journal features

hiring is tough work

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-eight years and a million words

Toronto, 2015.04.09

I'm currently hiring for two disparate roles, and it's tough sledding. First, about 90 people have applied. And in strict opposition to current "practice", I'm treating these applicants like humans, responding to their applications and telling them to contact me with questions.

Strangely, the ones to send questions are the foreigners. We're not looking to hire from overseas but the Canadian applicants have been mostly mum.

So on I go, reading resumes and looking for signs of a fit for the roles. I'm doing the initial screening calls and trying to think tactically about the hires. It absorbs a lot of time.

Moreover, it's clear that we titled one of the job postings poorly, because I'm getting a lot of people looking for a position with a different interpretation of that title. And of that group, it's astonishing to see how many MBA's are applying for a role that's got "analyst" in the title. It's not the sort of gig that's going to pay down a $100,000 tuition in a hurry!

rand()m quote

It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by the dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions and spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who, at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly; so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat.

—Theodore Roosevelt, Jr.