taylor desseyn

guidance counselor 2.0 · episode 74

hiring for potential

aug 30, 2021 · 22 min · hosted by taylor desseyn

key takeaways

  • be honest with recruiters upfront about what you can and cannot do.
  • during interviews say i don't know instead of pretending to know answers.
  • hiring managers should consider candidates who have most skills and can learn the rest.
  • offer candidates flexibility in interview format like live coding or take-home tests.
  • contract to hire lets you evaluate someone's actual work over months not just interviews.

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about this episode

how to interview for potential instead of perfect skill matches and why companies should hire more flexibly.

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full transcript

auto-generated from the audio, so expect a few typos. the audio is the source of truth.

What's going on everybody good morning good morning We're in the house literally in the house lit at my house. It's kind of dumb to say Add me calming me let me know what you're doing from it's always this good To be live with y'all in this wonderful Friday. I'm happy to be here. This is gonna be a good topic Let's just hang let's just chat at me comment me Let's just chill out for like 15 minutes together. I'll test in conversations about hiring My thoughts what I see So y'all at me commenting let me know what you're doing from texting my community right now. I'm going live We're up to here from you.

Uh-oh. We have some people Katya. It's always Friday. Yeah, absolutely I love Fridays Fridays are good Fridays are good. I'm gonna be that annoying person say I love work a lot So I don't mind it. Oh, we got we got some viewers. We got some viewers Butina what's going on? Hey listen if you are lurking if you are a professional lurker and you are watching this at me Comment me Let me know where you're tuning from I'd love to hear from you on this beautiful beautiful Friday We we just popped up in a bunch of viewers So I know y'all are just lurking in the shadows because I only got two comments right now Kathy and Bettina Numbers don't lie.

So if you are lurking if you are lurking Don't lurk comment comment Matthew my man What's going on big dogs? Y'all at me comment me come on now come on there's there there's quite a few people watching this I see numbers Norland's nice. You know what I was watching Is it ever watched somebody feed fill on Netflix? He was in Norland's last night. I wanted his episodes. I didn't get down there I've never been on a pierre. How are you doing buddy? Bonjour. Sava Here we go. It's had no little French. Tara Unlurking I love it. I love it. Unlurking have right here. We go here.

We go have a great Friday Lurking from Knoxville. Here we go. We got the lurkers Finally finally commenting time Rome was this time. Are there just three days in a row? Is this three days in a row? time Rome just time Rome's on it Steven Steven it's good to see you man. I've seen you back. All right So we're talking hiring right and so I tweeted I tweeted a bit ago tweeted a few minutes ago about hey What should my topic be today right? I like being fed topics from you I feel like other people can learn best from other people and me just not rambling all the day and time and so the topic that I got sent on Twitter today was a few things the and but it was mainly around interviewing brain fog How to obviously deal with interviewing when you don't have the skill set?

And then obviously a live coding test and the thought of coding at home versus live coding now Now I am not an engineer. I am not a I'm not an engineering manager So what so I'm gonna tell you this is that I'm Approaching this topic from a recruiting side from what I see dealing with thousands of hiring managers in my career thousands of candidates in my career and So all that being said that is I'm coming out from this perspective. So let's talk about This first thing that came in is obviously dealing with they said pandemic brain fog with interviews this individual goes Um, you know, obviously I did some work over the pandemic.

I some some skills are rusty I also work with a bunch of different tech so it happens But how to address this during interviews and how do you think employers should deal with a new hire potential versus live coding tests And then the other person other person talks about live coding versus take it home. So for me I think communication is key I think from a job seeker perspective dealing with a recruiter So I'm talking about starting tip of the spear talking with a recruiter You need to be brutally honest with a recruiter with what you can and cannot do for example I've been working with a UI designer right or UI UX person and this designer was like hey Taylor I do not code like if you need a UI dev who's like heavy code in some design That's not me right?

I love that individual because that individual communicated with with me from the get From the get on what they can and cannot do right? I think a lot of the so the job The the interview process is a massive game of telephone Remember that game when you were kid and telephone and you like trying to repeat things and I know there's stuff All over the internet about people drawing on shows backs on a piece of paper and like you know That is what the job seeker. That's what the job search is for the job seeker It's a big game of telephone and so what you need to do is when you talk to a recruiter on the front end and they Send you all of the job specs What you first need to do is you need to send in my 10 questions to stump a recruiter Right?

