Re: Bitwise Mag editorial calls OOP 'Snake Oil'

I grant that no HR department, in any large organization, can make their
filter perfect. Occasionally, a smart and talented person is excluded before
being considered by a hiring manager. That is unfortunate, and we have
worked very hard to prevent this from happening. In many cases, especially
ones where very specific skills are called for, we will "open the iris wide"
and let the hiring manager see far more of the resumes than otherwise they
would, so that this filter is near zero. I'm in that situation today.

That said, the hiring manager may not be any better at spotting good talent
than the HR team is. Sometimes the talent shows... other times it doesn't.

People who perform interviews at Microsoft are required to take training on
how to interview, what kinds of things to look for, what kinds of questions
to ask (and not ask), etc. I have taken this training. I wish that some of
my other employers had been so well organized or prepared. At Amazon.com,
hiring was considered "strategic acquisition" (which is about as much
emphasis as you can get). Any organization that hopes to succeed has to get
hiring "right."

We no longer ask "why are manhole covers round" and other goofy questions.
Hiring is a serious business.

--
--- Nick Malik [Microsoft]
MCSD, CFPS, Certified Scrummaster
http://blogs.msdn.com/nickmalik

Disclaimer: Opinions expressed in this forum are my own, and not
representative of my employer.
I do not answer questions on behalf of my employer. I'm just a
programmer helping programmers.
--
"Phlip" <phlip_cpp@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:KI_Fe.437$gQ5.9@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Nick Malik [Microsoft] wrote:
>
>> >> post a job. 20 people apply. six are smart and talented. pick one.
>> >> five were kept out.
>
>> Phlip was asking for evidence that we were not keeping good people from
>> joining by filtering through the interview loop. I was simply
> demonstrating
>> that we were, in fact, keeping good people from joining, but not by
>> hiring
>> unqualified people. It's a numbers game.
>
> We are nearing alignment.
>
> You state "six _are_ smart and talented". My emphasis. Not "HR thinks they
> are smart and talented."
>
> As a math curiosity, if a company's HR department was relatively perfect,
> the qualifiable applicants would have equal odds.
>
> No department is, and the applicants don't. I agree this is a fact of
> life.
>
> --
> Phlip
> http://www.c2.com/cgi/wiki?ZeekLand
>
>


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