In my previous post I got the following comment:
Hello Tim, I really liked this post. I’m going to graduate from uni soon and these things aren’t really taught in school but it’s so useful to know these things. I would really appreciate it if you could give some tips on getting a job, ace-ing an interview, and blending into the work culture of the company you eventually work in (from a boss point of view).
When I thought about answering this question I remembered the many good articles out there that cover this. Like this one on How to Ace 10 Common Interview Questions.
The literature for these things are already out there. When I first started Netccentric, my interview process was really just I meet a person, ask some questions and then decide based on a gut feel whether I want to hire a person or not.
Today in the Netccentric group we hire about 150-160 employees around the region. Our interview process has grown too. There is the first interview, and then a test. The test will be dependent on what kind of role you’re applying for in the company. Say if you’re a programmer, you’ll be tested on your programming knowledge, if you’re sales you would be asked to do a presentation about yourself and things like that.
However while I don’t really make a lot of the hiring decisions today, when I do I don’t pay attention so much to tests and stuff like that. I generally meet a person and go with my gut feel. Sometimes I’m wrong and sometimes I’m right. So today I tried to break up what I really look for in my gut feel. What is it that makes me want to hire a person and I came up with the following.
1) Positive Energy
I generally like positive people working on my team. You can tell a positive person the minute you see him or her. By the way he smiles, the way he talks about things and his facial expressions. You can also tell it by the way he talks about his life or about his previous jobs. For example if someone has a tendency to complain a lot about life or things then maybe this person isn’t a very positive person.
2) What he/she says about his previous bosses/colleagues and how he/she works in teams
I’ve met a candidate before that would complain and say a lot of nasty things about her ex-employer. Then I asked her about why she left her previous job and I found that for every job she left she had something bad to say about the ex-employer. It was always the fault of her ex-employer or ex-colleagues. Now the school of thought is if a person has a problem with one employer then the problem could be with that employer. But if he/she has a problem with every employer then there’s a good chance the problem might be him/her. It shows this person probably doesn’t work well in teams.
On the other hand, I’ve met candidates that spoke praises of their ex-colleagues or ex-bosses. I know no employer is perfect and they probably had their problems too but the fact that they choose to say the best things just goes into this positivity thing for me (back to my first point).
3) Personality
There isn’t a hard and fast rule for personality. There are however different personality types that are better suited for different jobs. Sure when you think personality, you think someone must be very bubbly and cheerful and funny but the truth is not everyone is like that and not every job needs you to be like that. I’ve hired some people who are introverts but like doing jobs that don’t require a lot of interaction… and they’re very very good at it compared to their more sociable counter-parts. Then there are jobs that require more outgoing people that can build relationships like sales. So it really depends.
4) Hunger
When I interview fresh grads it’s really hard to determine how suitable a candidate is because you can’t get referrals from a previous employer or anything like that. Yes there are referrals from teachers but that’s hardly the same.
So what I look for is if they had worked even part-time during their studying life. There are many of these candidates out there who work part-time in their student days to pay for their fees or even support their families. This is a huge plus for me… maybe it’s because I’ve never worked part-time in my student days before but it shows me a sense of responsibility that person was given at a young age.
These people tend to have a lot more hunger.
Then there are people who work and during the night do night courses or language courses to improve themselves… I look out for and love these things because it really shows a hunger for self-improvement.
5) Is this person a job hopper?
About the only thing I really look for in a CV is how long a person has been in their previous jobs. If I see an average of 1 year per job I normally don’t hire the person no matter how good he is. That being said I’ve been wrong too. I hired a job hopper once and he stayed for 4 years. So I guess there are exceptions to the rule.. but generally this is one of the things I avoid.
On the other hand if I see someone who has stayed in a job for 3-4 years each time, that’s a very big plus for me.
So these are just my thoughts on what I consider when I hire people based on my gut feel. Again it’s no hard and fast rule. I’ve made some really good hires (and I think there was luck involved there) and I’ve also made some really bad hires in the past. I think it’s not about making these hard rules and ruling out anyone who doesn’t meet any of these 5 rules but really it’s about a weighting system. If someone has 4 out of 5 of these things… and you really like him/her then go ahead.
I hope this helps you anon.
If you’re looking for a job now, good luck with the interview.
You can also apply for Netccentric here. I’m not sure which positions we have open now but we’re always looking for talented people.
Timothy Tiah – Co-Founder of Colony, Kuala Lumpur Co-Working Space