I just treated out a principal engineer Use my 10 questions to stump a recruiter and got a brand new job when they weren't even looking Right, so first off you need to vet the recruiter you need to vet the cannon You need to say hey, this is what I can do is what I can't do. I will tell you during the interview process It's the same thing the biggest thing that I hear from hiring managers and there's some hiring managers on this like like Alicia Alicia's a little Alicia's over here talking junk about me with I don't know the artist but So embarrassed for you right now, but Alicia for example Alicia chime in on this but for me what I've heard from managers is managers want to hear you say hey I don't know to have the Comforability to say hey you know what mr.

Manager. Mrs. Manager. I do not know I don't know this I don't know the answer to that and be okay Communicating that right so the thing is is I feel like I feel like For people we at interviews we get interviews we like lock up and I get it. I get it It's stressful. It's terrifying But like hey just approach it like you're hanging out with a friend Right now it may be like a friend that you don't know that well because you've never met this person But the end of the day you need to approach you need to approach interviews Like you're having a conversation you're having a dialogue and being open being honest and being yourself because what happens is There you go Alicia chime did absolutely I hate there's a little delay on this but Alicia said it right Alicia said listen You have to be comfortable saying I don't know I think the biggest thing that I hear with my candidates and then other hiring majors complain to me is these guys These girls getting interviews and they try to just act like they know what they're talking about right so how do you deal with?

How do you deal with interviews? I'm reading this tweet that I got You know how do you address this during the interviews That is how you dress it now. I'll tell you this on the flip side y'all hiring managers Alicia and whoever other lurkers are out there Right now that that that are watching this y'all hiring managers need to hire off potential sick and tired Being sick and tired Of hiring managers interviewing for what they have right now. Listen. I get it. I get it listen You can't listen if you have zero of the skills for the job I'm not saying the hiring manager to offer you the job because they think you could be good Obviously, there's got to be some experience at real relation to obviously the job But but I will tell you this hiring managers.

I'm sick and tired of y'all interviewing people and they being close They are close the job seekers close you go nah, they don't have everything When are we gonna start when are we gonna start as an industry and and I include myself in the industry because I am deep in the tech industry at this point in my career How are we as an industry gonna start interviewing for potential When are we gonna start doing that now you can be watching this now in the future and you might tell I do that Hey, you know what? You're probably not having the problems that I'm seeing with every other company right now across the country Across the country so I will tell you this like again.

I understand it needs the the individuals need to have the skills But I'm so tired of companies rejecting people rejecting people based off they don't have They have seven of the 10 skills, but those three skills we're not gonna hire for okay. Well, that speaks to your lack of training within your organization That speaks to the lack of training within your organization if you don't feel comfortable hiring this person because they don't have these skills Well, that means your shits broken because you don't have the training in place of the mentorship in place to mentor your people Which is why you probably keep losing people?

All right, I'm gonna go to the comments real quick again thoughts on this if you want to vent if you want to tell stories if you want to ask questions Throw them up Let's hang some more. I did the vibe the vibe is good today. I can tell it's Friday people aren't as busy at work because I got there's so many comments Let's see here Pia good morning. It's good to see you Let's see here Pedro goes I always read it in my highest guidance counselor you dot a sense It's for you us. I like that. I like that. I just need to get down shirt or something Alicia you're always embarrassed for me, but love you for it Let's see here So Alicia Alicia is a director of engineering here in Nashville Alicia goes if you're struggling with your nerves during live coding I recommend finding a more senior person asking them to practice with you.

Why port with them virtually or in person I love this. I love this so much. I think it's something you need to practice I've talked with some engineering managers lately some vps of engineering some engineering leaders and and yeah I mean you have it sounds like you have to practice this. It's not something unless you're like a public speaker and like you're really confident Your skills like this sounds like some I would need to practice like thought process getting comfortable getting front of people I love this so much. Edson goes being honest is the key Until exactly our own perspectives objectives and mentioned exactly what we know And what we don't know.

