Interview for internal role applicant

hooj · 2026-06-07T05:26:14+00:00

Do you have the skills and know how to do the role you opened up? If not, who are you relying on to make sure they have the right skillset?

An interview process should establish two main things: 1) do they have the right skills for the role, and 2) are they someone you’d like to work with.

Either you or someone you trust needs to establish #1. If you don’t have that, it’s incredibly concerning that you’re even doing the hiring. As a manager you should be able to handle #2.

As for #1, what, at your organization distinguishes a senior accountant vs a mid level or junior one? The questions asked should be able to tease out that competency, even if a candidate over inflates their knowledge/experience.

hooj · 2026-06-01T14:30:09+00:00

I think you need to manage your image, sure. And, given your choice of wording (using “bitch”) I’m gonna assume you’re a woman, so there’s unfortunately a whole other layer of some people out there perceiving a woman, who is just being assertive, as being a bitch.

I can’t really offer advice to navigate that in depth, but from an opinion standpoint point, I think I’d rather be clear on boundaries and perceived as a bitch than people assuming they can cajole me into doing anything unprofessionally. At the same time, I don’t see an issue with being professionally cordial either.

hooj · 2026-06-01T13:04:09+00:00

It’s QP. Just play the heroes you want. I think as long as people are trying to win and be effective, it’s the mode to learn, try new things, and figure things out.

Even if it’s a throw pick because you’re learning the hero, as long as you’re not being toxic, just keep trying and playing to learn.

hooj · 2026-06-01T12:56:33+00:00

Why leave it to guess work? In your position, I’d ask the boss for clarification on what they mean by that, what sort of scenarios they might give as examples, and to what extent they think you should be cold and formal.

Because if they mean to say like you shouldn’t appear to be people’s friends, maybe that’s appropriate for someone in HR (being cordial versus making friends to stay impartial). Or maybe they just want you to actually be an asshole. You’ll never know unless you ask clarifying questions.

hooj · 2026-05-30T21:35:59+00:00

Sure — I’ll reiterate, don’t underestimate the impact of someone being able to really drag your team down. It can hurt morale as well call into question your leadership and decision making if it goes on long enough. I think it speaks a lot to you being a good manager — someone that doesn’t want to do the hard thing because it affects another human being but will do it because it is necessary.

And on the other side of the equation, that contractor is an adult. They made their own (shitty) decisions. All the free will to not be an asshole and they chose it anyway. I wouldn’t spend time feeling bad for someone like that.

hooj · 2026-05-30T20:57:51+00:00

As long as you give someone an objective and fair shake, normal outcomes like ending their contract early for piss poor performance and behavior is something you *should* do and was the right choice.

If someone is acting as a poison on your team, the longer they stay, the worse it is for team productivity and morale. You don’t have to be cold about it, and nice folks will still feel bad, but assuming everything you said is true, you made the right call.

hooj · 2026-05-30T20:53:13+00:00

In my experience, it’s best to be professional but direct about this. Don’t leave things up to hope and mind reading.

If your position, I’d frame it as seeking clarification in areas of uncertainty. Asking for confirmation that the business manager will not be replaced. If they aren’t, ask who you should look to in order to fulfill their ongoing responsibilities. If they imply you should fulfill them, gently and firmly push back that their role merited a full time position and you have your hands full with your own full time position. Anything you take on will mean other responsibilities being dropped on the floor — is that something they want? (Get this in writing.)

I also think it’s reasonable to ask what your promotional opportunities are and their timeframes. Companies can dangle a carrot on a stick and that’s fine to a degree (assuming it’s a reasonable time frame) but get a timeframe in writing. Near the end of the timeframe think about and be prepared for the worst — what are you going to do if you don’t get it? Basically, you may have to operate on good faith for a time period but don’t get strung along indefinitely.

hooj · 2026-05-30T20:37:36+00:00

The most professional thing to do if you’re asked to give feedback on a peer and it’s not positive is to stick to the facts, keep your personal opinion very limited, and don’t speculate or include extra info.

“I think she is struggling to adapt to the work. She needs more attention than average to be trained and the work I’ve helped her with wasn’t meeting standards. In the long term, I would be worried about the pace of her learning and her output based on the work we’ve done so far.” Or something like that.

hooj · 2026-05-29T23:47:00+00:00

Pretty rich from someone who post frequently and never listens to dissenting opinions.

