Hiring Technical People

Technical Ability is No Guarantee of Success

I just read Most Likely to Succeed: How do we hire when we can’t tell who’s right for the job? by Malcolm Gladwell. He talks about how a football recruiter agonized over his decisions:

…“This guy threw lasers, he could throw under tight spots, he had the arm strength, he had the size, he had the intelligence.” Shonka got as misty as a two-hundred-and-eighty-pound ex-linebacker in a black tracksuit can get. “He’s a concert pianist, you know? I really—I mean, I really—liked Joey.” And yet Harrington’s career consisted of a failed stint with the Detroit Lions and a slide into obscurity. Shonka looked back at the screen, where the young man he felt might be the best quarterback in the country was marching his team up and down the field. “How will that ability translate to the National Football League?” He shook his head slowly. “Shoot.”This is the quarterback problem. There are certain jobs where almost nothing you can learn about candidates before they start predicts how they’ll do once they’re hired. So how do we know whom to choose in cases like that?”

That’s the same problem as in technical teams, which is why we try to use auditions. But even an audition alone in front of one person or with a whiteboard is no guarantee of on-the-job success.

Read the whole article, because Gladwell relates this problem to the teacher problem: how do we detect great teachers: it’s not their degrees or strictly technical competence in their field–it’s more about how they engage everyone in the room and how they give feedback (and take feedback, although that’s just implied in the article).

Does that sound familiar to you? Working in a technical team partly about technical competence, because that’s how you get in. But that’s not how you stay in or become successful. You become successful in a job because you know how to help a team to evaluate and make a good decisions, to take and give feedback to peers, to use good judgement. These interpersonal skills are key to becoming successful in a technical job.

You can still be successful technically if you’re not superb at these interpersonal skills. But you can’t manage anything well unless you master enough of these (and other interpersonal) skills. Pay attention to your interpersonal skills in addition to your technical skills.

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2 commentsJune 25th, 2009

Entry Filed under: audition, qualities, technical manager, technical skills

Non-Competes Can Hurt Your Hiring

In yesterday’s Boston Globe there was an article, Start-ups stifled by noncompetes, which had a wonderful quote (go to the second page):

Luckily, we have an academic here in Massachusetts who has dedicated the past few years to looking at the impact of noncompetes. Matt Marx, who recently joined the faculty of MIT’s Sloan School of Management, has made three important findings about what noncompetes do.

First, he looked at Michigan. During the decades of that state’s greatest economic growth, from 1915 to 1985, noncompete agreements were illegal. In 1985, the law changed – and Marx found that inventors were suddenly less likely to move from one company to another, and specialized inventors were much less likely to move. (I’d observe here that the last 25 years in Michigan have not been a good era to emulate.) Marx has also surveyed inventors in the speech recognition industry around the country and found that about 25 percent of those who were bound by noncompetes often took “occupational detours’’ into other technology sectors reluctantly, to avoid getting sued.

Finally, Marx’s research has found that employees bound by noncompetes tend to take jobs with large companies rather than small start-ups – in part because they believe that a larger company might be able to defend them against a potential lawsuit.

Holy moly! I knew I didn’t like non-competes, but I had no hard data on how a non-compete can work against you in hiring and in innovation.

FYI: Scott Kirsner, the columnist, has a blog, Innovation Economy, and several other articles about non-competes. See Should We Make Non-Compete Agreements Illegal in Masssachusetts? as just one.

If you are a hiring manager, learn about your non-compete agreements and see if they are preventing innovation in your organization or preventing you from hiring the people you want.

My non-US readers: are there non-competes where you work? Are they enforced?

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3 commentsJune 22nd, 2009

Entry Filed under: career

Handshakes are Important

When I was about 8 or 9, my father taught me to shake hands. “No limp  fish!” he explained as he taught me to grip the other person’s hand making sure our thumbs met. (I really hate it when men prevent me from shaking hands properly by grabbing my fingers instead of my palm. They’re not going to kiss my hand, and it hurts when they smash my fingers together. Growl.)

Bob Sutton’s post, Handshakes and Job Interviews:Study Shows it is Especially Helpful for Women, explains why.

To me, the most interesting finding pertains to women.  The researchers found that, on average, women had weaker handshakes than men. Probably because their are different expectations for men and women, women’s weaker handshakes did not lead to weaker hiring recommendations (In fact, overall, the interviewers were more positively disposed to hire women than men).  BUT those women who had firmer and stronger handshakes, and used more complete grips, benefited more than men who had firm handshakes and complete grips — the researchers suggest that this effect may have been seen because men are expected to have firm shakes, and because it is more unusual among women, those women with firm handshakes were more memorable.

His post has a link to the study.

