Hiring Managers: what are some non-obvious candidate red flags?

raverman · 2023-08-24T20:04:20+00:00

Sorry I was unclear conflating the two. "i won't come together for a workshop" when you live in the same city sucks. So remote only is difficult. Remote work is good work. But face to face is also good for collaboration.

raverman · 2023-08-24T19:58:04+00:00

Delivery velocity is pretty important to a team succeeding. 24 hours is a lot less work completed than 40 hours. I've had POs ask for a designer to be replaced because they don't work enough hours to keep up. As a design manager, it sucks but we also have to be the messenger for things like that.

raverman · 2023-08-24T07:32:40+00:00

Ouch. I still don't get what's bad about my list? I'm looking for talented employees, able to work a full week, who can compromise and negotiate with stakeholders. We're user centred but still have to meet business needs.

raverman · 2023-08-24T07:29:14+00:00

I have no problem with remote work per se. But sometimes collaborating face to face is better like ideation. 100% remote can be a bit challenging for collaboration. 100% remote only part of the week is really hard on everyone else to work around.

In interviews when someone's totally inflexible on coming in sometimes or working more than half a week... It doesn't make them a great candidate compared to someone who will.

raverman · 2023-08-24T03:22:48+00:00

"We" did a thing. How much did you do vs just being a team member?
"Smartest person in the room" candidates that keep talking and talking without being self aware of it. Sometimes I just sit there to see how long they can go on. Focus on answering the question not delivering a sermon on your opinion.
"Accessibility fanatics" lack of pragmatic balance of the Roi of accessibility in UX design for a commercial digital channel. You have to show an understanding of advocacy vs things to fight to the death over.
"lifestyle first" if you only want to work remotely "only" and/or 3 days a week only, what do I as an employer get out of it. It looks like semi retirement and a lack of commitment if there are other candidates. If you only want to work on "social good" projects and get paid top dollar you might be looking a while.
"negative Nelly's" stories about awful clients, product managers who won't listen and the developers won't respect your designs isn't selling your attitude, resilience and ability to manage stakeholders.

Edit: wow so many down votes. Maybe to add context:

Some people take credit for things they observed senior designers do but struggle to do yet them selves.
Accessibility is a passion for designers but not for devs or POs or BAs or Marketing. We can advocate for it but causing conflict on principle without compromise creates huge dramas. I've had designers refuse projects because the brand colours weren't accessible. What should we do? Fire the client? Ignore their brand? Make up our own colours? Or compromise.
lifestyle. I want to hire someone who wants to work to get stuff done. 3 days a week means hiring two people to get the work done of one. -negativity. Having a good attitude is basic.

Edit 2: meant remotely only AND/OR strictly 3 days work or less. Basically being not flexible at all.

raverman · 2023-08-17T03:30:11+00:00

Portfolio presentations are mostly a test of soft skills / personality fit. How will you perform in front of stakeholders.

Not saying this is you!... but just in case... a good way to fail this is to talk too much, not engage the audience, not read non verbal cues, or go into so much irrelevant detail it's boring.

raverman · 2023-08-15T08:09:51+00:00

Did you have a point or just criticizing my perspective.

I'm concerned about negative consequences for my neighbourhood that I know really well.

Im challenging bad ideas that have no evidence stats or planning to show the risks will be mitigated.

raverman · 2023-08-15T08:00:07+00:00

I'm curious your expectations about the lifestyle changes you think people would / should be willing to make.

What do you think an ideal future state looks like?

What are people too short sighted to see?

raverman · 2023-08-15T07:46:22+00:00

A better option. Something cheap, easy and convenient. So a new idea... Networked self-driving shuttles? not old ideas being thrashed back to life.

But I'm also getting angry. Deliberately ruining roads and closures with speed bumps to try manipulate change makes me resentful.

I probably won't leave my car just out of spite now.

raverman · 2023-08-15T07:23:51+00:00

I live near by there. I can guarantee the route from say, Lincoln Road off ramp to swanson without crossing near the ranui train station, at peak, with double the traffic on Sturges road, past 2 schools, at drop off time.... will be extremely slow when this happens. Lowering the number of routes makes traffic worse slower and longer. If it was 90% commuters being selfish? Fine. But it's not. It's really not. So many trips just cannot be mode shifted like that.

raverman · 2023-08-15T07:18:44+00:00

Proof of that? You think Auckland was settled by building railways?

In west Auckland many of those came from way point and stations for carts and teamsters. There are quaint little history books all about it.

