See an article by two lawyers at a prominent labor-law firm: http://www.littler.com/publication-press/publication/califor...
Re: How to hire an idiot
#129> he was a friggin' VP of a $100 million company
x 10 +
>But damn, I didn't think it would happen to me. I mean, I was prepared! I read a lot of books! I knew all about bad employees and how to avoid them! I was smart, dammit!
Obviously, that author didn't read Influence by Cialdini as he was deceived by one of the oldest tricks: "influence by authority"
Re: How to hire an idiot
#130the biggest fraud in the history of a european country (> 100 million USD) was committed by a broker who had no qualifications whatsoever, didn't even graduate from high school but was the vice president of one of the largest banks in the country and knew all the top political and legal figures.