I just had an interview where I actually heard the HR manager tell the receptionist they were doing the interview process to give the interviewers more experience, but were no longer hiring. I walked into an interview with three complete idiots that had no experience interviewing at all. That’s why that office was…

OK job-seekers, here’s some advice from the trenches. I’m the senior technical person on a small team of analysts. I participate in the screening and interviewing of candidates with my manager.

Yeh. I think this guy’s total resume other than his name (maybe. . .) was fake. The HR doofus was thrilled that he found someone that 100% matched our wishlist for the new hire (that was hint #1 for me). I don’t know how he got through the phone interview with HR (well I do; see “HR doofus” above).

One quick addition to that long reply. I manage small teams. High workload and a friendly environment are important. If I hire someone and it’s simply not flowing smoothly the entire task suffers and everyone’s workflow decreases.

I didn’t intend to make it sound overly arduous. However, at the end of the day it IS a competition and the best wins. It is my job to seperate the best from the rest. Nobody wins if I fail to do that.

Crap. This happened to me just a few weeks ago. I was interviewed by three people at once, and I found out later one of two directors I thought I won over was my biggest critic, and the one that terrified me actually voted in my favor.

One Tuesday I was sitting at home in California suffering from the aftermath of a cold.

This, exactly.

Honesty doesn’t necessarily mean straight-up telling someone directly what’s going on. That can sometimes backfire, and then you get to instead be that asshole who says, “I was just being honest.” Consider your audience.

I agree with this. You need to spend a few minutes thinking about the person you’re delivering feedback to and tailor the message so that it can be best received by that person. You should always be honest, and part of being a good manager is understanding how to best deliver feedback so that your team members will…

Because, as the article says, “If someone feels personally threatened by what you are saying, his or her defenses will go up and he or she won’t be able to internalize your criticism”.