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Why I Won't Hire You

golemtechnologies.com

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Re: Why I Won't Hire You

#41

Post by hcayless »

code-dog wrote: post #15

As someone who has done the interviewing thing, I can see where this article is coming from. I don't really buy into all of it though. All this stuff about being a great communicator. That is cool but not always required. I have spent a lot of time working with amazing people who are crap communicators and crap people who are great communicators. But - I am sure a lot of people interviewing use indicators like these…

Yeah, it tends to make me a bit irritable after the 500th time I've seen a resume touting the candidate's skills with DreamWeaver, so I sympathize. But while the article is a well-intentioned rant, it's still a rant.

In short, if you're looking for a job, try to put yourself in the position of the interviewer and adjust your approach accordingly. Don't go in cold, and don't assume the interviewer will make allowances for you.

Re: Why I Won't Hire You

#42

Post by edw519 »

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, users, collaborators, vendors, etc.) is too long. Do you think they're all stupid, too?

You have annoyed me.

You're a manager. Your job is to properly deal with issues that would annoy others. Why would anyone want to work for someone so easily annoyed?

...do I really want to look forward to your rambling emails every day?

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

You can’t tell me why you like your current job

If I liked my current job, I wouldn't be here.

I don’t hire awesome people who don’t have the right skill mix.

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?

No career plans or vision

I've been programming for 33 years and still have no idea what I want to do when I grow up. This is an interview for an open job, not Dr. Phil.

If you don’t think well on your feet, spend some time reading through and practicing situational interview questions.

Are you serious? I'm a programmer, not an Americas Got Talent contestant. What you see is what you get.

If you are missing even one, I’m probably going to pass you up for someone who doesn’t.

Wait a minute. You want to hire perfect people, but you also want them to have "career plans or vision"?

I have a super BS detector

Obviously not, since so many of your questions can only be answered with BS.

The End

That's just about the only thing you've said that I agree with.

You sound like you have a serious attitude problem. I can't imagine working for someone like you. But thanks for writing this. You've solved many problems in advance. I won't be applying. And I don't imagine many people like me will be either.

Re: Why I Won't Hire You

#43

Post by jsavimbi »

csomar wrote: post #27
benjaminwootton wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

- You have a problem. You need someone with the right skills, and hire him. - I have a problem (need money). I pick a job that I have the skills for. If you were hiring someone to dig a hole for you, this may be true. But software is a team sport and you do need an element of interviewing for personality, goals, and attitude as well as skills and aptitude.

But software is a team sport and you do need an element of interviewing for personality, goals, and attitude as well as skills and aptitude. Seriously, you figure that from a 2 hour interview? I fall in love with a girl which I thought/seemed/was told was a very good one. Turns out she's a complete slut. Knew that only after 2 weeks getting out with her. Get the person to work with you for few weeks or may be a coupl…

Exactly. Anyone who thinks they're smart enough to know if a candidate will be a perfect fit after a couple of hour-long interviews, a skills tests and even consensus amongst the team has obviously been promoted to their own special level of incompetence where a quick glance at their own job title is enough to reassure them that they are right and everyone else is wrong. I love those people, as they are easily fooled.

Re: Why I Won't Hire You

#44

Post by zalew »

asolove wrote: post #32
zalew wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why should I tell you about my vision and plans? What are you really looking for in that. These 'where do you see yourself in 5 years' questions sound like straight from a 'HR for dummies' book. I would really appreciate if an interviewer reading this post explained me what such cliches are trying to test, other than BS skills. Cliche question => cliche response.

(This post is not defending the original article, just discussing this specific comment.) Having never read an HR for Dummies book, and as a pure technical interviewer, I still frequently ask this question. The point is to not think of it as an adversarial question, like I'm going to mark you off for a bad answer. It's simply to know how you want your career to proceed. Do you want to be an expert at some specific pa…

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 moment they feel it's enough to run something on their own?

Re: Why I Won't Hire You

#46

Post by bjdixon »

jmilloy wrote: post #10

I will go into every interview expecting that we are equals. You know what you or your company already is and what it wants. I know what I am and what I want. Then, we decide together. Interviewing/recruiting does not give you high-status. The interview failures described in the article occur when neither party understands this.

It blows my mind that so many people don't understand that as an interviewee they are just as responsible for deciding if this relationship is a good fit as the interviewer. Otherwise you may end up jumping through the correct hoops only to get hired by a guy like this.

I find many interviewers have no idea that it's a two way street as well. I guess it shortens the interview for me though. I don't want to work for someone who only wants answers, not a conversation.

Re: Why I Won't Hire You

#47

Post by mootothemax »

csomar wrote: post #6

Why I Won't Work For You: Because you are a dick. Now who are you? What are you going to give me in return? Why should I tell you that I love my job and my career. Why should I tell you about my vision and plans? What are you really looking for in that. The hiring should be a lot simpler: - You have a problem. You need someone with the right skills, and hire him. - I have a problem (need money). I pick a job that I h…

Why I Won't Work For You:

Because you are a dick.

You do realise that you're being just as confrontational as the post's author?

Re: Why I Won't Hire You

#48

Post by drcube »

csomar wrote: post #27
benjaminwootton wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

- You have a problem. You need someone with the right skills, and hire him. - I have a problem (need money). I pick a job that I have the skills for. If you were hiring someone to dig a hole for you, this may be true. But software is a team sport and you do need an element of interviewing for personality, goals, and attitude as well as skills and aptitude.

But software is a team sport and you do need an element of interviewing for personality, goals, and attitude as well as skills and aptitude. Seriously, you figure that from a 2 hour interview? I fall in love with a girl which I thought/seemed/was told was a very good one. Turns out she's a complete slut. Knew that only after 2 weeks getting out with her. Get the person to work with you for few weeks or may be a coupl…

I think there's a business opportunity here, insulating companies from the risks of hiring in order to give them more time to judge the candidate. For example, a recruiter offers the company a skilled, vetted employee, with the promise of paying their salary for the first year. If the company doesn't like them, lay off the worker, risk free. If they like the employee, the pay back the recruiter twice the first year's salary. I think paying twice first year's salary is a pretty good deal for eliminating a huge portion of risk from the hiring process. And you get to learn about the candidate by working with them for a year, instead of asking meaningless questions for a few hours.

Re: Why I Won't Hire You

#49

Post by shareme »

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…

I was going to ask if he is a relative of Jason Calacanis as it sounds like that type of blowhard not too much depth type spiel

Re: Why I Won't Hire You

#50

Post by dsolomon »

Of the 100 people who look at his website searching for employment 90 are disinterested due to his poor grammar, spelling, and punctuation skills. Another eight realize that a professional services site with HTTP 403 and 404 errors isn’t that professional. One more reads the "official company blog" and concludes that the owner is a douche bag. The remaining 1% apply simply to keep their H1B status alive.

So in his own special way that guy is telling the 1% to f*ck off. Well played.

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