I have a bunch of things to write about so I'm going to compose a few things and spread them out over several entries. Today, it's about interviewing people for jobs in the department.
One day at the lead meeting my manager mentioned that another round of interviews was coming up and he'd need volunteers. Interviews at my workplace usually involve two interviews where a manager is paired with a department employee and a panel interview with one manager and three regular folks.
He looked at me when he said this which I took as a sign that I should volunteer. (Actually later he told me that he thought I was still pretty new to testing and he didn't think I would have to interview yet but if I wanted to...)
I did volunteer. Last week I was sent times for two one-hour interviews where I was paired with a manager that I really didn't know very well. I was also sent a sheet with ten qualities we should look for in the applicant and the weighting of each quality in the decision, a spreadsheet that would help me calculate a total, the job description, and some resumes. I've done a lot of interviewing over the years but I was interested in seeing if this seemingly organized process really was more helpful in hiring than good old intuition.
I did two interviews back-to-back. The first person didn't talk and the second one didn't stop talking. I won't go into the details, but they were very much like other interviews I've done except the manager and I did a good job of taking turns. I went back to my desk and asked a neighbor what I was supposed to do now. He told me I didn't have to fill out the spreadsheet or even have any special writeups, just gather my opinions for the sumup meeting.
Today we had the sumup meeting. Everyone shared their opinions of the candidates. The managers didn't talk, just listened to everyone's opinions and asked questions. Generally it was very positive but there were some "yellow flags" about some of the candidates and some interesting discussion. The most interesting part was when we talked about how some workplaces are so negative that people just bring attitude into the interview even though they know they shouldn't.
Yes, the managers will make the final decision but the process not only has an impact on who gets hired but it also helps everyone understand what qualities they should work on themselves.
They're hiring dozens of people now so I suppose I'll do some more interviewing. Besides it was fun and I'm doing my department duties and I feel like part of the group.
One day at the lead meeting my manager mentioned that another round of interviews was coming up and he'd need volunteers. Interviews at my workplace usually involve two interviews where a manager is paired with a department employee and a panel interview with one manager and three regular folks.
He looked at me when he said this which I took as a sign that I should volunteer. (Actually later he told me that he thought I was still pretty new to testing and he didn't think I would have to interview yet but if I wanted to...)
I did volunteer. Last week I was sent times for two one-hour interviews where I was paired with a manager that I really didn't know very well. I was also sent a sheet with ten qualities we should look for in the applicant and the weighting of each quality in the decision, a spreadsheet that would help me calculate a total, the job description, and some resumes. I've done a lot of interviewing over the years but I was interested in seeing if this seemingly organized process really was more helpful in hiring than good old intuition.
I did two interviews back-to-back. The first person didn't talk and the second one didn't stop talking. I won't go into the details, but they were very much like other interviews I've done except the manager and I did a good job of taking turns. I went back to my desk and asked a neighbor what I was supposed to do now. He told me I didn't have to fill out the spreadsheet or even have any special writeups, just gather my opinions for the sumup meeting.
Today we had the sumup meeting. Everyone shared their opinions of the candidates. The managers didn't talk, just listened to everyone's opinions and asked questions. Generally it was very positive but there were some "yellow flags" about some of the candidates and some interesting discussion. The most interesting part was when we talked about how some workplaces are so negative that people just bring attitude into the interview even though they know they shouldn't.
Yes, the managers will make the final decision but the process not only has an impact on who gets hired but it also helps everyone understand what qualities they should work on themselves.
They're hiring dozens of people now so I suppose I'll do some more interviewing. Besides it was fun and I'm doing my department duties and I feel like part of the group.
posted by changingagain at 10:53 PM
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