Comments on: Hiring Good People is Tough!

By: Jennifer Ping

Jennifer Ping — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 20:13:31 +0000

Andre, I must say I may beg to differ on some parts.

When it comes to recruiting, there are a few different segments.

1. The IDEAL Candidate
Some who seems perfect already, got the skills, got the charm, got the passion, got the experience.

2. The Execution guy
May not be the smartest, most charming person, but they will get the job done.

3. Undiscover potential
Someone you need to nurture, may be lacking in experience but with some good leadership and right opportunities can become a superstar.

Note all three type can be very good employees but it really depends on what you need. Unless you need the person to be a jack of all trades, there’s nothing wrong with having them program/specialize in one or two technologies. Nor is there anything wrong with them only training for those specific languages.

Especially when cost is an issue, rather tahn hunting for the perfect candidate and not being able to afford it, go what what’s sufficient with a bit of potential. It can save you some $$$ and you may be surprised with how things turn out!

By: Abbey

Abbey — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 04:11:03 +0000

I love the fact that what you wrote is “real” and “practical”. I am doing a Case Study in Management and I have to quote you on “There are lots of people who consider themselves developers or programmers, but there are very few that are actually good. In most cases, the ones who’ll go out of their way and tell you they are great tend to be the worst of the bunch. ” ..Because they do. Thanks!

By: Andre

Andre — Thu, 22 May 2008 22:02:24 +0000

@Sonam – I think you are totally right. Jobs that require a lot more soft skills are much harder to hire for. I used to work for a sales/call center organization and the turnover rate was incredible due to the simple fact that it was hard to find people with the right combination of skills and abilities.

On the flip side, the more practice you get at interviewing and hiring you’ll find the right questions to ask and start to deep dive more and more accurately.

But yeah, hiring is tough.

By: sonam

sonam — Thu, 22 May 2008 20:40:21 +0000

I am a Customer Service manager and hire people for customer service.Hiring coders and programmers is probably simpler(i Dont mean to underestimate anyone’s job).But i guess you will agree if i say,hiring people on your gut instinct which says “yes,this guy is gonna be good for my customers” is tough.
The language,the grasping power,the skill to talk and get the other person to talk as well,making sense at all times….getting all of it in one person is oh-so-difficult.

By: Geoff

Geoff — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 15:27:51 +0000

Oy… finding good people is almost impossible by that list. I think in all the interviews I’ve done (and it’s gotta be in the 100s at this point), I’ve come across maybe 4 who’ve had all those qualities. We see so few who really are into what they do — mostly because in the interactive agency biz, this isn’t the hardcore style of programming that really brings those sorts of people out.

That said, I will say that you don’t need all those qualities to see if you’ve got the right person. Sometimes, all you need is the attitude. Get the right kind of person, and you can turn them into a superstar. We’ve done that at my office many times. People who might otherwise have been shown the door are turned around and become the cornerstones of some of our development efforts.

The trick? Patience, encouragement, and giving hints rather than answers. But ultimately, they’ve got to want to do it.

By: Andre

Andre — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 17:04:19 +0000

That’s a great point about behavioral interview questions. The right people must have the “whole package”.

By: Mike King

Mike King — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 16:34:28 +0000

Just going through this right now and some good tips here. That list of points is great and so true. I like the tip of looking for the “I” response to questions instead of the we in finding team players. This has been critical for hiring I’m involved with.

I also strongly encourage to use behavior interview questions to capture the actions/personality better, not just their technical abilities since like mentioned, cultural fit is critical.

Thanks for the post… Should definitely help me think about these point over the next week of interviews….