I love it by the way Pedro gave me a shout out with the 10 questions Yeah, tail on us and calm free guides go to that. I actually I don't know if it's up yet. It may be up ask companies Before you get an offer so I don't know if that's up yet. Nope. It's not up yet So that's coming probably next week on Companies on questions to ask an employer when you get an offer Darryl what's up? Do you have a senior bit? Darryl? Who can we do well whenever I have hired people resourcefulness? Is one of the key attributes? I look for yeah, absolutely listen here's a deal right?

What one of the things I want to think that here a lot is like hey do I have to hand the hold this person? Right can this person like go out and like and and and figure that out on their own Right, so it's like I love this. Darryl. I love this. Thank you for chiming I appreciate Brian goes most co-test. I've seen her less about getting to the right answer and more about Understanding how you problem solve. Yeah, like listen. It's a communication thing. I just realized being an engineering for so long now at this point like It's communication if you are quiet. I'm an introvert.

It's a whole nother conversation I'm just jacked up on coffee and happy that's Friday and happy that y'all are hanging out with me So that's what the energy's coming from but if you struggle if you struggle with Communicating to others if you're quiet if you're an introvert like hey listen like I don't you know hire a coach You know talk you know talk to some people in your industry get a mentor Ask how you can improve by understand what Brian Brian's exactly right on this. Let's see here. What else? That was a deep it was a deep burn. You're broken. Yeah, listen like like I'm so tired of companies I'm so tired of companies not bashing companies don't bash But like I'm so tired of companies beating up on job seekers right companies take responsibility take responsibility Right yes your shit's broken if you do not hire somebody because they are missing some skills And that means you do not have confidence within your own organizational structure with how you mentor or some vet people Listen, it's on both sides right the job seeker It's on your end to research to ask good questions to come prepared and clients and clients You need to do better Joseph wait Friday's supposed to be less busy for some people Faith good morning's good to see you.

Yeah, hello introvert right. Yeah for real though You can ask my wife So so the next thing the next question again There's obviously this this kind of thing out there between live coding take home how to deal with that so another individual He he's a principal engineer. He added me on Twitter Let me give him a shout out Billy Autry from Little Rock Billy goes a be curious to know what your thoughts are on live coding versus at home test at which methods do applicant struggle with the most? So I would say I would say Everyone struggles with everything the same But I will tell you is that the companies who are flexible right?

So I don't know if you remember Bill Israel bill is referred from built technology that had him on about a month ago Bill Said that his company built technologies. They let the candidates choose like hey do you want to do live or do you want to just take it home Right, I think the companies that are flexible and do that or is um Are the most successful Are the most successful because again right it's like parenting right? I'm a new parent. I have 11 month old It's parenting. It's managing your team right everybody is different so companies like you need to remember that when it comes to interviewing You need to remember that every person who you speak with is different and so you need to make sure your interview is inclusive of Them right actually we caught up with Emma Boschian She's a Spotify over in Stockholm on unicorn finders But we talked about interviewing technical interview and being inclusive and making sure you're aware and you're not discriminating and and that's incredibly important and so you need to keep that in mind when you are interviewing Whether it's a take home whether it's alive you need to obviously make sure those individuals are comfortable When when obviously interviewing with your organization And so for me for me I would say to answering Billy's question They both struggle, but I would say if I would have to pick one obviously a lot of individuals do not do well live Let's see here So this so a few more things yet introvert introvert.

I listen y'all. I'm telling you. I just crash I just crash at the end of the day Alicia what's up? It's good to see you so this link didn't use your says something good Lord stream yard I need to we need to we need to we need to fix this we need to fix this. I look like I look like Wilson off Home improvement Link to newser goes. I just say no to live or any other test Interesting I work daily in about five programming languages DevOps in cloud and I'm an expert in none of them I ask what the hiring process is includes coding.

