Month: January 2011

On Interviewing

“If you believe that pleasant interviewing skills, a good handshake or the right outfit are a better predictor of future performance than what the person has actually shipped in the past, I think it’s worth pointing out that you’re nuts.” – Seth Godin

Well interview season is coming up for me as I look for an internship this summer. One thing I’ve learnt from my HR class last semester was that behavioral interviews were one of the most accurate way of assessing future performance. So I’ve been busy practicing to be a good interviewee, it’s a different mindset than I had approaching it from the other side of the table as a hiring manager!

Supplemental Reading #1 Linchpin

When I was younger I was given some advice about running a business, if someone became indispensable then you should fire them. At the time I thought this sounded counter-intuitive and didn’t understand why someone would advocate such a tactic, it didn’t make sense to me, surely you would want to get the most value from your employees for your business? After reading Seth’s book, Linchpin, I recognized the risk reducing tactic in the stories that are shared of how people fear standing out and avoid risk.

Seth’s book is an interesting read, I’ve read several books that focus on the “tactics” of success but Linchpin is one that explains why we so often fail to implement the great tactics we learn. The book covers a lot of ground but is a really engaging read. Becoming a linchpin carries it’s own risk but for me risk and reward are intertwined, if we aren’t willing to take risks in our life then we become part of the middle ground, unable to make a substantive difference in the world around us. It’s an interesting book with some great insights and interesting stories.