towing the line

My last post and this current one definitely tread near touchy areas, but my real focus in these posts is on the difficulty of hiring the right people. For all the processes any company can put in place, it's very hard to get the true measure of a man (or woman) until they are actually trying to walk the walk (work) instead of merely talk the talk (interview).

One of my general impressions from the interview session last week was on the level of preparedness, or lack thereof, of the interview candidates. Quite simply, I was disappointed with how little research about both the company and the particular job these people were ostensibly applying for. It's been a while for myself, but I recall doing a fair bit prep work for both the standard interview questions as well as the company-specific ones.

The whole experience last week really did highlight the difficulty in trying to get a proper read on someone via a resume, phone/screen interview, a brief speech in front of everyone, and a personal interview. Throw in some activities, tours, and a hefty bit of observation time and the picture doesn't get much clearer. It's hard even after you get to look someone in the eye, which if course is a marker I've never considered especially useful. (Then again, I'm an outsider amongst insiders.) There is a definite premium on being able to observe prospective supervisors in various settings, not simply during the strictly formal interviews. During the team exercises and tours there are certain expectations. At dinner, even more expectations. People can either be passive and blend in or engage us and ask good questions and stand out.

There are two principle feeders into this particular candidate pool. On average, one feeder yields candidates that are technically stronger, but often have difficulty dealing with the lifestyle demands. The other feeder has the opposite problem with largely adaptable people, but some who are less technically capable. I'll leave it to the clever reader to figure out what the general backgrounds are of these two groups. The good news is that the difference with some of these profiles is that the various segments have different needs and expectations from their personnel.