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I'm an interviewer at my company and burnt out

dear.mariechatfield.com

81–90 of 102 posts

Re: I'm an interviewer at my company and burnt out

#81
post #75

One of the hard parts of being a person from an underrepresented demographic is having to bear an unequal burden to help make your company more diverse, equitable, and inclusive. There is a tremendous amount of talent out there from underestimated groups, but many of us don't want to work places where we're going to be the only person. And as your interview panel is the most crucial touch point with candidates, the f…

>because it is really, really hard to to build an org that is more diverse than the average (let alone anything near society), and you still have to meet other objectives. I've thought about this a many times with the hiring I'm involved with. There are some potential problems you can tackle internally, such as whether you have bias against certain types of candidate. However, the major blocker is one I really don't…

I honestly think that a true commitment to diversity has to require rethinking the recruitment process to actively seek out these candidates.

You can tweak the language in job listings, but you can't tweak away the fact that underrepresented groups are going to have way fewer "qualified" applicants when the qualifications include time spent in that industry.

I'd love to see tech make a push towards mentorship and a recruitment model that involves seeking out talented candidates who may be struggling to break into the industry. Maybe it requires reaching out to computer science departments or developing a system for training people in house. I don't really know, but I know that it isn't just a matter of finding more Black or women senior Dev applicants.

Re: I'm an interviewer at my company and burnt out

#82
post #28
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are millions of 'Tall White Guys' in prison, earning minimum wage, living on the streets. It's really not that much of a privilege.

I was literally homeless and earning minimum wage at one point so this is something I'm familiar with.

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Re: I'm an interviewer at my company and burnt out

#83
post #46
post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So why is easy mode easy for you, but hard for other tall white guys? Is it possibly because there is no "easy mode"?

Do you really find it absurd that someone is saying they feel like they have a well-known, widely-documented privilege?

There's a difference between 'easy mode' - and possibly having an advantage.

Being tall, or white, might give you an edge in some circumstances, in some places in life.

It does not put life on 'easy mode'.

It's tiring dealing with woke racism - this new world ideology is troubling.

Privilege is having parents who give you $20M - that's 'easy mode'. Otherwise, it's not.

Re: I'm an interviewer at my company and burnt out

#84
post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So why is easy mode easy for you, but hard for other tall white guys? Is it possibly because there is no "easy mode"?

First - I don't know if this guy originated the term or not, but he's got an eloquent, well-written explanation about what is meant by "straight white male is easy mode for real life": His original post is here[1], along with two follow up articles [2][3]. Definitely worth taking the time to read. In terms of why life isn't easy for all tall white guys - being tall, and white, and a guy helps but it's not everything.…

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Re: I'm an interviewer at my company and burnt out

#85
Why is there an assumption of injustice that has to be rectified only when certain jobs have skewed demographics, but not all?

Why is there no societal wide calls for racial re-balancing in the NBA or NFL, or olympic sprinting competitions? Or gender re-balancing for military combat roles or logging in the timber industry, or elementary school teacher or veterinarians?

Re: I'm an interviewer at my company and burnt out

#86

I don't know, anecdotally, relationships broke down with me and other stakeholders, and I ended up leaving the company, after I pushed hard for an amazing candidate, the first to ever ace my interviews, whereas said other stakeholders wanted a certain diversity candidate, who while I enjoyed meeting didn't do that well. The funny thing is in SF it's the bro-y white guy CEOs who push the wokeness the hardest. Almost f…

Did you know companies get tax incentives for diversity hiring?

I did not know this, is this in Canada too? Because that explains a lot.

Re: I'm an interviewer at my company and burnt out

#87
post #28
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are millions of 'Tall White Guys' in prison, earning minimum wage, living on the streets. It's really not that much of a privilege.

I was literally homeless and earning minimum wage at one point so this is something I'm familiar with.

Well it's wonderful that you overcame that.

But if someone who was 'White and Tall' was 'Homeless on Minimum Wage' then that would directly refute the logic that 'Being Tall and White is Easy Mode'.

Just the opposite, it would indicate that 'Being Tall and White is definitely not Easy Mode'.

Re: I'm an interviewer at my company and burnt out

#88
In the current company where I have been working for last 9 years and this year it will be 10, I have taken so far interview of more than 350 people for my team, this is my second company. All interviews were by phone and I spend minimum 30 mins, if they are bad and 45 to 60mins if they are good.

In the beginning some team members thought taking interview was a pride. I wasn't taking any at that time. Later I got the job of doing it, HR sends the resume to my TL and he passes to me. Before the interview as a prep I google the guy and see if he has a blog or has any linkedin profile. Then I go on with the interview, 50% of questions I ask are from the work the person has put in his resume only. Other 50% are work we have in the team.

After having interviewed 30 people, I started guessing some are fakes, to confirm my guess, I push the person of second round technical interview which my team lead takes. Almost 100% of guess we're right. But at that time, I didn't know or thought about there would be people faking the interviews regularly. I have encountered twins fraud in my previous company that was shocking. During the interview, I hear turning pages, asking to repeat the question 3 to 4 times, could hear typing and clicking. Questions related to same subject is answered fast but different subject and going back to earlier subject responses were slow.

I started to setup the interview question like fundamental then based on experience. Worst part was, when I see some resume with person from top sort ivy league colleges, I get excited to interview them as I assume, they will be brilliant. One time, I had got such a resume, so I took my TL and one extra person as well to a conference room for interview, to say he was a gold medalist, I lost hope on gold medalists after that. It was quite a funny interview.

Out of 350, almost 250 were fakes. After knowing they were fake in 10-15 mins I still proceed to take interview to know what subject they are good in just to know as experience varies. On the last feedback just say where they have to improve on.

Worse thing is, when you find someone and hire them, they leave too soon due to pressure they say. Too much work.

I never take an interview during a burnout as this is a person's career. That's something serious.

But I have heard from friends and other places. People do hire persons based on caste, state, religion. Them being hired at high salary as well. I hear a lots of frustrations. I can't say anything other than THIS IS INDIA. There are people like that and it's hard to report or confront.

Re: I'm an interviewer at my company and burnt out

#89
post #46
post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So why is easy mode easy for you, but hard for other tall white guys? Is it possibly because there is no "easy mode"?

Do you really find it absurd that someone is saying they feel like they have a well-known, widely-documented privilege?

So what do you consider all the tall white males who are in prison or making minimum wage at 30 years old? Are they just mega failures?

Re: I'm an interviewer at my company and burnt out

#90
post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you read the original memo with the citations intact? Gizmodo published an edited version. I would agree that the memo reads like a series of bigoted conjectures if you read the edited version.

I have indeed read the memo.

Well you definitely didn't understand it then.

The researchers who study the fields he's referencing agree with most everything he said. Hell, a few of them even gave interviews saying he was about, "90% correct".

He was trying to help, and if Google had taken it to heart instead of getting butthurt, they could have used the useful bits and discarded the inaccuracies.

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