If you’re not sure how to shake, find another person because it’s hard to practice this yourself. Walk up to the other person, and respect their personal space, so stand about 2 feet away. Much more, and the person with the shorter arms has to extend his/her arm a lot and can fall off balance (that would be me). Much closer and you might be too close. Now, both people extend their hands to each other, bending at the elbow. It’s most comfortable to shake with a bent elbow. If you’re too far away, take a small step closer.

Now, slide your hand into the other person’s hand, palm to palm, and don’t stop until you meet the skin between their thumb and forefinger. All the way please. No shaking fingers. Take a firm grip. This is not a squeezing contest, so you don’t have to squeeze, just maintain a firm grip. Now, gently bring your hand up and down a couple of times. It helps to smile and say, “Nice to meet you” and use the other person’s name.

I let go after a couple of up and downs. I drop my hand to my side and maintain my smile. If you feel the other person let go, you let go too.

Handshakes are a social nicety, so learn how. And, they help establish rapport no matter where you stand in an interview.

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6 commentsJune 2nd, 2009

Entry Filed under: interview

Why Do You Want This Job?

Now that it’s a hiring manager’s market, I’m hearing that a number of interviewees are hearing questions such as “Why do you want this job?” or “Why Should I Hire You?”

Hiring managers: that’s a shorthand question. You know what it means, but your candidate may not. You’re looking for ways to know if this person will be successful, or what they want to do this job. Remember, some people just want a paycheck. That’s fine. Don’t assume they will be out the door as soon as the economy picks up–the economy has to pick up darn fast for them to be out the door soon. Instead of asking a shorthand question, ask the question you really want to ask. That question might be:

1. “What specific talents, skills, qualities, preferences do you bring to this position?” I prefer to analyze the job myself and ask questions about those things based on what I need, but you might hear interesting insights from candidates. One candidate told me she had the maturity to work with a relatively young team, and the young-at-heartedness to not hold them back from insightful ways to solve problems. She was right.
2. “Tell me about the things you’ve been learning recently.” (Wait for an answer.) “How does this job fit into your learnings?”
3. “Tell me about a time when you took a job you didn’t look perfect for. What did you do?”
4. “Tell me about a time you took a job you looked perfect for. What did you do?”
5. “Do you have any concerns about this job?”
6. “Tell me how you expect to help me with this job.” This one is particularly difficult to answer well, since the candidate may not know how she can help.

Avoid using shorthand to the question you really want to ask. If you want to ask “Why will you consider a job that pays 20k less than your most recent position,” ask that. Otherwise, think abou the question you want to ask, and if it’s legal, ask away. That makes you a more attractive hiring manager and the job much more attractive.

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2 commentsMay 18th, 2009

Entry Filed under: attractive job, candidate, interview question

Hire for “Abnormality?”

I’ve been at the PMI Regina PDC this week. I did a general session talk Monday, and am leading a two-day estimation workshop through tomorrow.  Andy Nulman had a great riff on normal vs. abnormal employees. You can see a clip of it here. Warning: racy, not completely clean.

If you think of normal as conforming to a type (see normal) and as average, then most of us want to be abnormal Should you specifically hire for “abnormal”?

If you are in an entrepeneurial environment, yet. In a high innovation environment, yes. In a place that takes risks, yes. But not everyone works in places like that. Hiring for people who have a wacky way of looking at the world is part of cultural fit. Don’t just hire people who are not average, who don’t conform because it’s an interesting idea. Make sure you have cultural fit, too.

But I still like the idea of not hiring “normal” people

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Add commentMay 6th, 2009

Entry Filed under: culture, hiring strategy

Wading Through Applicants

It’s now a hiring manager’s market. That means hiring managers can be picky and try to find just the right person for the open req. But, it also means that many applicants exist for each open req, and all of those people are applying for your job. How does a hiring manager find the right person?

First, realize there are any number of “right” people, and the first thing is to eliminate the wrong people. That means it’s even more important to do a job analysis. Once you have an analysis, you can see what’s essential for this job and what’s merely desirable.

Now, as you review resumes, you can say no to these people:

• People who don’t follow your rules for how you want to see the resume. If you want a doc file or a pdf or a text or in email, be specific about what you want. Anyone who doesn’t send you what you want is someone you don’t need to look at.
• Anyone who doesn’t fulfill all of your essential qualities, preferences,  non-technical skills.
• Anyone who doesn’t have a minimum technical skill set that makes sense for your job
• Anyone who doesn’t have experience working the way you do. If you’re agile, you don’t have to look at someone whose projects for the last 10 years were serial lifecycle and were late.

Take a look at Tips for Reviewing Resumes for more ideas.

As I review resumes, I have three piles: yes, no, maybe. If you have a lot of resumes, many of them should now be in your “yes” and “maybe” piles. Now it’s time for phone screens. I’ll talk more about that tomorrow.

