At a minimum, it teaches you just how many supposed grown-ups only need a good, long nap to be decent neighbors and co-workers.
If you’re not sure about whether you should hire stay-at-home Moms who are now rejoining the workforce, think about Nancy Pelosi. And, one of my clients says, “I love those Moms who raised children for a few years–the more the better. They are great project managers and have great organizational skills.” (He was talking about people who had enough technical expertise to manage technical projects.) So, take a chance, assuming these candidates meet your needs, with the exception of recent workforce experience.
Roman asks Whether he should move to start a company. So where do you start a company? Where the people are, of course.You need enough people who are willing to take a risk on a startup. Roman’s in the Atlanta area–I bet there are plenty of people there. I don’t think he needs to move to Silicon Valley or Boston if he wants just a handful if people to start. But if he needs 200-300 people, it’s possible he might need to move to Silicon Valley, where more people expect to work for a startup.When you’re starting a company, you need enough depth in the candidate base–or a sufficiently attractive startup–to attract candidates. But the startup phase doesn’t last all that long (we hope), and at some point, you need enough candidates to keep the hiring proceeding. You can either be in a location that has a large number of potential candidates or be a sufficiently enticing employer to be able to attract candidates.There is something about the old phrase about real estate: Location, location, location. But any reasonably large city will be attractive enough to potential candidates. It’s the companies who are more than an hour from a large city who have real problems.
I’m caught up with my project management book, at least until I receive more edits from my editor. So I’m catching up with my blogging.I was looking at a client’s site today. They have a couple of hundred open positions–not surprising, since they’re a large company. You can sort by date opened and location. But you can’t sort by type of job. Well, you sort-of can–by alphabetical order.So if you’re a developer, do you look under “A” for analyst? Or “P” for programmer? or “D” for developer? And, since the page only shows 10 jobs at a time, your readers–potential applicants–don’t have enough context to see.It makes some sense to name jobs by the job title. But the job title is an internal name, not an external name that means anything to potential candidates.If you’re a hiring manager or an HR person, take a critical look at your site. Can your potential candidates find the jobs that fit for them? Or, are the jobs organized so that it’s easy for you to post?
From Andy Lester comes a pointer to Hugh’s The Career Manifesto”. Andy’s writing a book called “Pragmatic Job Hunting” (working title). If you’re looking for a job, consider subscribing to Andy’s feed.
Last week at SD, I met up with Brian Robertson of Ternary Software, a small consulting company in the Philadelphia area. They have a different approach for their first contact with a candidate: they ask candidates to fill out essays (scroll down to see the essay questions).These essay questions reflect the culture of the company. So the people who are likely to write the answers are already self-selecting the company’s culture.Not every organization can use essay questions such as these, or any essays at all. And if you do, talk to your lawyers to make sure the questions don’t discriminate against people. But I do like the idea of looking at people first, not resumes.
Ok, I sometimes extrapolate trends from little or no data, so be forewarned
Daughter #1 is graduating from high school this Sunday. We went to the awards ceremony last night. There were typical awards in memory/honor of so-and-so, and a whole bunch of recognition awards. But what I was pleasantly surprised at was the number of students (more than 2) who were high up in class rankings, who received national recognition for computer science, and who planned to continue in computer science.
You know my position–that formal degrees are not a prerequisite for a technical career. But for certain positions, such as architects, a degree with the background a technical degree confers, is very helpful.
I don’t know that a half-dozen graduating seniors out of a class of about 400 students is a real “trend” up. But I see more of Daughter #1’s friends who are thinking of studying math, computer science, or engineering than I saw a few years ago. Who knows how many of them will stick with it–I must have changed my major about 50 times in school. But this is a positive sign for me.
The article, Blogs ‘essential’ to a good career says a well-executed blog can help you find a job by establishing you as an expert. The key here is “well-executed.”Blogging is great fun, and can help potential hiring managers discover another side of you. And, if your blog isn’t well-written, doesn’t link to others, and talks enough about off-topic issues, your blog may not help.But I’m an optimistic person. So if you’re a candidate looking for a job, start blogging!
I was speaking with a project manager the other day, who’s looking for a job but does not have a PMP certification. He was worried, so I asked him how he presented himself to potential hiring managers and HR people. He said, “I don’t have a PMP, but I’ve been really successful managing projects for the last 20 years.”I suggested he turn around the sentence: “I’ve successfully managed projects for 20 years,” and stop right there. If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you know how I feel about certifications and their relevance to the position. (Too often, certifications are the lazy manager’s way to avoid analyzing the job.)Candidates, when you’re looking for a job, focus on the skills you have. Consider your answer (or multiple answers to) Your Most Significant Accomplishment. Those are your strengths. BTW, I agree with the comment on that post that deciding what that accomplishment is and writing or speaking about it is a difficult thing to do.
I’m in Israel now, getting ready to work with a client tomorrow. When I travel, I watch CNN, and in Israel, I see the international edition. Jon Stewart had a funny segment on his show tonight, American Resolution: New Job. It shows a candidate doing everything wrong. I practically fell off the bed laughing. Enjoy!
IQ test questions don’t assess the practical, on-your-feet thinking skills needed in business. What’s more, these tests have been repeatedly accused of racial and gender bias. Yet, despite these very real shortcomings, IQ tests are still a better predictor of managerial success than any other assessment tool. [HUH??? --JR]Because each question in the behavioral interview essentially assesses the same qualities, there’s no need for the grueling three-to-four-hour sessions favored by hiring managers today. They need only ask enough questions to get a reliable appraisal of the candidate’s work experience, job knowledge, and social skills. [Excuse me, but that's not been my experience --JR]Despite their advantages, behavioral interviews really only establish a candidate’s minimum qualifications; they don’t identify star talent. [Of course behavior-descriptions are not enough by themselves. --JR]
The article goes on to say …tests should focus on the particular cognitive subjects associated with executive work: accomplishing tasks, working with and through others, and judging oneself.
Ok, so now the good folks who publish in HBR agree that auditions are key to evaluating a executive’s potential for a position. The example they use is actually a good example.
Auditions for senior management are harder to develop than auditions for technical staff and first- and mid-level managers, but they are certainly not impossible. Any audition that requires the exec to disclose the questions he/she has about the circumstances and leading to a decision and the ability to make a decision is useful. Executive auditions do look more like case studies and need to be evaluated that way.
