More Related Content Similar to Agile Hiring: It's a Team Sport (20) More from Johanna Rothman (17) Agile Hiring: It's a Team Sport1. Agile Hiring:
Itās a Team Sport
Johanna Rothman
@johannarothman
www.jrothman.com
jr@jrothman.com
781-641-4046
3. Ā© 2015 Johanna Rothman
Process Frustrations
ā¢ You receive too many
resumes
ā¢ You donāt see people you
want to talk to
ā¢ You donāt know if youāre
asking questions that help
you know if a candidate is
right
ā¢ The entire team doesnāt
participate
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4. Ā© 2015 Johanna Rothman
Cultural Fit Frustrations
ā¢ āNo chemistryā
ā¢ āNot such a great ļ¬tā
ā¢ Candidate doesnāt want
the offerāand itās not a
salary issue
ā¢ Wouldnāt it be nice if you
could apply agile
approaches?
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5. Ā© 2015 Johanna Rothman
Our Agenda
ā¢ Culture: what it is and how to assess it fast
ā¢ How to analyze a job
ā¢ How to use recruiters in an agile way
ā¢ How to review resumes
ā¢ Questions and how to ask them. Practice
ā¢ Agile auditions
ā¢ Anything else you have
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6. Ā© 2015 Johanna Rothman
What Culture Is
ā¢ How people treat each
other
ā¢ What people can discuss
ā¢ What you reward
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8. Ā© 2015 Johanna Rothman
āCorporateā Culture Is
Incomplete
ā¢ We may talk about
ācorporate cultureā
ā¢ Each manager/team puts
stamp on top of
corporate culture
ā¢ Culture is local
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9. Ā© 2015 Johanna Rothman
Activity:What isYour
Culture?
ā¢ In small teams, discuss
ā¢ Where do you fall in the
Schneider model for culture?
ā¢ What can you discuss?
ā¢ What does the organization
reward?
ā¢ How do people treat each
other?
ā¢ Weāll debrief together
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10. Ā© 2015 Johanna Rothman
If You Want Cultural Fitā¦
ā¢ Develop your awareness
of your culture
ā¢ Develop questions to
detect ļ¬t for culture
ā¢ Make your hiring process
congruent with your
culture
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11. Ā© 2015 Johanna Rothman
Our Agenda
ā¢ Culture: what it is and how to assess it fast
ā¢ How to analyze a job
ā¢ How to use recruiters in an agile way
ā¢ How to review resumes
ā¢ Questions and how to ask them. Practice
ā¢ Agile auditions
ā¢ Anything else you have
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12. Ā© 2015 Johanna Rothman
Plan to Iterate
ā¢ Hiring strategy
ā¢ Job analysis
ā¢ Is the basis for everything:
ā¢ Job description
ā¢ Ad
ā¢ Interview matrix
ā¢ ...
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13. Ā© 2015 Johanna Rothman
Contextual Questions: Qualities,
Preferences, Non-technical Skills
ā¢ Able to manage large groups of people (or small groups)
ā¢ Able consider several ideas, not jump at the ļ¬rst one
ā¢ Analytical abilities
ā¢ Negotiation skills
ā¢ How people-oriented vs. task-oriented (especially for managers or
project managers)
ā¢ Sales ability (for not-speciļ¬cally sales folks)
ā¢ ā¦
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14. Ā© 2015 Johanna Rothman
Perform a Job Analysis
As you analyze the job, make sure you ask these kinds of questions:
1. Who will this person work with on a regular basis? On an irregular
basis?
2. What level or responsibility you want this person to take
3. What is this position worth to you?
4. Tell me about the strategic/tactical/operational parts of this job
5. What will this person do/what deliverables do you expect on a daily,
weekly, monthly, yearly basis?
6. Tell me how you can see this person working on a daily basis. ā¦ Tell me
about the interactions you expect to have with this person.
7. Whatās important for this person to already know to succeed in this
position.