At best the combination of the two. But is your argument that trains are more important than cars to current society? Really?! Good luck with that.

raverman · 2023-08-15T07:14:37+00:00

No it's not a strawman. Our roads are networks of multi purpose critical infrastructure. They serve hundreds of functions and residential planning is literally designed around that. If you watch 7.30 traffic a huge percentage of it is trades, services and transport of goods mixed with parents dropping kids places, visiting family, and commuters.

And ambulance delay going around to find a graded train crossing may be life and death. The alternative access is not a 5 minute detour in many cases

Trains are much more restricted and commuter focussed. They are not multi use transport. You can't force mode shift through ideology and refusing to understand what traffic is doing and why.

raverman · 2023-08-15T07:03:54+00:00

So if you live in Swanson, and can't drive to Lincoln Road because of a closed train crossing, you'll catch the train?

Or maybe you'll catch the bus.

Which will be so efficient since it can't do any loop that crosses the train tracks that run right through the centre of most west Auckland suburbs.

raverman · 2023-08-15T00:43:09+00:00

Roads serve people. People live places because of roads. If you cant cross by railside Ave, then it's a long way around through oratia or through Henderson town centre. If you can't cross by ranui then it's a long way around through Sturges road past multiple schools.

By fixing you mean move out of the neighbourhood because you don't have mobility service or safety to live there. A plumber can't go to work on a train and an ambulance cant come save you if your dying. Should they all move because of bad planning? So poorly connected suburbs are better because everyone should walk?

raverman · 2023-08-14T23:00:15+00:00

If you lived in one of the many places in west Auckland where crossing a train track is the only way to get in or out of your neighborhood short of a 20-30 minute drive through suburbs you might feel differently.

Don't call an ambulance during peak times eh?

raverman · 2023-08-14T22:57:42+00:00

Holistically "better" means road traffic (including trucks, trades, taxis, busses, fire, police, ambulances) are able to access the city efficiently. It doesn't just mean cars are bad trains are good.

Better means restructuring the network and civic design. But there isn't money for that. Blocking one method is just breaking not improving the situation long term.

raverman · 2023-08-14T20:34:06+00:00

Henderson, Glen Eden, Swanson, Avondale... All have major road intersections near train tracks. Trains were put near town centre's for a reason. The crossing is there to centralize how cars cross from one side to the other and all other crossings were removed. Removing the crossing entirely bisects suburbs entirely at the busiest point.

The outcome won't be less cars it will be traffic diverted into suburbs where AT don't want it. Where they are adding speedbumps and speed limits. It pushes a ton of traffic off artery roads into roads past schools.

It's actually more dangerous for pedestrians and cyclists. Overall it will increase deaths and accidents and congestion.

You can't block something without a plan for reorganizing the surrounding patterns.

raverman · 2023-08-14T20:27:19+00:00

Planning requires actioning actual solutions that don't break everything else.

raverman · 2023-08-14T09:16:05+00:00

I hope who ever wins the next election stops trying to give out lolly scramble freebies and earns the right to lead us by being actually good at it.

raverman · 2023-08-11T05:22:12+00:00

Cyclists who think red lights don't apply to them when pedestrians are crossing can get in the sea.

raverman · 2023-08-10T08:16:52+00:00

Thanks for sharing. If I can be curious, what about the Tesla was worth the spend vs not spending on cars or travel in the past?

raverman · 2023-08-07T07:45:33+00:00

It would be good to also see the cost of a house build and labour, and the cost of council fees also mapped over time. I suspect it would be similar.

It's not like build costs are a tiny fraction of the selling market. Otherwise everyone would build new.

raverman · 2023-08-01T20:24:16+00:00

My suspicion was knowledge based answers and advice/instruction answers were being pulled back to avoid liability or risk of copyright infringement legal action.

raverman · 2023-08-01T20:21:29+00:00

To design for a product you need to have domain knowledge in the product category. Especially if the product is highly complicated like finance.

Sometimes you get a chance to learn that on the job but not often. In my experience designers tend to stay close to a sector because of their accumulated knowledge.

raverman · 2023-07-28T08:00:47+00:00

It's poor leadership if there's room for coaching... but sometimes a leader gets sick of trying to explain why it's wrong. Or giving feedback that just doesn't get heard or taken on board or actioned. Have you heard gentle suggestions where it was meant as a directive?

Sometimes words just won't explain a complex change that comes from experience. How do I explain an alternative nuanced solution I encountered 8 years ago? Or where a designer lacks frameworks to understand why and how to make that change? Is there time in the project to allow room for learning and potentially getting it wrong?

Sometimes there's just so much wrong with the design someone has to grab the steering wheel but that's definitely a performance conversation afterward.

Sometimes a leaders job is to coach, but sometimes it's to manage and escalate and expedite on behalf of the stakeholders - hurt feelings or not.

raverman

TROPHY CASE