I try to be polite, but sometimes it’s difficult.

Sometimes I just need to shut up in order to avoid telling my host that I think he is the stupidest person I’ve been around lately.

“Clay” was talking to a group of new entrepreneurs; going on at length about how brilliant he is at hiring talent for his company.

He said that knew when he should interview someone just by hearing a few basic facts, like education and general experience; no need for detailed specifics.

When he finally stopped bragging and patting himself on the back just one guy had the temerity to disagree, saying that wasn’t enough information to make such company success-critical decisions.

Clay turned and asked me to do four thumbnail sketches of candidates I knew and he would prove it was enough.

Here are the four profiles I provided.

1. BSBA, some programming in college; started in customer service and worked his way up through the executive ranks.
2. Some college; 12 years of programming and management experience.
3. Harvard MBA w/ 25 years progressively more responsible positions in consulting, sales and management.
4. MIT BS; more than 40 years programming experience in a broad array of technologies. Strong entrepreneurial bent; excellent manager.

Clay laughed and said he wasn’t surprised I included mostly “oldies,” since I was one of them.

He went on to say that he would pass on 1,3 and 4, because they probably wouldn’t fit into the fast pace of a startup. The second was a possibility, although he didn’t sound particularly aggressive.

Poor Clay, his investors won’t be pleased; he just passed on

1. Marc Benioff (52)
2. Sheryl Sandberg (47), and
3. Ray Kurzweil (68)

He did think number 2 was a possibility, although not a strong one.

But Mark Zukerberg (32) probably wouldn’t fit in.

Flickr image credit: Jon Phillips

A Friday series exploring Startups and the people who make them go. Read all If the Shoe Fits posts here

I only partly agree with Steve Wozniak’s recent comment.

“I think the money that’s been made has attracted a different kind of people looking at technology today and saying ‘Oh my gosh, I could maybe have a startup and make a bunch of money,'” Wozniak said. “And the ones that come out of business school, money’s the priority. For the ones that come out of engineering school, being able to accomplish and design things that didn’t exist before is their priority.”

Woz gives too much credit to the engineers.

It’s not just the biz school crowd that’s focused on the bucks.

The money bug has bit a good number of techies, too.

Years ago, no matter their role, people joined startups because they craved the bleeding edge, whether software, hardware or services.

This was true of both tech and non tech. In the words of Star Treck, they wanted “to go where no man has gone before” — or at the least go there differently.

Today the journey is more about getting rich and/or making connections for the future.

For decades I’ve told clients, “The person who joins your company for money/stock/perks will leave in a heartbeat for more money/stock/perks.”

That hasn’t changed, if anything it’s just gotten more so.

Image credit: HikingArtist

It’s amazing to me, but looking back over nearly a decade of writing I find posts that still impress, with information that is as useful now as when it was written. Golden Oldies is a collection of what I consider some of the best posts during that time. Interestingly, the original link didn’t work anymore, but Shift Happens was easily searched and it turns out that it has been updated several times since 2007; visit Shift Happens’ home. Read other Golden Oldies here.

I don’t usually frequent video sites (dinosaur that I am), but I received a link to a video called Shift Happens and it had some very interesting information. I don’t know if the number stats are 100% accurate, but the information in it parallels other sources I read.

Three of the points confirm a critical hiring attitude—

• One week of the New York Times contains more information than a person living in the 18th century came across in a lifetime.
• More unique, new information will be generated this year than in the previous 5000 years combined.
• Half of what students starting a four-year degree learn in their first year will be outdated by the third year.

Given the third point, it’s reasonable to assume that a similar pattern holds for work experience, too.

And that brings us to the critical hiring attitude that every manager needs to have—it’s not just what a person knows, but also how well they learn combined with their ability to extrapolate new insights from their previous knowledge and experience that makes them a more valuable addition to your team.

In other words, think not only of where they have been, but also of where they can go in the future.

In one way or another, I’ve been involved in staffing for more than 30 years; first as a recruiter, then as a coach and mentor.