P.S. the job analysis link link was broken and is now ficed. If you’d like to see all the templates, click here for the templates page.

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3 commentsApril 21st, 2009

Entry Filed under: job analysis, reviewing resume

How to Network for Senior Job

A number of my friends of long standing and colleagues are looking for jobs. (Friends of long standing is another way to say old friends without calling them old They all have over 20 years of experience. The way they used to find jobs–through recruiters–is not working. Sure, recruiters have some openings, but most organizations are not advertising and not using recruiters even for senior-level jobs.

Here’s what I know about:

• Network with everyone you know. Don’t forget school and previous employer alumni groups.
• Make sure you are on the job boards suitable for your potential positions.
• See if any local or national associations or user groups have job boards you can use.
• Use social media to connect with people.

I’m sure there are more options. Do you have any ideas? My friends and colleagues would like to know. Please comment. Thanks.

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8 commentsApril 2nd, 2009

Entry Filed under: age, network

Using Social Media to Network

So the economy isn’t so hot right now and you’re looking for a new job. Not the easiest of circumstances. You’re calling people to network. You’ve updated your resume. Maybe you’ve even called me. I looked for you on LinkedIn, but I can’t find you because your name is Tom Smith and there are several other people with your name in my area, you all do similar work, and each of you have 10 or 12 connections, and I can’t tell which one is you.

Dear colleague: Please fill in your LinkedIn profile. Please fill in your FaceBook profile. Please fill in any profile on any social media network. How can I network with you if I can’t find you?

Once you’ve filled in your profile, add some people. I can’t believe you’ve been working for 10, 20, or 30 years and have 10 people as connections. You don’t have to be me–I’m a promiscuous networker . But, please, add people who are your colleagues. You can add people with whom you have social relationships. You can add your family. (Do you think I’m not going to add my daughters when they graduate from college?) You can add all your friends from college, even if you haven’t talked to them in 20 years. (What a great way to network, catching up with college friends. You think they don’t know about jobs?? Sure they do.)

I don’t care how old you are. I don’t care that you haven’t thought about social media before. If you are unemployed, you have a responsibility to make it easier to network with people to find that next job. Your responsibilities:

• Make it easy for people to find you online, at least at social media outlets
• Help people know which Tom Smith you are
• Listen to your children about how to use the Internet

I want to help my friends find jobs. I want to help acquaintances. But I can’t help if I can’t find you. Yes, call. Yes, send resumes. Yes, use recruiters. But for heaven’s sake, use social media.  Use it, don’t just play with it.

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2 commentsMarch 31st, 2009

Entry Filed under: age, network

Hire for Diversity of All Kinds

I read a bunch of blogs, and Evolving Excellence is consistently good. I was struck by this post, Homozygosity – That’s The Problem!. I had never heard of homozygosity before, so I looked it up. According to Merriam-Webster, it’s

having the two genes at corresponding loci on homologous chromosomes identical for one or more loci

The result: you get enough people (in this case) who think alike and get them to work together,  they inbreed their thinking. That leads to

There is an old saying that ‘great minds think alike’.  Probably, but I’ve noticed that morons think alike too.

I laughed out loud at that one.

But Bill is right. It’s too easy if you have insufficient diversity to achieve group-think without meaning to. If you’re hiring for problem-solving skills, which is what we do in high tech, you want diversity of all kinds: personality, schooling, race, culture, to name just a few. Insufficient diversity leads to an inability to generate other and different solutions.

Think about what diversity might mean for your group and how you can find it.

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3 commentsMarch 18th, 2009

Entry Filed under: diversity, hiring strategy

How Do You Hire a Scrum Master?

At SD West last week, one of the folks in my talks asked about how to hire a Scrum Master. First, don’t do this:

Don’t look for a CSM. A CSM means the person has taken a 2-day workshop where he or she may have practiced some pieces of Scrum. There is no guarantee that the candidate did get through an entire timebox or finish a project.

Ok, here’s what to do. Ask these kinds of questions:

• Give me a recent example of how you helped a team develop a drumbeat, a project rhythm.
• How do you know the project is on track? (Ask for examples)
• What have you done to help a project get back on track? (Ask for examples)
• How do you obtain status from people? (Ask for examples)
• Tell me about an obstacle you recently removed. … How long did it take?
• Have you ever been in a position where the product owner wanted to add a new item to the iteration backlog after you’d started the iteration? What happened?

Because a Scrum Master helps the team stick with the process and remove obstacles, you can start with questions such as these. Consider adding an audition such as facilitating a standup meeting, working with the product owner on the backlog.

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Add commentMarch 16th, 2009

Entry Filed under: agile hiring, interview question