Monday, June 11, 2007
Advice From The Internet : Hiring (Presentations - Follow-up)
Here's a great article about the arduous task of 'hiring'. One aspect seemed particularly relevant to this blog, as I posted about it here on another Advice From The Internet column on presentations. This is a great explanation of why you shouldn't bullshit through a question you truly do not know the answer to :
"One way to test for an aspect of ethics -- honesty -- is to test for how someone reacts when they don't know something.
Pick a topic you know intimately and ask the candidate increasingly esoteric questions until they don't know the answer.
They'll either say they don't know, or they'll try to bullshit you.
Guess what. If they bullshit you during the hiring process, they'll bullshit you once they're onboard.
A candidate who is confident in his own capabilities and ethical -- the kind you want -- will say "I don't know" because they know that the rest of the interview will demonstrate their knowledge, and they know that you won't react well to being bullshitted -- because they wouldn't react well either."