8. How do you describe your group/team?
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15. Ā© 2015 Johanna Rothman
Essential vs. Desirable
ā¢ Numerous qualities,
preferences and non-
technical skills
ā¢ Numerous technical skills
ā¢ Decide whatās essential
and ļ¬lter on that
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16. Ā© 2015 Johanna Rothman
Our Agenda
ā¢ Culture: what it is and how to assess it fast
ā¢ How to analyze a job
ā¢ How to use recruiters in an agile way
ā¢ How to review resumes
ā¢ Questions and how to ask them. Practice
ā¢ Agile auditions
ā¢ Anything else you have
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17. Ā© 2015 Johanna Rothman
Recruiters HelpYou Find
Candidates
ā¢ Cast a wide net
ā¢ Provide feedback to your
recruiters
ā¢ Plan to iterate
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Inspect
Adapt
19. Ā© 2015 Johanna Rothman
Our Agenda
ā¢ Culture: what it is and how to assess it fast
ā¢ How to analyze a job
ā¢ How to use recruiters in an agile way
ā¢ How to review resumes
ā¢ Questions and how to ask them. Practice
ā¢ Agile auditions
ā¢ Anything else you have
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20. Ā© 2015 Johanna Rothman
DoYou Like Reviewing
Resumes?
ā¢ Make it a game
ā¢ Respond within 24
hours
ā¢ Review as a team
ā¢ Yes/No/Maybe for a
phone screen
ā¢ Discussion is what counts
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21. Ā© 2015 Johanna Rothman
What to Look For
ā¢ Behaviors, not practices
ā¢ Product release
ā¢ How people worked as
part of a team
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22. Ā© 2015 Johanna Rothman
Technical Skills
ā¢ Functional knowledge:
ā¢ Testing and development techniques
ā¢ Product domain expertise:
ā¢ Problem-space expertise
ā¢ Solution space expertise
ā¢ Technology:
ā¢ How well the candidate uses the tools
ā¢ Industry expertise:
ā¢ What the customers expect, how well the candidate understands the problems
solved by the system
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23. Ā© 2015 Johanna Rothman
Six āAgileā Behaviors
ā¢ People who can collaborate
ā¢ People who can ask for help
ā¢ People who are willing to take small steps and get feedback
ā¢ People who are will to do something that is good enough
for now
ā¢ Adaptable people
ā¢ People willing to work outside their expertise
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24. Ā© 2015 Johanna Rothman
Our Agenda
ā¢ Culture: what it is and how to assess it fast
ā¢ How to analyze a job
ā¢ How to use recruiters in an agile way
ā¢ How to review resumes
ā¢ Questions and how to ask them. Practice
ā¢ Agile auditions
ā¢ Anything else you have
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25. Ā© 2015 Johanna Rothman
Types of Questions
ā¢ Closed questions establish
the facts
ā¢ Behavior-description
questions:āTell me about a
time whenā¦ā
ā¢ Auditions
ā¢ Hypothetical questions:
āWhat would you do ifā¦ā
ā¢ Meta-questions:āWhat else
should I ask you?ā
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26. Ā© 2015 Johanna Rothman
Questions That Donāt
Discover Anything
ā¢ Irrelevant questions
ā¢ Puzzles, riddles
ā¢ Questions not about work
ā¢ āWhy do you want to
work here?ā
ā¢ Strengths, weaknesses
ā¢ See my article in the April
2014 Pragprog magazine
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27. Ā© 2015 Johanna Rothman
Develop Candidate Interview
Questions for Cultural Fit
ā¢ Adaptability
ā¢ Perseverance:
ā¢ Courage,Achievement, Follow-
through on long-term goals,
Resilience, Release vs.
perfection
ā¢ Success
ā¢ Challenges
ā¢ Environment
ā¢ Offer
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28. Ā© 2015 Johanna Rothman
Adaptability
ā¢ āTell me about a time you
were surprised.What
happened?ā
ā¢ "Tell me about a time
when you did not have
the conditions you
would've liked for your
project.What did you
do?"
