Posts filed under 'interview'
I read a lot about speakers practicing authenticity. (Huh?) All the suggestions seem reasonable, yet contrived to me: act interested in your audience, use your current location in your speech, remember to thank people at the end of your speech.
If you don’t want to be a speaker, don’t. If you do want to be a speaker, you may do those things, because they make sense. You don’t do them to practice authenticity, you do them because if you love speaking, you do it. You are authentic because you care about your job.
It’s the same thing with interviews and thank you notes. If you love your job, and you’re interviewing candidates, you don’t have to remember to thank people for coming in for the interview. You don’t have to remember to thank people for their time at the end of the interview–you’ll do that because you are an authentic human.
If you’re like me, you need a little checklist/reminder at the beginning of the interview process to stop work-as-normal, and start interviewing. I don’t need to remember to smile, I need to remember to put away the day’s work and focus on the interview. As a hiring manager or team member, you might need some other remembrances.
And, if you’re a candidate, and you liked the interviewer, the team, the organization, by all means, send a thank you note. If you have questions, ask them. If you have concerns, and they are minor, say you want another conversation.
But if you have major concerns or don’t want this job, say so. Or, don’t write a thank you note. Don’t write a fake note, saying you want the job when you don’t.
Authenticity is a necessary part of interviewing–from either side. So, don’t practice authenticity–be authentic.
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January 27th, 2010
I was reading, Nervous about an interview? Try this! and thought, hmm, I’ve said something like that before, haven’t I?
I have, but in slides (for my Hiring for an Agile Team tutorial and workshop and in my other workshops) and in person, but not on this blog. So, let me say it here:
Good interviews are conversations. Period.
Good interviews do not surprise people. Good interviews build rapport with a candidate, learn about a candidate, preferably with behavior-description questions and auditions. Maybe with hypothetical questions. Maybe with a meta-question.
But good interviews should make a candidate (and an interviewer) think, not sweat.
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January 7th, 2010
I’ve been talking with a colleague who is looking for a job. He’s comparing two senior engineering jobs.
At one interview, it was clear that the manager makes all the technical decisions. No, the manager doesn’t code anymore; he makes all the technical decisions though, for a 12-person group.
At the other job, it looked as if my colleague might be the most senior person there. The other folks are young and smart, but just don’t appear to have the same amount of experience he has.
I asked him who he would learn from, at each job. He immediately answered the job with the younger group. Why? Because the manager in the first job would prevent him from learning.
He said something like this (I’m paraphrasing), “When managers don’t manage, and make all the technical decisions, they make it harder for the team to grow and for people to learn.”
So hiring managers, remember, the interview works both ways.
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January 3rd, 2010
One of the most important things to do in an interview is to build rapport. I led a session last week at AYE, focused on conversations (not specifically interviews). One of the more memorable things I said is that you need to be personal but not intimate.
A participant asked, “What is personal but not intimate?” I explained that personal is about you, and intimacy is something you might see or do in the shower. (Ok, that was not one of the most articulate explanations I’ve ever given. You get 5 minutes to laugh and then please keep reading.)
The problem with small talk is that it’s not personal. “How about those Red Sox” or talking about the weather is something we could do with a complete stranger. But sharing little anecdotes from your life is personal. “I returned to gym yesterday morning after a three-week travel period. I’m surprised I’m not sore today.” That’s personal. Many of us have felt the soreness of pushing too hard when we start our regular workouts again. Some of us have felt guilty about not being sore–did I push hard enough yesterday? That’s a personal comment that allows us to build rapport. It may not be the right topic of conversation. But it’s a start, and suggests a topic for the other person.
If you have a minute or two of rapport-building talk, you’ve set the stage for a successful conversation, whether that is an interview or any other conversation.
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November 17th, 2009
A few colleagues have had this experience. They get a call about a job. It looks like a great fit. They apply. They go through all the interviewing. It takes forever. And, they don’t get the job.
One asked, “Is it ok to ask why?” Sure, it’s ok to ask. Just don’t have a fight about it.
When you ask why you didn’t get a job, it’s a form of feedback. And, the people providing feedback may not be very nice about how they provide feedback. They may not be nice about it. If you are lucky enough to get this feedback, say, “Thank you.”
No matter how these people phrase it (one hiring manager said, “I don’t trust you to not look for a job once the economy improves), they are providing you valuable feedback. The colleague who heard this was astonished. “I wanted that job. I wasn’t going to look for a new one.” We discussed ways he might be able to use this experience to preempt a future hiring manager from thinking this way.
Something about your interviewing situation has created the rejection (maybe not you). Take the feedback, learn from it, and think about ways to apply it. Say, “Thank you,” and stop. Do not fight with the person giving you feedback. Who knows, that person might think of you in a while and re-open discussions. Stranger things have happened.
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July 17th, 2009
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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June 2nd, 2009
Before my webinar last week, I was chatting with the organizer, and experienced project manager. He said that when he interviewed a project manager, and hear words such as “I control projects” that’s a red flag for him. No, he’s not an agile project manager–he’s a smart and effective project manager who realize that people control their own tasks. But he got me thinking about other red flag words.
When I hear testers say, “I control the release” that’s a red flag for me. Testers provide information. The release decision is way above their pay level.
When I hear business analysts (or anyone!) say, “I just know what the customers want. I don’t have to go back and talk to them.” Oh yeah? If they’re so clairvoyant, why doesn’t all software work the way I want it to?
When I hear architects say, “I don’t write code. I architect a system.” Oh sure they do. On paper. Or in PowerPoint (full credit to Venkat and Andy for naming these people PowerPoint Architects in Practices of an Agile Developer). Architects who don’t participate in product development are just as bad as house architects who never use the bathrooms they “design.”
Red flag words are an indication that the candidate is not sufficiently introspective about why the company pays him or her. You might still want to hire a candidate with red flag words, but you’ll have to work with that person to make him or her a fully valuable member of the team.
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September 4th, 2008
I’m writing about a post a week for ITJobBlog. I’ve already written a couple of posts about how to develop your interview skills when you’re a candidate, part 1 and part 2. Please join us over there, too!
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August 27th, 2008
I’ve been in email contact with Pradeep Soundararajan for a few months now. He was recently at a conference in Toronto, and has posted his The (bad) state of software testing interviews in India, which includes a pdf of a talk he gave about interviewing. He has several wonderful ideas, including:
- Candidate and interview myths
- Frequently asked (horrible) questions
- Today’s candidates are tomorrow’s interviewers
- Organizations suffer with bad resources because they don’t know how to ask for good resources.
I wish I’d been there. I bet this was a great talk! I don’t think Pradeep had heard of my book until that conference, so he did buy one while he was there. I’m sure we will keep up our email conversation.
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July 23rd, 2008
Art Petty has a great post, Capturing Talent and Creating Great Customer Experiences: They Go Together. I really liked this part:
A manager that takes mid-interview smoke breaks and badgers a talented candidate about salary expectations is someone that I want working for my competitor.
I’m still astounded when I hear stories like that.
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July 22nd, 2008
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