Seth Godinsky on Interviews

Man, he's got it wrong.

At least half the interview finds the interviewer giving an unplanned and not very good overview of what the applicant should expect from this job. Unlike most of the marketing communications the organization does, this spiel is unvetted, unnatural and unmeasured.

Sister, please. The marketing materials are unnatural and blah-blah bland. At least when you sit across from someone you can get straight to the nitty gritty and ask some direct questions.

Would you marry someone based on a one hour interview in a singles bar?

Listen, honey, isn't that how half the world (or more) gets married? I don't agree wif it but where it's practiced, marriage is more of a business than a romantic relationship which increases its relevance to hiring.

How do you assess candidates in Seth's world? A hands-on demonstration of their work.

Put the person on a team and have a brainstorming session, or design a widget or make some espressos together. If you want to hire a copywriter, do some copywriting. Send back some edits and see how they’re received.

Inotherwords, if you want to hire a recruiter, first let her read all of the phony-baloney you've got on your web site and then bring her in and let her recruit someone. If you like her, hire her for 20 hours for a test run. The question is: what would her current boss say if she finds out that she's working for the competition?

Keef Collins calls Seth on his obvious errors as well. Mind you, Dr Johnny Sullivan also encourages us to give contract work to people we are courting and I've never seen him deal with the conflict of interest questions either.

Reference: Seth Godin's Blog. Hat Tip: Gautam Ghosh

Comments

[Bobby Parsons]

Truly an amazing article... Wish there were more to read and studies done showing some answers. http://www.mockquestions.com

[Glenn]

Time to get educated on your industry to pass those interviews. In this country with the internet anyone that can't get just about get any job they interview for is clueless.
There's a site most folks don't even know about that can have you conversant on any industry in a month.
http://webjutsu.tradepub.com/
check it out. I got 6 free aerospace publications for free. Nice!