I’ve worked with companies from earliest startups to Fortune 500; with bosses ranging from CEOs and other executives to first-line supervisors and team leaders.

The best and smartest companies/bosses never have an opening and almost never lay people off — the ‘almost’ being directly connected to the the bosses’ level of control within the company.

How they accomplish this is often a mystery to outsiders, but it’s simply the result of specific MAP (mindset, attitude, philosophy™).

I’ve listen to many bosses tell me why this approach wasn’t feasible, often using their industry as the reason.

Most of the ‘reasons’ fall apart when you consider Intuitive Research & Technology, which has never laid off an employee.

That’s impressive for any company, but it’s especially notable for a 16-year-old aerospace engineering and analytics firm that’s a contractor for the federal government.

Intuitive also never has job openings.

Harold Brewer, Intuitive’s co-founder, chairman, and president, says the company has avoided reductions by taking a unique approach to hiring. “We don’t really have job openings,” he says. Instead, the company operates like a talent agency—always scouting for skilled employees. (…)  Brewer calls it a “speculation hire.”

His mantra is simple, “If it’s good for employees, it’s good for business,” so the company supports training, advanced education (unlimited tuition reimbursement) and pays substantial bonuses.

It’s what I’ve always said, hire great talent, instead of filling openings, cherish them, so they stay and watch your organization prosper.

Flickr image credit: Serena

A Friday series exploring Startups and the people who make them go. Read all If the Shoe Fits posts here.

Brainteaser interview questions. Google was famous for them.

So they must be a good idea because Google only does smart stuff — right?

Wrong.

According to Laszlo Bock, Google’s SVP of People Operations, they are worthless in terms of predicting how someone will do on the job.

In fact, many of them were banned more than a year ago.

The lesson here is that following the leader — even a leader like Google — isn’t necessarily the smart way to go.

Image credit: HikingArtist

Yesterday I asked if you would hire someone who had been fired.

If you’re a smart boss your response is “absolutely!”

That’s because the reason someone is fired is far more important than the act itself.

Here are some of the more common reasons people are fired — often under the guise of poor performance, bad attitude, etc.

• Disagreeing with the boss, whether publicly or privately.
• New boss wants his own team.
• Not complying with the boss’ requests, including sexual ones.
• Doing [whatever] differently than the boss.
• Standing up for another employee.

While there are many valid terminations for cause, the validity often depends on your point of view.

Years ago, when I was a recruiter, I presented a hardware test tech, who had been fired, to a favorite client. I told the VP that according to his boss, the tech was fired for creating problems in the lab and talking back to his boss — both of which were true.

However, in talking to his peers I learned that the boss in question had a habit of eating while walking around the test lab and scattering crumbs on the boards being tested.

The tech had asked him several times privately not to eat near the bench and, when the eating continued, brought it up in a department meeting, which led to his being fired for insubordination.

My VP was delighted; he said that was the kind of person he wanted on his team (the tech was hired).

It’s a smart boss who personally checks references (above, peer and subordinate) on all candidates before making an offer, instead of delegating the task to someone else, including HR (which usually checks with HR).

After all, the whole point is to acquire great talent, meaning talent who will be great for you.

Flickr image credit: Michael Mandiberg

Hiring is as much art as science.

It’s a fact that the data-driven really hate.

Such as Google, which hires hundreds of people every week..

It used to hire only candidates with 3.7+ GPA, double 800 SAT scores and world-class interviewing skills — But those criteria weren’t accurate at predicting success in the Google world.

In 2007 it developed an algorithm to screen candidates — it didn’t work.

More recently, Google’s brain-teaser questions garnered a lot of attention, but they don’t work, either.

“Everyone likes to ask case questions and brain-teasers. It turns out our data shows that doesn’t actually predict performance. There’s no correlation with your ability to do that,” said Laszlo Bock, Google’s SVP of People Operation.

Anallytics can do an amazing job if the company is large enough to develop valid data points.