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29. Ā© 2015 Johanna Rothman
Growth Mindset
ā¢ āTell me about a time you had to learn
something new.What was it? How did
you do it?ā
ā¢ āGive me an example of a time you had
to take courageous action.ā
ā¢ āTell me about a time you wanted
something that seemed far off.What did
you do?ā
ā¢ āTell me about a time when it felt as if
you failed.What did you do?ā
ā¢ āTell me how you know something is
sufļ¬cient for release.ā
ā¢ āHave you ever wanted to postpone
release? Why?ā
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Carol Dweck, Mindset
30. Ā© 2015 Johanna Rothman
Success
ā¢ āTell me about a recent
success.What caused it?ā
ā¢ You might hear these things:
ā¢ Supportive environment
ā¢ Risk-taking
ā¢ Ability to make my own
decisions
ā¢ Decisions by consensus
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31. Ā© 2015 Johanna Rothman
Challenges
ā¢ āTell me about a recent
challenge.What caused it?
What did you do?ā
ā¢ Candidates will explain
problems ā especially
where the culture
interfered
ā¢ Example:VP and process
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32. Ā© 2015 Johanna Rothman
Environment
ā¢ āTell me about your
environment now. Does it
contribute to your success?ā
ā¢ (If not, ask about
environments in the past.)
ā¢ Listen to what makes
people successful
ā¢ Iāve met many senior
managers who believe they
need to be the star
technical person.
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33. Ā© 2015 Johanna Rothman
Collaboration
ā¢ "Think back to a recent
project. Give me an
example of a time you
had to work with other
people to make sure that
you could ļ¬nish
something.What
happened?"
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34. Ā© 2015 Johanna Rothman
Ask for Help
ā¢ "Think back to your most
recent project.Tell me
about a time you did not
understand something.
What did you do?"
ā¢ āTell me about a recent
time you did not think
you could ļ¬nish when you
needed to.What were the
circumstances? What did
you do?ā
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35. Ā© 2015 Johanna Rothman
Small Steps and Ask for
Feedback
ā¢ "Tell me how you like to
work.Think back to the last
feature you worked on.
When did you ask for
feedback?" ... "Why?"
ā¢ For people new to/
inexperienced with agile:
ā¢ "When you work on your
projects outside of work,
how do you work? Give
me an example."
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36. Ā© 2015 Johanna Rothman
Do Something Good Enough
For Now
ā¢ "Tell me about a recent
time you did not know
everything at the
beginning of the project.
What did you do?"
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37. Ā© 2015 Johanna Rothman
Adaptable
ā¢ "Tell me about a time
when you did not have
the conditions you
would've liked for your
project.What did you
do?"
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38. Ā© 2015 Johanna Rothman
Willing to Work Outside
Their Expertise
ā¢ "Tell me about a time you
took on work to help the
team.What was that like?"
ā¢ "We work on things we may
not be comfortable with in
order to ļ¬nish a feature for an
iteration. Have you ever been
in that position?"
ā¢ "Tell me about a time you did
something you thought was
not in your job description.
What did you do?"
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39. Ā© 2015 Johanna Rothman
Activity: Question Practice
ā¢ Organize yourselves into teams of 3:
ā¢ One candidate, one interviewer, one observer
ā¢ Interviewer: Select a question
ā¢ Observer: take notes so you can provide feedback
ā¢ Candidate: answer as if you want the job.
ā¢ Weāll debrief together.
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40. Ā© 2015 Johanna Rothman
Our Agenda
ā¢ Culture: what it is and how to assess it fast
ā¢ How to analyze a job
ā¢ How to use recruiters in an agile way
ā¢ How to review resumes
ā¢ Questions and how to ask them. Practice
ā¢ Agile auditions
ā¢ Anything else you have
40
41. Ā© 2015 Johanna Rothman
Auditions HelpYou See a
Person Work
ā¢ Keep auditions congruent
to the way you work
ā¢ If you pair, pair.
Otherwise, donāt.
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43. Ā© 2015 Johanna Rothman
Make Decisions as a Team
ā¢ Use limited Roman
consensus to make
decisions after the
interview
ā¢ Manager has ļ¬nal say
ā¢ Do not overrule your
team unless you have an
extremely good reason
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45. Ā© 2015 Johanna Rothman
Letās Stay in Touch...
ā¢ Hiring GeeksThat Fit and
ManageYour Job Search
ā¢ Much more on
www.jrothman.com/blog/htp
ā¢ Pragmatic Manager:
ā¢ www.jrothman.com/
pragmaticmanager
ā¢ Please link with me on
LinkedIn
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