Category Archives: Business

Job interview questions

We’re interviewing a bunch of great folks right now. People are coming our way via our network of friends, colleagues, and employees, as well as via job boards and recruiters. We haven’t quite systematized the process, but we’re getting close.

Most of the time, we ask the solid looking candidates to answer some qualifying questions via email. They’re the type of questions that have no correct response (i.e. “Why are you interested in working with us?”). The answers help us gain a better understanding of how the candidate looks at life and work, how well they write (very important), and whether or not we should invest time in a phone interview.

Sometimes, we skip that process — this is always because a résumé, lead source, or cover letter looks just so temptingly great. Maybe she perfectly matched our wish list in terms of experience. Maybe he was referred by someone we really admire. Maybe she listed among her interests a wildly eccentric and fascinating activity. No matter the reason, it is almost always a mistake to depart from the process.

Last week, I came across a candidate with an especially promising résumé. In my enthusiasm, I skipped the qualifying questions and just sent off an email requesting a time to talk. Here’s how our phone interview began:

Me: “Hello. Thanks for your interest in joining our team!”

Candidate: “You are welcome.”

Me: “What questions do you have for me?”

[Awkward Silence]

Candidate: Excuse me?

Me: “What questions do you have for me?”

Candidate: “I don’t understand what you mean.”

Me: “I once read that you can tell more about someone from the questions they ask than the answers they give. That sounded like good advice to me, so I like to start interviews with that question.”

Candidate: “I see.”

[Awkward silence]

Me: “What questions do you have for me?”

Candidate: “I don’t have any questions.”

The interview didn’t last long. I wasted my time and theirs. Worse, I put a candidate who wasn’t a fit for us in an uncomfortable situation. That’s no good for anyone!

Henceforth, I vow not to depart from our process. Also, I may start including my “What questions do you have for me?” question in the initial email to prospective phone interview candidates.

Finding the right people (and avoiding the wrong ones) is among the most important skills an entrepreneur can develop. How do you find great candidates, and what do you do to run an effective hiring process?

“He who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me”

Thomas Jefferson had some specific thoughts about the unnaturalness of intellectual property:

If nature has made any one thing less susceptible than all others of exclusive property, it is the action of the thinking power called an idea, which an individual may exclusively possess as long as he keeps it to himself; but the moment it is divulged, it forces itself into the possession of every one, and the receiver cannot dispossess himself of it. Its peculiar character, too, is that no one possesses the less, because every other possesses the whole of it. He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me.

Unfortunately, modern politicians disagree with TJ. Only last week, I had naively suggested the state couldn’t figure out how to drive innovators away from the Internet. I was wrong:

There is, however, an influential group of people that rejoices at the passing of this type of legislation.

What were you doing when you were 12?

When Steve Jobs was 15, he was working in the HP factory. Bill Gates was debugging software for the Computer Center Corporation. At 12, Thomas Suarez is building iPhone apps and giving TED talks.

Only decades ago, it was legal for children to build things. When I was a teenager, I was allowed to wield power tools during my summer/holiday jobs. By the time I graduated high school, I was earning $10/hr as a carpenter’s assistant. By the time I finished college, I was making $15/hr as a passably skilled carpenter. But that’s still a penance compared to what young people were allowed to do back in the day.

In the early 1800s, children could begin apprenticing when they were old enough to be useful, and very few failed to reach maturity and self-sufficiency by the time they were 18. Remember David Farragut (“Damn the torpedoes!”)? Yeah, that was him at 13 years old commanding his own ship in the War of 1812.

The early 1800s were also an explosive period of creativity and productivity in America, and a time when the majority of (free) Americans were self-employed. Coincidence? Doubtful.

Contrast that with today: Now, it’s illegal for anyone under 16 to be around a power tool, and anyone under 18 must be directly supervised (i.e. they can’t work independently, which pretty much makes them useless). What does this accomplish? Builders won’t hire a teenager, and kids will reach 18 years old with no practical skills.

Fortunately, programming is different. Why do Americans still lead in software development? While most other forms of child labor are criminalized, the state hasn’t yet figured out how to keep them from programming. As a result, kids can still build things with computers. They can still become accomplished programmers by the time they’re 18. Then they go on to build world–changing products.

The same great things could still be happening outside of software. But they’re not; instead of young people spending their time developing self-sufficiency, marketable skills, and practical experience, they sit in classrooms, learning that the only way to learn is to be instructed.