3 ms·

I've been responsible for hiring for most of the last 20 years. I've literally never had a false positive where I recommended someone and they performed poorly

I've been responsible for hiring for most of the last 20 years. I've literally never had a false positive where I recommended someone and they performed poorly. I have had one case where I said no, was overruled, and then the person turned out to be awful. To be fair, I have no idea how many false negatives I've had where I said no but they would've been great. I'm always puzzled by people/companies who find this difficult. I don't believe for a second that my intuition is magical. I have a very simple interview process and it works really well. I just ask you what you did, and then I keep asking you increasingly more complex or detailed questions about what you said you did until one of us hits our boundary of knowledge. Then I ask a couple of social questions, usually in the form of "Have you ever dealt with x kind of situation?" Funny anecdote, I asked one guy if he'd ever had a coworker he had personal issues with. He told me some guy made a racist comment and his response was to ask the guy to step outside to fight. We did not hire that guy.

ryandrake 5y ago
I always thought a huge blind spot in hiring is that nobody counts or worries about false negatives: Those people who you said "no" to but would have turned out to be great. False positives are often, but not always, easy to spot, and you can know and feel regret about how many hires turned out to be low performers. But it's hard to know or feel regret about the people you turn away. I mean, how would you even track this or correct it? Keep track of everyone you interview, then look at their career 10yrs in the future? Flag people as "no, but maybe we're wrong" in the HR system and then wait for them to re-apply? As an interviewer, I sometimes wonder if I made the right "No Hire" call on that person who might just have been nervous. As a candidate, I always know that when they say "NO" they're wrong :)
- Consultant32452 5y ago
  I never worry about this. I usually have some idea of what I am looking for: junior, senior, architect. I just want to find someone suitable in an efficient manner. There's tons of solid candidates out there, it's not my responsibility to make sure the ones who get too nervous to communicate during an interview are taken care of.

ryandrake 5y ago

I always thought a huge blind spot in hiring is that nobody counts or worries about false negatives: Those people who you said "no" to but would have turned out to be great. False positives are often, but not always, easy to spot, and you can know and feel regret about how many hires turned out to be low performers. But it's hard to know or feel regret about the people you turn away. I mean, how would you even track this or correct it? Keep track of everyone you interview, then look at their career 10yrs in the future? Flag people as "no, but maybe we're wrong" in the HR system and then wait for them to re-apply? As an interviewer, I sometimes wonder if I made the right "No Hire" call on that person who might just have been nervous. As a candidate, I always know that when they say "NO" they're wrong :)

Consultant32452 5y ago
I never worry about this. I usually have some idea of what I am looking for: junior, senior, architect. I just want to find someone suitable in an efficient manner. There's tons of solid candidates out there, it's not my responsibility to make sure the ones who get too nervous to communicate during an interview are taken care of.