5 ms·

> I don't know of many other professions that have 8 hour oral exams that test the sum of all knowledge in the field with such a strong negative bias towards hi

by huac 10y ago

> I don't know of many other professions that have 8 hour oral exams that test the sum of all knowledge in the field with such a strong negative bias towards hiring. Investment banking, management consulting, doctors, lawyers (probably) ... - seems like the traditional 'power jobs'

aianus 10y ago
I asked my law school friends what their internship interviews were like and they aren't asked any technical questions about law. They just walk through your resume and ask you behavioral-type questions.
- huac 10y ago
  Ok, maybe not law, but the others certainly have a high technical bar in the interviews.
- rifung 10y ago
  The interesting thing is that Google found that behavioral interviews better predict employee performance. I'm not sure why they didn't change their interviews after that internal study.. Source: https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.businessinsider.com/how-google-hires-people-2013-6?client=ms-android-google https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.businessinsider.com/how-goo...
  - kafkaesq 10y ago
    Because the people giving the interviewers were hired under the old system. Which they can't just turn on its head, all of the sudden, because that would... invalidate the exacting, methodical "high bar" which they had to pass in order to be hired (though proving their Great Developer status).
    - kafkaesq 10y ago
      "though proving their..." → "thus proving their..."
  - Klockan 10y ago
    That is how they hire business majors, not engineers. High end business major job interviews usually has a ton of questions like "why are manhole covers round?", and google realized that such questions where worthless. The technical interviews are totally different and are used because they actually work well, but you can't do something similar with business skills.
    - rifung 10y ago
      Ah interesting the article didn't mention that. Do you have a source that their research was limited to managers?
      - Klockan 10y ago
        No, but there are many other places where they talk specifically about non-tech roles and I have never seen him comment on technical interviews. Example of article talking about non-tech roles: http://www.businessinsider.com/google-laszlo-bock-interview-questions-2015-4?r=US&IR=T&IR=T http://www.businessinsider.com/google-laszlo-bock-interview-... Therefore I assume that he has nothing to do with how technical interviews are structured.
dx034 10y ago
Investment Banking interviews for entry level positions have usually very few technical questions (if at all). There's sometimes a standardized test (e.g. logical reasoning) before the main round of interviews. The interviews themselves are just behavioral.
- huac 10y ago
  This is factually false, unless there's some 'entry level' below analyst, and if you're excluding the bulge brackets (and oh man the boutiques) from consideration.
  - dx034 10y ago
    From my experience that is factually true (London). I know this for entry level positions and internships (that can often lead to an offer), i.e. candidates with no work experience. I know that this is the case for at least 3 large investment banks. The situation is of course different for boutique firms, I should've said that. Small firms cannot afford training candidates internally, they'll want to have technical knowledge.

by huac 10y ago

aianus 10y ago

I asked my law school friends what their internship interviews were like and they aren't asked any technical questions about law. They just walk through your resume and ask you behavioral-type questions.

huac 10y ago
Ok, maybe not law, but the others certainly have a high technical bar in the interviews.
rifung 10y ago
The interesting thing is that Google found that behavioral interviews better predict employee performance. I'm not sure why they didn't change their interviews after that internal study.. Source: https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.businessinsider.com/how-google-hires-people-2013-6?client=ms-android-google https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.businessinsider.com/how-goo...
- kafkaesq 10y ago
  Because the people giving the interviewers were hired under the old system. Which they can't just turn on its head, all of the sudden, because that would... invalidate the exacting, methodical "high bar" which they had to pass in order to be hired (though proving their Great Developer status).
  - kafkaesq 10y ago
    "though proving their..." → "thus proving their..."
- Klockan 10y ago
  That is how they hire business majors, not engineers. High end business major job interviews usually has a ton of questions like "why are manhole covers round?", and google realized that such questions where worthless. The technical interviews are totally different and are used because they actually work well, but you can't do something similar with business skills.
  - rifung 10y ago
    Ah interesting the article didn't mention that. Do you have a source that their research was limited to managers?
    - Klockan 10y ago
      No, but there are many other places where they talk specifically about non-tech roles and I have never seen him comment on technical interviews. Example of article talking about non-tech roles: http://www.businessinsider.com/google-laszlo-bock-interview-questions-2015-4?r=US&IR=T&IR=T http://www.businessinsider.com/google-laszlo-bock-interview-... Therefore I assume that he has nothing to do with how technical interviews are structured.

dx034 10y ago

Investment Banking interviews for entry level positions have usually very few technical questions (if at all). There's sometimes a standardized test (e.g. logical reasoning) before the main round of interviews. The interviews themselves are just behavioral.

huac 10y ago
This is factually false, unless there's some 'entry level' below analyst, and if you're excluding the bulge brackets (and oh man the boutiques) from consideration.
- dx034 10y ago
  From my experience that is factually true (London). I know this for entry level positions and internships (that can often lead to an offer), i.e. candidates with no work experience. I know that this is the case for at least 3 large investment banks. The situation is of course different for boutique firms, I should've said that. Small firms cannot afford training candidates internally, they'll want to have technical knowledge.