4 ms·

You've scheduled a half-hour with a candidate (or explain why longer), and you're going to sit in silence for 10 minutes just so s/he can pick a starting point

You've scheduled a half-hour with a candidate (or explain why longer), and you're going to sit in silence for 10 minutes just so s/he can pick a starting point for a 5 minute monolog on any topic? Given the option to talk about anything, I'd be concerned if the candidate couldn't pick something in 10 seconds. Summary of last book read, semantic difference between method calls in C++ vs Objective-C, sewing, recreational ballistics, sociopolitical solutions to poverty, ... something? I could spend the allotted 5 minutes just reviewing topics I could go on for 5 minutes about.

nialo 14y ago
Having a thing that you can talk for 5 minutes about and being able to actually _pick just one thing_ under sudden pressure are very different things. I understand the time pressure issues, but understand that you are also testing this other skill of being able to respond with that questions.
nerfhammer 14y ago
What would you be concerned about? Giving a spontaneous monologue to someone judging you is something many people actually find quite intimidating, even though some others may find it quite natural. It's something they teach in toastmasters or improv classes.
- ctdonath 14y ago
  It's part of social success (and business, from development to sales, is a social activity). There WILL be times when a moment will occur where you must take a barely-formed thought and run with it, taking someone else from zero to competence, in mere minutes; to not do so is to miss a valuable opportunity. Be it making an unexpected sales pitch, explaining a non-obvious technical solution that just occurred to you during a design meeting, discussing last night's political debate, or describing your hobby to an attractive new acquaintance, success often depends on succinct explanations without preparation. The point of the exercise isn't the content per se, it's the demonstration of ability to present concepts (any concept) clearly, and perhaps convincingly, on short notice. Yes, it can be intimidating. Yes, it's an unplanned speech to a judgmental audience; such is the real world. There's a reason it's taught as a tool for success. I had to figure it out on my own. Survival and success can depend on it. Heck, here I am taking 5 minutes, unexpectedly, trying to explain to you - a judgmental audience - regarding a random topic. If you get my point (convincing notwithstanding) then I pass the test. If a candidate can't do likewise on the topic of his choice, I can't expect as much when the topic is not.
  - nerfhammer 14y ago
    It sounds like you're saying that it seems like it should be diagnostic vaguely of "success" or "survival". Perhaps it might have negative values as well. Part of the trick seems to be to turn off critical thinking for awhile, not reconsidering your assumptions, turning off self-doubt or sounding confident, or being strategically vague. Skills I would value in a salesperson, but not necessarily an engineer. Since all of these ideas are introspective and the output variable is unspecific I don't see a good way to make a decision about the usefulness of this test.
jamesbritt 14y ago
Given the option to talk about anything, I'd be concerned if the candidate couldn't pick something in 10 seconds. I'd be concerned if they could. It might suggest they are not all that interested in too many things. Or are hyper-focused on just one thing. There are two things at work here. Picking something you are interested in, and deciding if you can actually explain it well in five minutes. Figuring out the latter would take me easily more than 10 seconds. It's not a matter of picking something you can on about for five minutes. It's about be able to explain it to someone with no prior knowledge, and have them understand what the hell you were talking, and what's most important about it, when you are done. Now that the article is back up, it see it has this: Take as much time as you want to think it through, and let me know when you want to start. So another question is, is it better to allow "as much time as you want", or set some time limit in picking the topic? Practically speaking, if someone is still musing after an hour I think the jig is up, so there's at least some practical upper limit. But how does it influence the candidate to think there is a fixed prep time versus having unlimited time?
vacri 14y ago
It's not "pick a topic to discuss", it's "pick a topic that you can spend five minutes doing a complete lesson on", sprung as a surprise question.

nialo 14y ago

Having a thing that you can talk for 5 minutes about and being able to actually _pick just one thing_ under sudden pressure are very different things. I understand the time pressure issues, but understand that you are also testing this other skill of being able to respond with that questions.

nerfhammer 14y ago

What would you be concerned about? Giving a spontaneous monologue to someone judging you is something many people actually find quite intimidating, even though some others may find it quite natural. It's something they teach in toastmasters or improv classes.

ctdonath 14y ago
It's part of social success (and business, from development to sales, is a social activity). There WILL be times when a moment will occur where you must take a barely-formed thought and run with it, taking someone else from zero to competence, in mere minutes; to not do so is to miss a valuable opportunity. Be it making an unexpected sales pitch, explaining a non-obvious technical solution that just occurred to you during a design meeting, discussing last night's political debate, or describing your hobby to an attractive new acquaintance, success often depends on succinct explanations without preparation. The point of the exercise isn't the content per se, it's the demonstration of ability to present concepts (any concept) clearly, and perhaps convincingly, on short notice. Yes, it can be intimidating. Yes, it's an unplanned speech to a judgmental audience; such is the real world. There's a reason it's taught as a tool for success. I had to figure it out on my own. Survival and success can depend on it. Heck, here I am taking 5 minutes, unexpectedly, trying to explain to you - a judgmental audience - regarding a random topic. If you get my point (convincing notwithstanding) then I pass the test. If a candidate can't do likewise on the topic of his choice, I can't expect as much when the topic is not.
- nerfhammer 14y ago
  It sounds like you're saying that it seems like it should be diagnostic vaguely of "success" or "survival". Perhaps it might have negative values as well. Part of the trick seems to be to turn off critical thinking for awhile, not reconsidering your assumptions, turning off self-doubt or sounding confident, or being strategically vague. Skills I would value in a salesperson, but not necessarily an engineer. Since all of these ideas are introspective and the output variable is unspecific I don't see a good way to make a decision about the usefulness of this test.

jamesbritt 14y ago

Given the option to talk about anything, I'd be concerned if the candidate couldn't pick something in 10 seconds. I'd be concerned if they could. It might suggest they are not all that interested in too many things. Or are hyper-focused on just one thing. There are two things at work here. Picking something you are interested in, and deciding if you can actually explain it well in five minutes. Figuring out the latter would take me easily more than 10 seconds. It's not a matter of picking something you can on about for five minutes. It's about be able to explain it to someone with no prior knowledge, and have them understand what the hell you were talking, and what's most important about it, when you are done. Now that the article is back up, it see it has this: Take as much time as you want to think it through, and let me know when you want to start. So another question is, is it better to allow "as much time as you want", or set some time limit in picking the topic? Practically speaking, if someone is still musing after an hour I think the jig is up, so there's at least some practical upper limit. But how does it influence the candidate to think there is a fixed prep time versus having unlimited time?

vacri 14y ago

It's not "pick a topic to discuss", it's "pick a topic that you can spend five minutes doing a complete lesson on", sprung as a surprise question.