Training a new recruiter

Sorry, been busy lately. We're working on bringing another recruiter on our team -- not EASY! It's good b/c it reminds me of why people dislike recruiters -- and reminds me to be empathetic when talking to candidates -- for all they know, I'm just another guy with a phone looking to make buck who doesn't know the difference between Java and C++.

Ivanisms

While doing some research this morning I found a nice article today about recruiting A candidates and the dangers of B candidates. I always am seeking the A candidates, but this really summarizes why I stay away from B Candidates:

B players, on the other hand, are the bad hires. They are good enough that they often get things passably done. They may be sloppy or incomplete, but they always seem to have an external excuse. They are usually likeable enough (you hired them!) but there's something about them. They are the people who won't admit when they don't know something, and won't ask questions for fear of appearing dumb. And they are the people who start politics in the office. Because they can't keep up, because they're not an A player and know it, because they think economics is a "zero sum game", they start breeding discontent and negativity.

He's got another good article on retaining employees as well.

Typing while talking

Had a candidate caught up in this, should add to the list. And I blew it by not warning him. Client called "we're going to pass, we thought he was googling the answers." Googling the answers, oh, wait, that's because he's a compulsive computer note taker, he's always taking notes with his PC while he's on the phone with me! Client, "nice try Keenan."
Well, that got us to thinking -- when speaking to recruiters, I fingers are flying on the keys. Does that sound like we're not paying attention? Let me know

Cream rises to the top

My friend Ted sent this to me, I thought it fits into what we try to do -- smart people always find their way to the top (but I don't mind helping them out along the way)

Since you know this story ends well, you won’t be surprised to hear that he was editor-in-chief of the law review. At 45 years old, Sarles started at Mayer Brown, where he made partner in just seven years. “I don’t know if it was because my work was good or because the firm felt sorry for me,” he says.

You can read the whole thing at the WSJ blog

Fake it till you make it

In my acting days, one of my favorite sayings was "fake it till you make it." The idea is, you're on stage, you're not connecting with the character, don't just become emotionally unresponsive, relax, go through the motions until you get into the groove.

Hiring is similar. There is an arms race with technical interviews -- as candidates become better prepared, the questions become more asinine. Why? Risk management. No one wants to hire a liability and it is hard to figure out how good a coder is based on a short (8 hours) interview.

There are two major approaches -- the CS approach (used by GS most of anyone) is to ask a bunch of questions that you would get as an undergrad -- brain teasers, reversing linked lists, sort algos, reverse a string, etc. The idea here is, if you are smart, you will be able to pick up any language. Coding language is a tool, the programmer is the artist, he can work with any tool, a la Pablo Picasso.

The other line of thought is, we need serious depth in understanding a language -- the Morgan Stanley/Bloomberg approach. Being smart is great, but if you are really smart, then you will understanding threading, the garbage collector, the stack, the heap, the vtable, etc. If you don't have the depth of knowledge, we're not here to train you.

I always supply my candidates with a 4 page list of questions to expect. I don't care if they've done much threading or know the garbage collector or have worked with 30 STL containers. I want to know if they can learn enough, fast enough, to pass the interview. Listen, if they are not smart, then they will never be able to pass. But if they are smart, they can learn something and be able to pass -- that's what I think clients are really looking for.

It's always funny when I speak to people -- they'll have done a couple of interviews, been embarrassed they didn't know something trivial. The smart people take it as a challenge, study my questions, and get to really know the language they have been working with. Firms hire more people, my people need less interviews, and they feel like they've learned something. Makes you wonder why nobody else is doing it.

I don't get no respect

So, I wanted to join up a Meetup group b/c I thought it would be fun to hear about how people are using technology on the street and I pride myself on being more knowledgeable than the other recruiters in the marketplace. I figure, what's the harm, the list of members of public, so it's not like I would recruit from the meeting. Plus, I know half the people there!

"However we're trying very
hard to keep this meetup ultra-techy and focused towards
collaborating on realworld issues"

I would understand, but of course the firm that hosts the Meetup also has their recruiters as members. Of course, they are just hosting the Meetup, they aren't using it for any other reasons :)

Incredible Site

Of course, it is down right now, but YubNub is incredible. This article from Slate surmises it better than me.

The best alternative search engine I've stumbled across, YubNub, isn't a search engine at all. It calls itself a "command line"—a term familiar to DOS and Unix junkies—and serves as more of a Google-enhancer than a Google-replacer. YubNub gives you the tools to make searching with Google or Yahoo more efficient. Say you want to look for pictures of Paris Hilton in Google Images. You type "gim"—the site's shorthand for Google Images—and "paris hilton," and it takes you right to the page. Same goes for Google News ("gnews"), Wikipedia ("wp"), IMDB ("imdb"), Slashdot ("/"), Digg ("digg"), Dictionary.com ("d"), and a gajillion others.

Oh yeah, it is very, very cool.

Excellence

A candidate asked me a question last night that gave me pause (not unusual as one of my weaknesses is not being exceptional quick witted). "You're only interest in this is the fee. If you were my friend, you wouldn't be asking me to do this interview."

Hmm. I was caught. I couldn't say the fee didn't matter, of course it does. But it really why I was being so persistent. So -- why was I being so persistent.

Excellence -- I don't want to wax to philosophical, but one of the attractions of platonic thought to me was the idea of excellence -- to do the best that you can do. To turn it around -- why do you write code? To help people? That's what people say when they come out of school. It idealistic and it's unrealistic. Who does more good for society, the person building an efficient trading system or the person building MS Word? How many millions (billions) of people are impacted by an efficient trading system -- do you have a 401k?

The next stage is, I'm in it for the money -- my wife went to law school and that must have been the motivation of 50% of her class at her firm when she graduated -- make money to pay off my debt so I can get the job that I really want. That's soulless, and it gives you an empty feeling at the end of the day. I don't know anyone who can stay in business every day where the goal is money.

No, money is a result, not a goal. It is a way to measure one's excellence. This is not semantics. Your motivation is to be the best -- being compensated well is a reflection of how good you are.

That's what I am seeking in recruiting -- excellence. To be known as the best technical recruiter in New York City. Yes, it's arrogant and it has a fair degree of hubris. But does anyone enter Major League Baseball to be "pretty good?" No, you want to be the best. That's what I want to be, the best recruiter in the business. That's my motivation -- I want to place you at my client because I think it is the best position for you. If I don't believe that, I won't do it. Simple as that.

Conversations I am tired of having

If you have ever recruited in NYC, this could be funny.

1. If you are not yet a VP, I cannot get you a VP title.
2. Listen, salaries are capped, I cannot get you a 150k base.
3. You can take the tie and jacket off when you get to the office.
4. No, they will not write the bonus amount on the offer letter, that's not how it is done.
5. They are not going to buy you. They're going to make you a reasonable offer.