[burningChrome]

I remember not too long ago when you'd do a quick phone screen, then sit for maybe a technical interview and maybe come into the office for a panel to talk to other devs. Most of the time, hiring managers would say, "If you're close with your technical skills, we can teach you, but we're more interested if you fit in with our culture "

Months of interaction? Why did just a few years ago, managers could spot a phony a mile away and could see potential in people? Why is it I feel like I'm dating you just to try and get a job?

This story just confirms how broken and dysfunctional the process has become to make a simple hire.

[johnjreiser]

Amen. If an organization is taking months to come to a hiring decision that’s a red flag, unless it’s a C-suite level position, where a misstep could have irreversible damage. A tech position should be able to close within a few weeks, lest the candidate get a better offer from a less dysfunctional company.

[kshacker]

My first hand observations: took 4 months to hire, 5 months for the candidate to start.

My first hiring in a corporate world so I had to learn a bit.

Then we are expected to plan for diversity, not even looking at qualified candidates until we have met diversity benchmarks.

Then my group had a committee kind of setup where one person could veto a candidate. Being my first hiring, I had to go along with it for a while. At one point, we had a viable candidate, but there was one person who was sideways and my manager did not want to go ahead unless every single panelist said yes. We held on for another month trying to look for other better candidates. The candidate was nice enough to wait. BTW we had a viable candidate even before that, within the first 2-3 I think, and that candidate did not wait for us.

Then getting the offer approved and negotiated and signed takes time.

It has been a pain, and after hiring quite a few people in startups or consulting companies, I could have done it in less than a month, but we had our inertia.

> where a misstep could have irreversible damage.

However, when I see it help is that we have a person in our peer team who is not good and they are trying to let that person go. It is in Europe so laws a bit more stringent. It is quite a work to let someone go so the fear of a bad hire and then having months of work to let that person go is quite real. And this is for a run of the mill IC.

[Gormo]

Four months worth of interviews is insane, as is the need for unanimity in a hiring panel. On top of that, diversity quotas are explicitly illegal under US law. The organization you work for sounds like it is profoundly dysfunctional.

[kshacker]

Of course this was my first hiring, so I had some learning to do including understanding org politics and let's say I wasted a month in that. And 4 months was not all interviews, it was the end to end process from the time I was given the position till the time the offer was sent out. Pretty sure I will be able to do it faster next time around, all other things including job markets being same.

And there were no diversity quotas, just that management will keep asking are you being diverse and my manager will throw a fit every time his managers will ask this question since our org was pretty much uniracial, but it was not me who built it :)

[ssss11]

I think it speaks to the internal politics. Run from those jobs if the hiring manager needs that long to make sure the hire is politically ok.

[UncleOxidant]

> Why is it I feel like I'm dating you just to try and get a job?

And/Or it feels like going through a hazing ritual.

[RaftPeople]

> Most of the time, hiring managers would say, "If you're close with your technical skills, we can teach you, but we're more interested if you fit in with our culture "

This is my criteria:

1-Smart, problem solver, sees the big picture, etc.

2-Collaborative, flexible, not dogmatic

3-Responsible, takes ownership

4-Technical experience is in the ballpark, gaps ok and expected

The first 3 things are much more important than the tech because tech gaps can be filled, personality can't be changed.

[reactiverobot]

Yeah you're right a months long process would be horrible!

Fortunately, that didn't happen in this case. Part of building a team is getting to know talented people before they're looking for a job so when they're ready they reach out to you.

And you're right, this is work, not dating. But that doesn't remove the human emotion involved in getting to know someone.