Hiring Technical People

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 comments May 18th, 2009

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 comment May 6th, 2009