I walk Interesting I am more willing to discuss tech pros cons past mistakes I really wish I knew who this was past successes and many other things But asking me the syntax of programming on the X is not work for me next week There will be a new hot programming language. It was just all about you know, listen, you know LinkedIn user. I wish I could see you. You know, I Get it. I get it right. I mean Is is a coding? Is live coding is a take-home test coding exercise? Is that the end all be all? No, it's not I mean listen I've had clients successfully hire from us I post about this yesterday an hour phone call a two-hour zoom call to do some conversations and then hire I've scaled up 15 people in an organization before and that's how they did it with no with no whiteboarding nothing And so in a lot of those people are still there So you don't always have to do a code test.

So I get it. Listen. I listen. I don't judge at all If you if you literally Have your standards at which and you have success finding a job holding to your standards. I'm all about it So LinkedIn user yes, I love it. You keep doing you I absolutely agree with you. There's new programming language that every time I think companies who can have more of a holistic conversation around tech around frameworks around process of thinking is very is very important Let's see here Pia giving can't flexibly promote some of relax mindset when yeah, I mean listen I can't tell you how many times all these devs are following Twitter that go take a walk and come up with an idea about their problem Like why do we interview differently Then how we approach every day programming life?

I don't understand I understand At least it goes while I rarely do coding interviews. I found the real struggle It's in always doing that. So coding is a talking part. Yeah, if I ask someone to break down their code and explain their approach Is where people struggle. Yeah, so I had a great conversation with Josh Carroll You can go back in my youtube and check it out Josh Carroll and I talked about this This is where he falls. This is where a lot of people fall short. They can't they can't explain why they why they do things Right, you need to constantly ask yourself Why did I do this?

Why did I do this? Why did I do this? I'm posting today I just posted on Twitter before I went live about how companies how companies should Implement things with an organization with a why right so many times we have so much of I told you so management Where like hey you do this? Well, why do it's because I said so and so you know for me I think both leaders and interviewers need to do better and and describing why they do things Let's see here Brian treating everyone fairly does not mean treating them the same. Yeah. Yeah. I love that. I loved that a lot Emmett.

I made it. What's up, man? Yes talking or walk always gives me more clarity. Yeah, exactly So I don't know why we don't structure the interviews that way now that I understand Which which going back to listen? I and I don't want to go up to tangent because we're on 20 minutes I want to wrap it up here soon. I'm just at a respect for yours time But I mean at the end of the day like that's why I say contract to hire like if you're hiring manager watching this now in the future like That's why I say contract higher. Why in the world would you vet somebody within three hours?

In a different way than those people code every day and expect them to work out long-term in your organization So for me contract to hire True contract to hire we tell the candidate we're gonna convert you We put more emphasis on actually working than we do interviewing again. It's the why it's describing why we do things people don't do that Right, so for me if a company goes hey, we want to do contract to hire I'm like, okay great. Why do you want to do contract to hire and that company goes because we value people's work ethic And we value the way people work and that cannot be judged in the interview so we want to do like a three to six-month contract to hire Job seekers.

Let me know if you have thoughts on that. I think that's great. I think that would be great I really now again I know contract to hire benefits buy in listen we I have tons of other episodes on that and I'll have more Because I think it's a topic we always need to talk about But I think if a client can sit down and say hey We're gonna do a we're gonna do a quick call just make sure your culture fit had the text up The will get you started contract higher. I think that's the way to do it personally All right y'all that was it that was it that was it for today It's good hanging out with y'all Appreciate it.

Hey listen. Thank y'all for the support Go check out guidance counselor 2.0 in the app store My podcast is finally back up enrolling thanks to Alex cooler We're getting all of these live shows on audio because everyone's going back to work now So everyone can listen to him so guidance counselor 2.0 in the app store go check it out I would love if you rate review subscribe share it with friends. We love it text me 615. I can't get the it's Just backwards all the time 615 235 5 6 5 0 join my text in community one text a day To your phone. I had to level up your career in your job search Taylor dessin.com Resume templates 10 questions of the recruiter all of my jobs.

I have open Hire managers. You want to check out my candidates. I have available go check that out Y'all have a great weekend. It was wonderful hanging with y'all today. This was wonderful wonderful wonderful share this episode We can friends If if you have anyone struggling to interview share this Share this on your wall for people to see because I feel like people just need to know that they're not alone when it comes to interviewing But they also need to know to work on things so share this. I appreciate y'all ton Y'all have a great weekend and we will see y'all Monday peace

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