“Once you get through all the noise and beliefs that people have, and identify that right profile, you can have some solid impact in your organization,” Ryan Dullaghan, Jet Blue’s manager of people assessment and analytics, noted. He described the measurable benefits for the company that have resulted from “really focusing on fit for the job, “including higher employee engagement and retention, and a 12% decrease in total absences.”

Those are significant numbers.

But what do you do if you don’t have access to viable analytics, whether because of size, money or senior management apathy?

Start by developing a written set of questions (see the article for ideas) that you ask your own people.

Crunch the responses to get a general company profile.

Then make it a habit to ask them of all candidates (no matter the position, along with the position-specific questions.

The one caveat to always remember is that while some people are expert at acing questions/tests, others are the opposite, so don’t treat that as make or break criteria.

More on hiring tomorrow.

Flickr image credit: jphilipg

I often say that I’m successful now because I’ve made every mistake in the book. The key is I’ve learned from those mistakes and it’s rare — if ever — that I make the same one twice. –Robert Herjavec

Herjavec wrote a good post on hiring that covers many bases, but ignores two critically important factors.

1. The most common reason for a bad hire is charm and the best way to guard against it is preparation.
2. The most common interviewing  error to avoid can be summed up this way: don’t lead the candidate and don’t follow where the candidate leads.

In fact, if you do nothing other than what is described in 1 and 2 your hires will improve significantly.

Flickr image credit: qthomasbower

A Friday series exploring Startups and the people who make them go. Read all If the Shoe Fits posts here

In the course of today’s culture I am a virtual nobody. Aside from this blog, LinkedIn profile and a few comments here and there over the years I have no visibility.

This was pointed out to me in an irate email that asked who I thought I was to belittle the wonderful world of tech on non-issues like diversity.

Actually, I was surprised at both the lack of four-letter words and that writer didn’t blast me publicly. When I complimented the former and inquired about the latter I was told that “Ryan” assumed I wouldn’t see anything done in social media (true), so he decided to write directly.

The following is specifically for Ryan and those who agree with him, as well as those who find these posts enlightening. And a shoutout to KG Charles-Harris, who sent me the link.

Leslie Miley wrote a post at Model View Culture called The Top 10 (%) Tech Rules, but could as easily have been “why nothing changes” or “a self-propagating culture.”

Hopefully Ryan and friends will accept Miley’s comments as valid, since his credentials are above reproach.

Working as an engineer at Google, Apple, and Twitter has afforded me a view of the hiring process that for years has produced a homogenous culture: mostly male, and significantly white and Asian.

The Silicon Valley hiring process has been homogenized to the point that it has become a self-fulfilling prophecy—as entrenched as the “old, white guy” culture in the east.

I don’t believe much will change in my lifetime and maybe not in yours or your kids.

As Miley points out, habits are hard to break and breaking this systemic habit will make quitting smoking look like a stroll on the beach.

I am not optimistic about the future of diversity in tech. I see too many of my co-workers ask what university before they ask what applicants have accomplished. I see bias in the CS questions culled from the top universities, and preference given to candidates from the top companies, referred by their peers. The system now serves itself. And that will be the hardest habit to break.

That said, it could change.

How?

Read Miley’s post carefully and then stop doing what it talks about. In other words, be your own person and stop being an organization person.

Talk about it and, whenever possible, call out those you see abiding by the system.

Then share it over and over until it goes viral.

It’s a start.

Image credit: HikingArtist

When filling an opening do you look for primarily for world-class skills?

Do you long for the person who can ‘hit the ground running’ with little-to-no time or assistance needed to come up to speed?

Are your hires generally successful in both productivity and longevity?

If your response isn’t an unqualified ‘yes!’ then maybe you’re ignoring the most important factor.

Attitude, which translates to cultural fit.

Or, as David Ogilvy puts it, hire for the 3 P’s philosophy: Performance, Promotability and Potential

By the same token, the hottest candidates don’t always grab for the biggest bucks or need to be the biggest frog in the pond; there are intangibles that resonate on a purely personal level.

Every boss craves a world-class team.

Every candidate wants to play on one.

World-class is achieved most quickly when attitudes align.

Flickr image credit: Alex Giraldez