3 ms·

"CV's (people lie) and reference checks (everyone knows 2 people they like) " Marissa Meyer was asked on the Charlie Rose show about Google's hiring process, a

by mixmax 17y ago

"CV's (people lie) and reference checks (everyone knows 2 people they like) " Marissa Meyer was asked on the Charlie Rose show about Google's hiring process, and she answered that they had done the numbers and the only correlation there was between the hiring process and how well new employees worked out was their CV. People that had prior experience in the area they were hired for did better than people who didn't. Except for that there were no significant correlations to be found. I believe Marissa Meyer over Zaki Mahomed(the author of the article)

timwiseman 17y ago
You have a good point and in my (much more limited than Ms. Meyer) experience, the CV is a very strong indicator. But there are times it does not work: 1. The candidate has to be truthful or you have to actually verify. Also, its worth being very careful about exactly what is said. I have met someone who genuinely had 4 years as a Senior DBA. It was true, and his former boss loved him. But when I proved for details, he was the senior DBA because he was the only DBA in the small company and mostly maintained a system consultants had set up earlier. He did not seem ready to do new development or manage a major system to me after a thorough interview. 2. The candidate is straight out of school. While there are exceptions, most people don't have much of a resume at that point. 3. The candidate is making a career change. Similar to being straight out of school (in fact they may be straight out of school for the second time) they won't and can't have a lot of experience in that particular field. Of course, 2 and 3 might indicate you don't want to hire them for a senior position anyway, but it does make using the CV as the primary determinant challenging.
- awa 17y ago
  Regarding 1) the interview questions and a little research/verification on the CV should be able to flush that out.
ShardPhoenix 17y ago
Then why do they (as far as I've heard) continue to waste people's time with week-long interview barrages if they don't work?
chrischen 17y ago
I don't think he means that the CVs are complete fabrications, but rather not wholly accurate. His suggestion is to be applied on top of the traditional gauges of qualification to reduce the margin of error so that the truly spectacular individual can gain an edge over the noise caused by exaggerations.

by mixmax 17y ago

timwiseman 17y ago

You have a good point and in my (much more limited than Ms. Meyer) experience, the CV is a very strong indicator. But there are times it does not work: 1. The candidate has to be truthful or you have to actually verify. Also, its worth being very careful about exactly what is said. I have met someone who genuinely had 4 years as a Senior DBA. It was true, and his former boss loved him. But when I proved for details, he was the senior DBA because he was the only DBA in the small company and mostly maintained a system consultants had set up earlier. He did not seem ready to do new development or manage a major system to me after a thorough interview. 2. The candidate is straight out of school. While there are exceptions, most people don't have much of a resume at that point. 3. The candidate is making a career change. Similar to being straight out of school (in fact they may be straight out of school for the second time) they won't and can't have a lot of experience in that particular field. Of course, 2 and 3 might indicate you don't want to hire them for a senior position anyway, but it does make using the CV as the primary determinant challenging.

awa 17y ago
Regarding 1) the interview questions and a little research/verification on the CV should be able to flush that out.

ShardPhoenix 17y ago

Then why do they (as far as I've heard) continue to waste people's time with week-long interview barrages if they don't work?

chrischen 17y ago

I don't think he means that the CVs are complete fabrications, but rather not wholly accurate. His suggestion is to be applied on top of the traditional gauges of qualification to reduce the margin of error so that the truly spectacular individual can gain an edge over the noise caused by exaggerations.