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Can share (without giving away names) what strategies you used to suss this out? One thing I am very terrible at is actually sussing out unhealthy behaviour an

Can share (without giving away names) what strategies you used to suss this out? One thing I am very terrible at is actually sussing out unhealthy behaviour and cultures in an interview setting and it would be great to see how you guage both the answers and the cues.

agret 8y ago
> Can share (without giving away names) what strategies you used to suss this out? > I had the extraordinary opportunity to talk to the manager for the role, their manager, and two people who had previously been in the role (Netflix wasn't aware that I knew those people). He knew people that worked there already.
- flashgordon 8y ago
  Ah interesting. Yeah this is definitely the biggest signal. Networking and relationship building is absolutely critical in any job hunt and this is a hugely overlooked insight!
hnzix 8y ago
If you don't have any inside intel, the next best thing is to ask for "a tour of the office" and take a big sniff of the atmosphere. Trust your instincts.
erikb 8y ago
The learning loop is very simple here. Do interviews and look for clues. If you don't see clues join. If you see clues after joining, think about how they look from the outside. Then repeat. AFter a few rounds (2-3) people usually have enough clues that they won't join a shitty team. For instance if the team's management is full of parasites who have no technical skills at whatever they are supposed to do, then it will be very unclear from the outside what they are actually doing. If the recruiter can't explain it, it's likely that the team has not much skill. Another example I faced is getting the same technical task in follow-up interviews (e.g. first phone call with one engineer, then a face-to-face with another engineer, both giving the same task). It shows that the organisation is not well since the engineers didn't know about each other's interview, otherwise engineers usually share their experiences and prepare each other.

agret 8y ago

> Can share (without giving away names) what strategies you used to suss this out? > I had the extraordinary opportunity to talk to the manager for the role, their manager, and two people who had previously been in the role (Netflix wasn't aware that I knew those people). He knew people that worked there already.

flashgordon 8y ago
Ah interesting. Yeah this is definitely the biggest signal. Networking and relationship building is absolutely critical in any job hunt and this is a hugely overlooked insight!

hnzix 8y ago

If you don't have any inside intel, the next best thing is to ask for "a tour of the office" and take a big sniff of the atmosphere. Trust your instincts.

erikb 8y ago

The learning loop is very simple here. Do interviews and look for clues. If you don't see clues join. If you see clues after joining, think about how they look from the outside. Then repeat. AFter a few rounds (2-3) people usually have enough clues that they won't join a shitty team. For instance if the team's management is full of parasites who have no technical skills at whatever they are supposed to do, then it will be very unclear from the outside what they are actually doing. If the recruiter can't explain it, it's likely that the team has not much skill. Another example I faced is getting the same technical task in follow-up interviews (e.g. first phone call with one engineer, then a face-to-face with another engineer, both giving the same task). It shows that the organisation is not well since the engineers didn't know about each other's interview, otherwise engineers usually share their experiences and prepare each other.