This week at work

So this week...

I've been working on wrapping up my interview process, so that I can get to hiring. Here's a summary:

~200 resumes received.
~18 first interviews performed
3 second interviews performed
1 second interview canceled

This week has felt so long, despite that its only a 4 day week. Heck, its Thursday, and boy do I wish it were Friday. I've had the pressure of interviewing and hiring, plus the pressure of getting some stuff ready for some users who are headed to china, plus all of the other normal IT tasks that need to be done, so I have been weary and tired all week. I haven't gotten any running done, and quite frankly, have allowed myself to make excuses and not run. I'm willing to let myself slip a little, but I'll pick it back up this weekend.

couple of things randomly, about my interview process:

One of the questions that I've asked all of the people that I've interviewed is this: "What criteria are you using to evaluate the organization for which you hope to work?" In my after-action evaluation, it is a somewhat unimportant question. I cannot think of very many things that a candidate would (or did) say to this question, that made me go "Wow, that's a fantastic answer." I did however get three people who responded: "The Internet." That's right. They went on, "I'm using the internet to check out your companies website, and read information about your company." I did not correct them, or explain the meaning of "criteria".

Another question that I asked was "If you were hired, and six weeks later there were a complete IT systems failure, we were both called in, and on the way, I drove off of a cliff; what would you do to recover and respond?" I had at least two people who responded that they would check to make sure I was okay. This always makes me chuckle internally, and then gossip about it afterward, because it seems incredibly obvious to me that what I'm asking is not "Do you like me, and if I was hurt, would you come visit me?".

I enjoyed the process, I like people, and I met some very smart, and very charismatic people. It was my semi-wish throughout the process that I could take two or three people and, using science, meld them into the perfect candidate. But I can't do that. So I had to keep hunting the person who was the perfect melding of IT related skills, programming skills, bow-hunting skills, inter-personal and customer service skills. I'm still not 110%, or even 100%, but I'm 98%, with the fellow that I've got. I think that's a pretty good fit. The hardest part has been taking these people, each with varying skills and abilities and personalities, and trying to throw them all against the wall and see which one(s) stuck. Not knowing how the future turns out, I still sorta wish I could 'save' my progress, so that I could restore later, and have the option of trying out a different candidate, but apparently I've been playing way too many video games lately.