Hiring "don'ts"

[glassjaws]

Originally Posted by annuitize

If the process isn't flawed. How'd this clown get a job?

He went in for an interview? I don't think he was asked how he'd add 100 numbers in Excel.

[Quasi]

Originally Posted by annuitize

If the process isn't flawed. How'd this clown get a job?

From what you've said it sounds like your company was desperate to hire someone so they rushed and screwed up. It doesn't mean the hiring process in general is flawed. Some bad ones get through. The more you rush the more bad ones get through. If it's a crappy company in the 'po where you can't afford to be picky more bad ones will get through.

I have only been involved in one situation where we were really surprised at how bad a new employee was (I wasn't involved in the decision, I came after this person). The person was an intern at the company so you'd think they should have known what the person was capable of after what boils down to a 3 month interview. They were fired after a year or so.

[ditkaworshipper]

Originally Posted by annuitize

the interviewing process sucks. it's unfair, and the most qualified candidate rarely gets the job. it comes down to the biggest bullshitter, and i don't think anyone can deny that... my theory is that this is a bump in the road, and in the end, the bullshitters will be found out, and the socially awkward smart people will rise above!

I'm going to say this is completely wrong. I don't really care how much more valuable and accurate your analysis is: I'm the more valuable employee in a lot of situations. Selling your ideas is just as important as the ideas themselves in the business world. The interview process is pretty damn good actually, but you seem to work for a place that's pretty bad at executing that process imo.

Originally Posted by Keep It Real, Yo

Well, if there is a negligible difference between two candidates, the one I'd want is the one I'd rather work with and interact with.

like nobody's business.

[ao fan]

Originally Posted by Quasi

From what you've said it sounds like your company was desperate to hire someone so they rushed and screwed up. It doesn't mean the hiring process in general is flawed. Some bad ones get through. The more you rush the more bad ones get through. If it's a crappy company in the 'po where you can't afford to be picky more bad ones will get through.

I have only been involved in one situation where we were really surprised at how bad a new employee was (I wasn't involved in the decision, I came after this person). The person was an intern at the company so you'd think they should have known what the person was capable of after what boils down to a 3 month interview. They were fired after a year or so.

i thought that the pool of entry level candidates was pretty saturated. there is no reason for any company to be desperate.

[snafu]

Originally Posted by MountainHawk

Please set the print range to A1:M60, N1:AM120, AN1:AT60, divide those into 6 printed pages (page breaks at M/N, Z/AA, AM/AN and 60/120) and add a custom footer of the date on the left, tab name in the center, and "Page x of 6" on the right without using the mouse.

Done. No real problems other than the fact that this is not something I do a lot.

Sometimes mouse is more efficient. Sometimes keyboard. People who think keyboard is everything and mouse-user = dumb are less than optimal. People who just blithly use the mouse and fail to learn shortcuts are also less than optimal.

Optimal, IMHO, is a mix of keyboard, mouse, and macros. The most efficient think is to minimize switching between mouse and keyboard. Have you ever seen someone entering data into a form - type, mouse click to next field, type, mouse click to next field, etc, etc. Use the tab key and you go much much faster.

I think it is most important for spreadsheet monkeys to learn both ways. If you want to copy a formula and you are already typing - Ctrl-C, select new cells Ctrl-V is most efficient. If you already have you hand on the mouse, Right-Click, Copy, select new cells, Right-Click Paste is probably most efficient.

[Vomik]

Originally Posted by ao fan

i thought that the pool of entry level candidates was pretty saturated. there is no reason for any company to be desperate.

High quality entry level candidates continue to be scarce

[Keep It Real, Yo]

Originally Posted by annuitize

If the process isn't flawed. How'd this clown get a job?

The process is only as flawed as the interviewers and HR. In other words, the flaws vary from company to company and from department to department. At the end of the day, the better you are at interviewing and working the better your chances are.

[Quasi]

Originally Posted by ao fan

i thought that the pool of entry level candidates was pretty saturated. there is no reason for any company to be desperate.

I thought Eagles said his company was rushed/desperate because they were understaffed.

If a company pays poorly, has a bad reputation, and is in a crappy location they could still be desperate even with this market.

[Carnifex]

Originally Posted by snafu

Done. No real problems other than the fact that this is not something I do a lot.

Sometimes mouse is more efficient. Sometimes keyboard. People who think keyboard is everything and mouse-user = dumb are less than optimal. People who just blithly use the mouse and fail to learn shortcuts are also less than optimal.

Optimal, IMHO, is a mix of keyboard, mouse, and macros. The most efficient think is to minimize switching between mouse and keyboard. Have you ever seen someone entering data into a form - type, mouse click to next field, type, mouse click to next field, etc, etc. Use the tab key and you go much much faster.

I think it is most important for spreadsheet monkeys to learn both ways. If
you want to copy a formula and you are already typing
- Ctrl-C, select new cells Ctrl-V is most efficient. If you already have you hand on the mouse, Right-Click, Copy, select new cells, Right-Click Paste is probably most efficient.

I completely agree on all points. Obviously the mouse must be used, but for navigating, & doing common things with spreadsheets the shortcut keys are way faster & sometimes as you pointed out almost outright necessary. I wasn't saying those who use the mouse alot, bur merely pointing out that those "who only use the mouse & never bothered to learn the shortcuts" are most likely invalids (or they never had to work with spreadsheets much) and are most likely as bad an employee as the one at Annitize's job.

For example, imagine if we had a coworker who asked for some help with a spreadsheet so you told them "ok select all the data so we can put it in a pivot table and take a look" , there are say 120,000-500,000 rows of data, & this dude starts trying to use the mouse to select all these rows, lol. You know how long that will take? Probably 15-20 minutes compared to 2 seconds by hitting ctrl+ down arrow or ctrl + A. I would say this is acceptable if the person is relatively new (<4-5 months), after that this a "computer moron flag" that I probably would not enjoy helping with problems.

[snafu]

Originally Posted by Carnifex

I completely agree on all points. Obviously the mouse must be used, but for navigating, & doing common things with spreadsheets the shortcut keys are way faster & sometimes as you pointed out almost outright necessary. I wasn't saying those who use the mouse alot, bur merely pointing out that those "who only use the mouse & never bothered to learn the shortcuts" are most likely invalids (or they never had to work with spreadsheets much) and are most likely as bad an employee as the one at Annitize's job.

For example, imagine if we had a coworker who asked for some help with a spreadsheet so you told them "ok select all the data so we can put it in a pivot table and take a look" , there are say 120,000-500,000 rows of data, & this dude starts trying to use the mouse to select all these rows, lol. You know how long that will take? Probably 15-20 minutes compared to 2 seconds by hitting ctrl+ down arrow or ctrl + A. I would say this is acceptable if the person is relatively new (<4-5 months), after that this a "computer moron flag" that I probably would not enjoy helping with problems.

And I wasn't disagreeing with any of that. My point was that people who think mouse-users are "teh dumb" can sometimes be a tad extreme.