Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Why I Won't Hire You

golemtechnologies.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 128 posts

Re: Why I Won't Hire You

#61

Post by prophetjohn »

edw519 wrote: post #42

I am expecting you to be one of the 99%+ people who I know I won’t hire in the first 5 minutes. If you can't narrow down resumes and phone interviews to candidates with better than a 1% chance of being accepted, then your interviewing pre-screening process is flawed. What other processes in our everyday work will also be flawed? You send me a stupidly long resume 90% of all written correspondence (from customers, use…

> Do I really want to look forward to your sour attitude every day?

This sums it up for me. The author sounds like a grumpy person who would be terrible to work for. I also suspect many of these rejections are self-fulfilling prophecies. When you're actively looking for a reason to reject candidates, you're probably going to find one.

Re: Why I Won't Hire You

#62

Post by tkiley »

/No career plans or vision/

The best developers I've ever worked with tend to lack career plans. If you're sufficiently happy with your life that you don't need a change strategy, that's pretty cool.

Re: Why I Won't Hire You

#63

Post by bitdiffusion »

If there were more engineers than jobs and we were all fiercely competing for scraps, I would say ok - it's a "buyers market" and we are forced to put up with attitudes like this.

The situation is very different however. In my experience, top talent either a) have their own company or b) are well-looked after by their current employer (at least one would hope so) so they need to actively lured away; how about you tell me why I SHOULD work for you rather than give all the reasons why I can't?

Oh yes - and the author is an arrogant dick.

Re: Why I Won't Hire You

#64

Post by mootothemax »

cunac wrote: post #57
mootothemax wrote: post #52

I really don't understand the offence some people seem to be taking from this blog post. The author's listing, directly and to the point, what he wants to see from interviewees. You might not like the tone of the author's writing, but having sat on the other side of the interview table, it is thoroughly depressing when a candidate tells you "Yeah, I just want a job - money, isn't it?", when you know that the role ava…

It is all perspective , you like to think that role is great but maybe is not so much as you think. Maybe you just don't know better

It is all perspective , you like to think that role is great but maybe is not so much as you think. Maybe you just don't know better

Don't get me wrong; we all have to pay the rent. There there are indisputably times when, guess what, one just needs a damned job that'll pay the bills.

But for a lot of smaller companies with cool little projects? Yeah, I think it's totally reasonable for them to discriminate on that level.

Re: Why I Won't Hire You

#65

Post by kls »

edw519 wrote: post #42

I am expecting you to be one of the 99%+ people who I know I won’t hire in the first 5 minutes. If you can't narrow down resumes and phone interviews to candidates with better than a 1% chance of being accepted, then your interviewing pre-screening process is flawed. What other processes in our everyday work will also be flawed? You send me a stupidly long resume 90% of all written correspondence (from customers, use…

You summed it up well, this guy needs to stay as far away from interviewing as possible. This attitude is why people can't find the 10Xers, they interviewing process is set up to filter them out. Your observation here:

Here's a clue: technologies change. By definition, anyone with the "right skill mix" won't have the "right skill mix" for long. Amesome people adapt. But how would you even know that if you don't hire them?

gets to the heart why they cant. 10Xers are not a technology they are personality and a attitude. Hell some of them are not ever that great at some of the technologies they use, but they know how to use the parts they need to get them to the finish line. They know the principles of elegance in clean code, and simple systems that are only as complex as they need to be.

These people are not showing up to the door of people that interview like the author, and if they do they are not taking the position and probably recommending to other 10Xers to go ahead and avoid the interview.

I get the feeling from reading the article, that the author has not learned how to spot technical talent and is growing frustrated with it.

Re: Why I Won't Hire You

#66

Post by Peroni »

edw519 wrote: post #42

I am expecting you to be one of the 99%+ people who I know I won’t hire in the first 5 minutes. If you can't narrow down resumes and phone interviews to candidates with better than a 1% chance of being accepted, then your interviewing pre-screening process is flawed. What other processes in our everyday work will also be flawed? You send me a stupidly long resume 90% of all written correspondence (from customers, use…

Thank you.

Interviews are a two way street. If I am applying for a job, my role during the interview is to convince you why I am a worthwhile hire, your role during the interview is to convince me that you are a worthwhile employer. If he was one of my clients I would disassociate myself from him very quickly.

As for his 5 points, I wonder if he realises that all 5 inversely apply to him just as much as they do to the candidate being interviewed.

1.Show me you can get things done. This means you can set realistic deadlines for projects and meet them consistently. You must be a good motivator.

2.Show me you are intelligent. I will ask you questions to discern how in touch you are with todays market. I don't care if you've interviewed a dozen people for this job, I want to know if you've actually read my resume.

3.Show me how I fit into your vision. Truthfully, we’ll work best together if you sincerely think I am the best person for this job in the long run. I want to know how you can help me succeed in my career, Tell me.

4.Be highly skilled. If your job advert says that you need a highly skilled Developer then don't have me sitting in a corner refactoring shitty code for the first 6 months.

5.Be Passionate. If I feel like the interview process is boring you, I will end the interview prematurely but politely.

/rant

Re: Why I Won't Hire You

#68

Post by zalew »

asolove wrote: post #60
zalew wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am glad that there are people like you for whom 'running your own company' isn't a bad answer . I think most people are afraid to tell the truth and choose the cliche path about climbing the ladder of success in company X, being afraid of rejection. And to be honest: how many companies out there want someone who tells them right away that experience and money obtained during their job is only to quit on the first m…

This is how I got hired. The manager talked with me for a while, and then looked me straight in the eye and said: in three years, you need to either be a technical lead or start your own company or you're going to be miserable. If you pick which of those paths you want, we'll help you get there through the work you do here. So honestly, the question is: would you want to work for a company that wants you to lie to th…

Clearly you met guys with an awesome attitude toward their potential co-workers.

I doubt most of interviewers who ask the cliche setup* do it because they hope the best for you and are glad they found the perfect match, probably they just brought it from their previous experience with job seeking, or have read them in an average HR manual.

*

- what was your biggest success in your field?

- what are your weaknesses?

- where do you see yourself in 5 years?

A long time ago a kind of douchebag asked me them while clicking checkboxes on the screen after every answer. Needless to say I had no motivation to even care to go further in the process. A few years later I've heard from girlfriends just after graduation (non-technical field), they got them on every single one of their interviews, mostly asked by HR managers with no particular work experience. The first one is exceptionally funny when the interviewee is a post-grad.

Re: Why I Won't Hire You

#69

Post by atacrawl »

Wow, I'm pretty surprised to see such a collectively sensitive reaction to this post.

Try to see things from this guy's perspective -- this comes across as a guy who's grown really tired of being bombarded by terrible resumes. Then, the few candidates whose resumes appeal to him result in terrible interviews because the candidate either doesn't give a shit about what he/she does, or misled (if not flat-out lied) about his/her skill set.

That would leave anyone a little ornery after a while.

Personally, I found the post rather unenlightening, only because I think it's common sense to be passionate about what you do -- otherwise, why do it? -- and to have the right skills, etc.

But a little tough love never hurt anybody. (And if you think this guy is a dick, I want to work for your bosses, because I've worked with some real doozies.)

Re: Why I Won't Hire You

#70

Post by paulhauggis »

My problem is that I have to give my future employers absolute bullshit when they ask me where I see myself in the next 5 years.

Why? I hate working for other people. I only want to work for myself. The only reason I even take a regular job is to fund my projects until they become successful. But, I can't ever tell them that.

Post reply on HN