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Dick Gets a Job

July 9th, 2009
[ Office Gossip ]

Here’s a little tip I use a lot when interviewing/hiring. Make sure you involve people in the process who appear to have NO decision making power. A receptionist or admin type person is great but technically anyone will do, all that matters is that the people you’re interviewing think you have no say in the process. Let’s call these non-decision makers NDM’s to save me some typing.

Now flip it and make those NDM’s key decision makers in the hiring process (Yes I realize I’ve just nulled the NDM term I created by making them decision makers, slack please).

Why?

I alluded to this before, in that you can get a better feel for a person’s true character by observing how they treat the NDM’s. They can’t help but put on a show for the decision makers, they’re trying to impress them.

At brainpark, if you treat our NDM’s like slop you have zero chance of joining our team regardless how many sql’s and sharp C’s you have in your basket. We need people who treat others with respect regardless of their ‘power’ or title. I’m actually considering taking this a step further and intentionally introducing some mild conflict between candidates and NDM’s to see how they handle it. In cases where some tension has naturally arisen between candidates and NDM’s, it’s always incredibly revealing. Through this we’ve found some lovely, gracious people and we’ve uncovered a few nasty pricks. Both of which are impossible to spot on a resume or by asking what the difference is between a class and an object.

Now a tip for the other side. If you’re interviewing for a job, don’t assume the manager, and other ‘power’ players are the only ones making the decision. Or even better, just don’t be a dick to anyone period.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 9th, 2009 at 11:08 am and is filed under Office Gossip. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

  • http://socis.ca/~wcarss Wyatt Carss

    While efforts at making an interview process more effective are applaudable, I have to call you on what I see as hypocrisy, or just bad judgement here.

    “I’m actually considering taking this a step further and intentionally introducing some mild conflict between candidates and NDM’s to see how they handle it.”

    versus

    “Or even better, just don’t be a dick to anyone period.”

    – As a young upstart programmer looking to go out into the working world, I’d prefer my employers not intentionally be a dick to me just to see how I’ll respond. Mind games are fun for melodramatic teenagers, but we’d all do best to grow out of them by the time we hit real life. If you get two people who will work together off to a bad start, it can spoil the relationship for a long future, seriously damaging a workplace’s morale and aesthetic.

    Let’s ask the converse: would it be fair (or well reasoned) for the to-be-employed to “intentiontionally introduce some mild conflict” in the interview process just to see how the people they’ll be working with respond?

    I feel it’s my responsibility to act professionally and courteously; beyond that, it’s my right to have my employer and coworkers (even potential ones) act the same.

    (off topic – enjoy DemoCamp 10! I’m a long way away, so I cannot attend.)

  • brydon

    Nice! Great points and I accept my personal hypocrisy. While I agree, I would be a bit of a dick for intentionally being a dick in the hiring process, it’s always my intent to simulate the work setting as best we can. Our work setting involves tough, painful exchanges so how do you get a real feel for how a person can, or cannot, handle that? I have no idea and I’m not planning on actually faking it. It was mostly tongue in cheek.