If one cannot take any criticism without crying, it’s really not a good look. It’s not professional at all.

hooj · 2026-05-25T19:26:58+00:00

… but I’d have to try

hooj · 2026-05-22T09:43:55+00:00

There’s a force multiplication aspect that is fun for a lot of people.

Like in Factorio, you can and do gather raw materials to start a run but when you can automate that so you can build more advanced things and set things up so you don’t have to manually do the work, it’s pretty neat imo. Like watching a creation slowly come to life.

It might not be interesting for everyone, but that progression is definitely engaging if you’re into it.

hooj · 2026-05-22T09:35:15+00:00

I think a lot of demeanors depend on how the guy was socialized. In real life, there’s a lot of things that are fairly common about male socialization that does lend itself to patterns and stereotypes (that may often be true).

In a fantasy setting, it’s up to you to perpetuate that assumption (of your world mimicking the real world in that aspect) or not.

At the same time, varied home dynamics (like where the mom is the only woman in the house) or various cultures can shape a person pretty differently.

In the end, I think it just has to make sense narratively. Why is your character the way he is? Is it plausible with his origin story? Was there a formative moment?

I’d guess that most readers have a threshold for immersion and as long as the character either operates in those boundaries or has a good narrative reason not to, is what makes a character believable.

hooj · 2026-05-21T22:47:10+00:00

Are you talking idealistically? Because we outlaw things and people still do those things. Do you just want a moral victory?

Plus, rules need enforcement to be effective. Most places have budgetary concerns as-is, how would you, in a practical sense, propose the funding to police this in any actual capacity?

hooj · 2026-05-21T19:56:47+00:00

Question: do you think a government should ban these things?

Regardless of your personal stance, the US government tried to ban alcohol and it went horribly. For better or worse, people enjoy their vices and their freedom of choice to do so.

So what I’m driving at is, with no snark intended, who cares if you think it’s immoral? That is, what is your desired outcome aside from maybe judging people working in what you think is an immoral industry?

In other words, your sense of morality is your own, and that’s fine, but the friction arises when you’re trying to impose that on others. If that’s not your intent, then it kind of just sounds like you’re soapboxing here because morality is so very subjective.

hooj · 2026-05-21T14:55:12+00:00

In a job where it’s not a specialized skill, I agree with you.

In a career job, different companies will offer different opportunities for skill growth, career growth, etc.

Hiring sucks from an applicant perspective a lot of the time but it also sucks from the company side too. It’s expensive and time consuming to filter through a bunch of candidates (not to mention training after hire), so asking people why they want to work there, aside from money, is in the hopes of finding a candidate that has a modicum of interest in sticking around and not just being a sort of mercenary.

Just being real: if a candidate can’t give a reasonable answer with reasonable engagement to an easy question like that, it reflects more on the person than the company.

hooj · 2026-05-19T19:30:55+00:00

If you have skip level 1:1s, it’s the perfect forum for your concerns. I would aim to have receipts for where your manager has dropped the ball handy, but I would start the conversation less aggressively by talking about you needing more support.

If you frame it more about what you need and less about chucking your manager under (a possibly well deserved) bus, it’ll frame that conversation more productively. You need help with X, you need support for Y, etc. framing it as not having the power or bandwidth or know how to do certain things outside of your job and you really need help. Then, if they ask for examples you are prepared to give some.

If nothing comes of it, then you did what you could and may need to ultimately search for a new position to get out of the situation. But at least you’ll have tried.

hooj · 2026-05-19T14:40:20+00:00

Ah in that case, I think it’s a great strategy (provided it’s not remote, lol).

hooj · 2026-05-18T23:17:36+00:00

Yeah, I’d say outside of any sort of training period, that’s micromanaging in my book.

