4 ms·

The author of this article is a jerk. He calls someone a loser because he or she may not be a good fit for a job. This is not someone you'd want to have as a bo

by diego 14y ago

The author of this article is a jerk. He calls someone a loser because he or she may not be a good fit for a job. This is not someone you'd want to have as a boss. A good manager would write a more compassionate and empathetic article with the same takeaways, and without the inflammatory tone.

dlss 14y ago
Exactly this. He's hiring someone to do account management. The candidate has experience in account management, the rest of the team thought he'd be able to do it. The autor vetoed hiring for a customer facing position because the candidate spent more time with people than books during college. With the information provided I'm pretty sure the hypothetical alternate hire, who does have a favorite century of literature and who does have favorite poems at the top of his mind turns out to be a worse hire. "Snobs exist. Don't let them make hiring decisions"
- LaGrange 14y ago
  It's not even that the candidate obviously didn't read stuff. The guy was suddenly grilled about irrelevant crap by some jerk. Having a mind go blank in such a situation isn't exactly unheard of. And then consider, that such a situation already smells hostile, and you might decide to not share. Or, just essentially, not actually be happy about your previous life choice, and not really eager to discuss that with a person you've met for the first time in your life.
  - eropple 14y ago
    Figuring out if a candidate is a person, rather than a meat robot, isn't "irrelevant crap." I have noticed a strong correlation between people who don't get jazzed over something--hobbies, academics, whatever--are not people I want to work with. The author's method isn't the only one, but it seems like a reasonable one to me. It isn't "hire somebody who can talk about English." It's "don't hire someone who can't talk about something he (or she) cares about." If the guy's going to be in a sales role, he should at the least be able to pivot the conversation to something interesting that he can talk about.
    - dlss 14y ago
      > Figuring out if a candidate is a person, rather than a meat robot, isn't "irrelevant crap." I have noticed a strong correlation between people who don't get jazzed over something--hobbies, academics, whatever--are not people I want to work with. Do you actually know anyone who doesn't get excited by something? They don't exist. I think what you're perhaps saying is that you prefer working with people who share a passion with you. Makes sense, I also have this preference :) > If the guy's going to be in a sales role, he should at the least be able to pivot the conversation to something interesting that he can talk about. I agree... however if the sales guy really is the sort that couldn't smoothly change topics, why did the rest of the Author's team think he'd be a good fit for the job?
petercooper 14y ago
He calls someone a loser because he or she may not be a good fit for a job. I dislike much of what PD is putting out lately (apparently old people are "dangerous" - http://pandodaily.com/2012/12/04/hiring-old-people-the-dangerous-but-necessary-steroids-of-the-startup-world/ http://pandodaily.com/2012/12/04/hiring-old-people-the-dange...) but I didn't get that from this article. Instead, he's suggesting that people who can't show any passion or interest for anything or hold a decent conversation are probably worth avoiding.. which seems like stating the obvious to me, if anything. (That being said, being boring or interesting are highly subjective, but "boring" isn't a protected category so I'm guessing employers can use this as a cause for rejection if they wish.)
- mylittlepony 14y ago
  > people who can't show any passion or interest for anything or hold a decent conversation are probably worth avoiding He's claiming to have some kind of 6th sense for hiring, without any proof.
epoxyhockey 14y ago
You beat me to the punch. This article says more about the author than it does about the candidate. Obviously, the candidate didn't want to talk about his English major, but the author kept hammering away from every angle anyway. Then, when the author doesn't get any meaty info on the English studies (AKA doesn't get his way), he takes his ball and goes home. He tries to rationalize his way out of passing on the candidate, that the actual sales team enthusiastically approved: we eventually did find someone for that position, with a lot less relevant experience. But she learned the job in about six weeks, and her upside enabled her to take on a lot of the unforeseen — and valuable — tasks that the previous candidate would have stumbled around.
- eropple 14y ago
  Obviously, the candidate didn't want to talk about his English major, but the author kept hammering away from every angle anyway. Setting aside that the questions are obviously just designed to smoke out whether you're a human being or a meat robot: it's a sales position (account management is still sales). If you can't effectively shift a determined person off of something you don't want to talk about--for whatever reason--you are probably not somebody who a company wants in a sales/customer-facing role.
kamaal 14y ago
Correct, never resort to threat/name calling etc- When you can achieve the same with courtesy. If you keep calling every other guy who you dislike a loser, may be its time for you to check if you yourself are one.

