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Things I said as a manager part 2: Hiring is emotional

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Re: Things I said as a manager part 2: Hiring is emotional

#61

Post by reactiverobot »

no-such-address wrote: post #16

It sounds as if the hiring managers got cold feet and made an emotional or impulsive decision. It's not surprising they could feel bad for treating a candidate that way, for indescribable reasons. It's not as if the justification offered was, "We lost our budget and couldn't go through with our offer" or "We have another much more highly qualified candidate and the organization needs that person." Managers that inter…

It sounds like you understand the burden of being an interviewer!

Can you share a little more about what made the decision emotional or impulsive? I'd love to make sure my writing is clear and it sounds like it wasn't. While building a relationship with a candidate can be emotional, we always use a standardized rubric to evaluate candidates. Even with a rubric the decisions can be hard!

Thanks for the note!

Re: Things I said as a manager part 2: Hiring is emotional

#62

Post by reactiverobot »

bell-cot wrote: post #3

> I had been talking to the candidate for months and they had completed our entire interview panel. We’d had great conversations where I’d learned about their background and developed a sense for how they would fit in this role. Unfortunately, I had to tell them we would not be moving forward with an offer. > It was hard because I wasn’t confident in the decision. They were close and had potential, but we also saw so…

Yes! You're right! That would be way too long for an interview loop. I'm sorry I wasn't clear in the article.

The candidate and I first met long before they were interested in interviewing. They had potential and I got to know them so that when they were interested in interviewing they'd reach out. Once they decided to interview, we made that happen as quickly as schedules allowed!

Hope that clarification helps! Thanks for the note!

Re: Things I said as a manager part 2: Hiring is emotional

#63

Post by reactiverobot »

burningChrome wrote: post #9

I remember not too long ago when you'd do a quick phone screen, then sit for maybe a technical interview and maybe come into the office for a panel to talk to other devs. Most of the time, hiring managers would say, "If you're close with your technical skills, we can teach you, but we're more interested if you fit in with our culture " Months of interaction? Why did just a few years ago, managers could spot a phony a…

Yeah you're right a months long process would be horrible!

Fortunately, that didn't happen in this case. Part of building a team is getting to know talented people before they're looking for a job so when they're ready they reach out to you.

And you're right, this is work, not dating. But that doesn't remove the human emotion involved in getting to know someone.

Re: Things I said as a manager part 2: Hiring is emotional

#64

Post by kshacker »

Gormo wrote: post #55
kshacker wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My first hand observations: took 4 months to hire, 5 months for the candidate to start. My first hiring in a corporate world so I had to learn a bit. Then we are expected to plan for diversity, not even looking at qualified candidates until we have met diversity benchmarks. Then my group had a committee kind of setup where one person could veto a candidate. Being my first hiring, I had to go along with it for a while…

Four months worth of interviews is insane, as is the need for unanimity in a hiring panel. On top of that, diversity quotas are explicitly illegal under US law. The organization you work for sounds like it is profoundly dysfunctional.

Of course this was my first hiring, so I had some learning to do including understanding org politics and let's say I wasted a month in that. And 4 months was not all interviews, it was the end to end process from the time I was given the position till the time the offer was sent out. Pretty sure I will be able to do it faster next time around, all other things including job markets being same.

And there were no diversity quotas, just that management will keep asking are you being diverse and my manager will throw a fit every time his managers will ask this question since our org was pretty much uniracial, but it was not me who built it :)

Re: Things I said as a manager part 2: Hiring is emotional

#65

Post by higeorge13 »

I keep reading comments that this could have been acceptable if it was some c-suite position. This is so funny, because we keep seeing ceos destroying the businesses or doing some funny incidents to always get rewarded with bonuses or into new ceo adventures.

Let’s admit businesses are picky in people they don’t know. If it’s some friend or twitter/ceo persona, he gets hired with 0 interviews. I have seen this so many times with heads, vps and c-suite hired out of the blue. While i have to struggle to get my feet into any position and bypass the ai filtering of ats.

Re: Things I said as a manager part 2: Hiring is emotional

#66

Post by aaomidi »

bastawhiz wrote: post #54

> I had been talking to the candidate for months and they had completed our entire interview panel. We’d had great conversations where I’d learned about their background and developed a sense for how they would fit in this role. Unfortunately, I had to tell them we would not be moving forward with an offer. "Hiring" isn't the emotional thing here. The emotional thing was knowing you were shitty to someone. You were s…

I’m still convinced a good chunk of PTSD is developed because brains can’t cope with the shitty actions their owners have done.

Re: Things I said as a manager part 2: Hiring is emotional

#67

Post by RaftPeople »

burningChrome wrote: post #9

I remember not too long ago when you'd do a quick phone screen, then sit for maybe a technical interview and maybe come into the office for a panel to talk to other devs. Most of the time, hiring managers would say, "If you're close with your technical skills, we can teach you, but we're more interested if you fit in with our culture " Months of interaction? Why did just a few years ago, managers could spot a phony a…

> Most of the time, hiring managers would say, "If you're close with your technical skills, we can teach you, but we're more interested if you fit in with our culture "

This is my criteria:

1-Smart, problem solver, sees the big picture, etc.

2-Collaborative, flexible, not dogmatic

3-Responsible, takes ownership

4-Technical experience is in the ballpark, gaps ok and expected

The first 3 things are much more important than the tech because tech gaps can be filled, personality can't be changed.

Re: Things I said as a manager part 2: Hiring is emotional

#68

Post by hitekker »

reactiverobot wrote: post #59
bastawhiz wrote: post #54

> I had been talking to the candidate for months and they had completed our entire interview panel. We’d had great conversations where I’d learned about their background and developed a sense for how they would fit in this role. Unfortunately, I had to tell them we would not be moving forward with an offer. "Hiring" isn't the emotional thing here. The emotional thing was knowing you were shitty to someone. You were s…

That's a really good analogy that the longest rollercoaster is 4 minutes. You're absolutely right that a months long interview process would suck. Fortunately, that wasn't what happened. I've added an amendment to the story to clarify, take a look! I obviously can't go into the details of the feedback but I share your wish that hiring decisions would more cut and dry! It would be a lot easier for everyone. Thanks for…

It's nice that you're replying to commenters, but I feel you're rather living up to your username.

Re: Things I said as a manager part 2: Hiring is emotional

#69

Post by reactiverobot »

hitekker wrote: post #68
reactiverobot wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a really good analogy that the longest rollercoaster is 4 minutes. You're absolutely right that a months long interview process would suck. Fortunately, that wasn't what happened. I've added an amendment to the story to clarify, take a look! I obviously can't go into the details of the feedback but I share your wish that hiring decisions would more cut and dry! It would be a lot easier for everyone. Thanks for…

It's nice that you're replying to commenters, but I feel you're rather living up to your username.

lol true.
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