I taught a bunch of classes this week at the Software Development conference. At one interviewing class, a participant wanted to know, “How do I hear the other half of the conversation?” I asked for clarification, and he said, “Sometimes I feel as if the candidate has only said part of the answer, and if I knew how to ask other questions, I would gather more information about candidates.”
Meta questions, such as “What else should I be asking you?” or “What else should I know about?” or “What haven’t I asked you yet?” are a great technique to elicit the other half of the conversation. You may hear surprising information.
I was a contract VP in an organization, interviewing for my replacement. I interviewed one candidate, asking “What else should I know about?” He said, “I don’t like to work with women.” I picked my jaw up and said, “Oh? Tell me more.” He went on and on about how women were so emotional and couldn’t make good decisions, and more nonsense. I thanked him for his time and walked him to the door.
Meta questions might not show such egregious behavior, but they will show you another side of a candidate. Which is almost always a Very Good Thing.
I had a discussion with a hiring manager at the Better Software conference this week. He claimed he could tell what candidates were thinking from their facial expressions.I asked him what I was thinking. He said, “You look pleasant, smiling, as if you’re agreeing with me.” I laughed out loud and said, “Nothing could be further from the truth.” We talked about how some people have control over their expressions and that body language or facial expressions are not good indications of what’s going on inside.
If my husband of over 20 years can’t tell what I’m thinking (and poor guy–he can’t :-), how can anyone else tell? Let’s leave the clairvoyance to the so-called psychics. In interviews, let’s ask great behavior-description questions and ask candidates to perform auditions, and evaluate people based on data, not what we think the candidate is thinking or saying.
Here’s the message I’m seeing loud and clear: It’s worth a few minutes to perform a little research on the name of the person you’ve just discovered via the web. If you’re a hiring manager and you’re hiring a contract recruiter, interview the recruiter. Ask questions such as, “Give me an example of someone you found via the web. How did you find that person? How did you make contact? What intrigued you about the candidate?” Try using questions like these to discriminate among recruiters who say they know how to use the web to uncover candidates and those who actually do know.
I received an outraged phone call this morning. Some woman was calling on behalf of a candidate who had sent me a resume. Let me explain, in case it’s not clear.
I am not a recruiter. I have no open positions. I do not supply resume review services. I am trying to make a difference for technical managers and teams who need to know how to hire and integrate new people into their organizations.
If I didn’t ask you for your resume, I trash it. I don’t even read unsolicited resumes. If you’re a candidate, carefully review anyplace someone else sends your resume.If you’re looking for recruiters, visit my colleagues at recruiting.com. If you need resumes reviewed, talk to someone like Louise. But don’t send me your resume and don’t be angry with me when I trash it. I’m not the person you need for finding a job or for a better resume. I am the person who can help you understand how to interview. That’s it.
I was reading Degrees Of Ability: Hiring Into Product Management and found myself saying, good ideas, but I need more. So I was inspired. I’ve developed a webinar I’ll be giving for Orasi next week. See the info page. Please do sign up and join me.
Too often, people think of conferences as boondoggles. As a frequent conference speaker, I can tell you that it’s possible you’d encounter a marketing presentation devoid of technical content at a conference–once. I doubt that speaker would be allowed to return.
As a result, conferences are a great place to start learning about new things, and they’re a great place to network with other people interested in learning.I can’t possibly list all the conferences here. But I will list the conferences I tend to speak at on a yearly basis, where I think the networking is good.
SQE hosts the Better Software, and STAR conferences. Better Software is for the whole gamut of software development. There’s something for managers, project managers, developers, testers, release engineers. (I don’t think there’s much for product managers.) STAR conferences are focused on testing and management of testing.
Software Development hosts the SD conferences. These conferences are for the whole gamut of software: managers of many stripes including project managers, developers, testers, release engineers. (Again, I’m not sure about product managers.)
AYE conference is about developing interpersonal skills, and is for anyone. It’s limited to 99 people, but we have reports that a number of the people who’ve met at AYE have networked with each other to find jobs.
Many local chapters of ASQ, PMI, IEEE, ACM also hold one-day conferences, aside from their national conferences. Most of them charge a nominal fee for a booth. I find the local one-day conferences a great way to network.
If you read a magazine or belong to a technical society, chances are good that magazine or society is affiliated with or puts on a conference. I particularly like local conferences, because it’s more likely the delegates are local.To use conferences for networking, consider all these alternatives:
Make up flyers with your open positions/ads/whatever will attract people. Include a URL to the full job description. Post a flyer on the message board. Include ways to contact you.
Take advantage of each session and any networking opportunities to talk to people. You don’t have to “sell” your company; you just need to let people know you’re looking. Keep your introduction low-key; let other people help sell you.
If you take a booth at a conference, bring plenty of flyers so people can take one (and maybe pass it along). Be willing to talk to anyone who stops by. Practice your job fair skills before the conference.
If you have a booth, make sure you make the decision early enough to be part of the program.
Give a talk. Your talk about something you/your group has done at work is a huge attractor to potential candidates.
If you use other techniques, please comment. But don’t discount conferences. Conferences can be a great way to source candidates.