by diego 14y ago

dlss 14y ago

Exactly this. He's hiring someone to do account management. The candidate has experience in account management, the rest of the team thought he'd be able to do it. The autor vetoed hiring for a customer facing position because the candidate spent more time with people than books during college. With the information provided I'm pretty sure the hypothetical alternate hire, who does have a favorite century of literature and who does have favorite poems at the top of his mind turns out to be a worse hire. "Snobs exist. Don't let them make hiring decisions"

LaGrange 14y ago
It's not even that the candidate obviously didn't read stuff. The guy was suddenly grilled about irrelevant crap by some jerk. Having a mind go blank in such a situation isn't exactly unheard of. And then consider, that such a situation already smells hostile, and you might decide to not share. Or, just essentially, not actually be happy about your previous life choice, and not really eager to discuss that with a person you've met for the first time in your life.
- eropple 14y ago
  Figuring out if a candidate is a person, rather than a meat robot, isn't "irrelevant crap." I have noticed a strong correlation between people who don't get jazzed over something--hobbies, academics, whatever--are not people I want to work with. The author's method isn't the only one, but it seems like a reasonable one to me. It isn't "hire somebody who can talk about English." It's "don't hire someone who can't talk about something he (or she) cares about." If the guy's going to be in a sales role, he should at the least be able to pivot the conversation to something interesting that he can talk about.
  - dlss 14y ago
    > Figuring out if a candidate is a person, rather than a meat robot, isn't "irrelevant crap." I have noticed a strong correlation between people who don't get jazzed over something--hobbies, academics, whatever--are not people I want to work with. Do you actually know anyone who doesn't get excited by something? They don't exist. I think what you're perhaps saying is that you prefer working with people who share a passion with you. Makes sense, I also have this preference :) > If the guy's going to be in a sales role, he should at the least be able to pivot the conversation to something interesting that he can talk about. I agree... however if the sales guy really is the sort that couldn't smoothly change topics, why did the rest of the Author's team think he'd be a good fit for the job?

petercooper 14y ago

He calls someone a loser because he or she may not be a good fit for a job. I dislike much of what PD is putting out lately (apparently old people are "dangerous" - http://pandodaily.com/2012/12/04/hiring-old-people-the-dangerous-but-necessary-steroids-of-the-startup-world/ http://pandodaily.com/2012/12/04/hiring-old-people-the-dange...) but I didn't get that from this article. Instead, he's suggesting that people who can't show any passion or interest for anything or hold a decent conversation are probably worth avoiding.. which seems like stating the obvious to me, if anything. (That being said, being boring or interesting are highly subjective, but "boring" isn't a protected category so I'm guessing employers can use this as a cause for rejection if they wish.)

mylittlepony 14y ago
> people who can't show any passion or interest for anything or hold a decent conversation are probably worth avoiding He's claiming to have some kind of 6th sense for hiring, without any proof.

epoxyhockey 14y ago

You beat me to the punch. This article says more about the author than it does about the candidate. Obviously, the candidate didn't want to talk about his English major, but the author kept hammering away from every angle anyway. Then, when the author doesn't get any meaty info on the English studies (AKA doesn't get his way), he takes his ball and goes home. He tries to rationalize his way out of passing on the candidate, that the actual sales team enthusiastically approved: we eventually did find someone for that position, with a lot less relevant experience. But she learned the job in about six weeks, and her upside enabled her to take on a lot of the unforeseen — and valuable — tasks that the previous candidate would have stumbled around.

eropple 14y ago
Obviously, the candidate didn't want to talk about his English major, but the author kept hammering away from every angle anyway. Setting aside that the questions are obviously just designed to smoke out whether you're a human being or a meat robot: it's a sales position (account management is still sales). If you can't effectively shift a determined person off of something you don't want to talk about--for whatever reason--you are probably not somebody who a company wants in a sales/customer-facing role.

kamaal 14y ago

Correct, never resort to threat/name calling etc- When you can achieve the same with courtesy. If you keep calling every other guy who you dislike a loser, may be its time for you to check if you yourself are one.