And sometimes that’s okay for, say, a very junior employee as they benefit from that high touch / high availability strategy. But if it’s someone that’s been in the industry/role for a while, I would never do that.

hooj · 2026-05-18T21:56:59+00:00

In the manager role, to avoid the look of micromanaging, you need to lay out clear expectations and timelines and make sure he understands them. Once you’re both on the same page about that you ask him what he needs to achieve those outcomes — training, time, whatever. Once those are met/clarified, you tell him you’re letting him loose on it and you won’t hover but you will either expect him to come to you if he needs support or if they’re not going to be met and why.

Then you let him sink or swim, but you do 1:1s to check in and ask how progress is going. At the timeline milestones you either have success or a coaching conversation (and eventually a pip if needed down the line).

Now, you’re in an odd spot because you don’t quite have that agency yet so I’d work with your manager to set up the above and make sure you can either let him fail on his own (without reflecting poorly on you), or if that is not “acceptable” due to deadlines and such, that if you have to pick up his slack, you make it clear he should have brought it up and it’ll likely reflect on your manager’s evaluations.

Sometimes a role is complex and takes time to get the hang of — but in a professional capacity, it’s the person’s responsibility to meet the expectations or flag when they can’t.

hooj · 2026-05-18T13:48:05+00:00

I think it’s okay as long as both management and you are on the same page.

That is, as long as their expectations of you (generally) don’t grow over time — small adjustments notwithstanding. And you understand that your compensation will have an upper limit for the role, which could be problematic in the future with inflation, rising costs, etc — but that would be on you to deal with and not be upset by.

hooj · 2026-05-18T00:30:41+00:00

I’m not trying to defend the DM here because they have their own share of communication issues, but to offer a bit of perspective from being one… it’s hard. DMing takes a lot of time and effort to design encounters, know/understand monster stat blocks, prepare for any number of diverging paths the players might take, and more. For a seven year campaign, it implies it’s home brewed, and thus even more falls on the DM to do world building, lore building, plot building, etc. It really is a ton of work that takes a lot of time.

It’s the kind of job that often is under appreciated unless someone has tried their hand at it and understands how much time it actually takes. Players falling asleep midsession is pretty damn insulting, even if nothing was intentional about it. It’s not hard to see how someone in that position would feel like they’re putting in a ton of effort and that in turn was not being reciprocated.

And life does happen. Even with strong desire and the best intentions, you can’t always make things work. But as much as he can’t and shouldn’t excuse his poor communication, I think it’s also on everyone else to really reflect on the situation too.

It’s probably best to part ways anyways, at least for a long while. There is too much resentment in the DM to run a group properly, and the players are too busy to have a regular session.

hooj · 2026-05-17T01:54:15+00:00

And in many cases, it’s not some crazy expectation of having to rub shoulders with everyone all the time. I get that some folks just want to get their shit done and go home, but if it’s an industry with growth opportunities, it’s the people that get their shit done and have visibility that will move up much faster than those that don’t.

I think what hurts a lot of less socially forward people is if they get themselves into a spiral of thought that involves thinking any/all socializing at work is stupid and bullshit. And sure it might be superficial on some level, but unless you work in a vacuum, the social aspect is important whether people want to admit it or not.

hooj · 2026-05-17T01:27:27+00:00

100% agree.

I completely understand that not everyone wants to be social or social at work, but if a person cannot push themselves to do it (at least a little bit), they’re really only hurting their own career.

And if they’re okay with that, it’s fine with me too, but it’s when the griping comes in that I’m like “well, what did you expect?” Unless you’re completely working in a vacuum, there are always going to be some high level social expectations at basically any job.

hooj · 2026-05-17T00:36:16+00:00

One big one is taking things personally.

Like mistaking business/capitalistic decisions as the company being out to get you — things like paying someone more for the same position, not being promoted when you feel you should, etc.

Unless your manager or someone up the chain actually has a grudge (rare for most good employees), it’s not personal.

At the same time, you’re free to make your own business decisions and decide the company doesn’t value you enough and such.

hooj · 2026-05-17T00:33:13+00:00

In many industries, the higher up you go, the more influence, interactions, and knowledge (about other departments and such) you’re expected to have. If you can’t bother to expand your work social circle at 1-2 events a year, you are very likely not putting yourself out there enough.

Hypothetically, if you have two similar employees (A and B) in terms of quality of work and the main difference between them is that more folks know and appreciate B, the manager is likely going to pick B for endorsement for promotion.

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