How Would You Move Mount Fuji?
I read the book How Would You Move Mount Fuji? and I thought it was pretty interesting. It mainly focuses on how Microsoft interviews and why they ask the questions they do. It also gives you reasoning and logic behind some of the questions with right answers (or more correct answers).
I am always a fan of books about interviewing because they are usually so wrong. As I have never been interviewed (or interviewed for) Microsoft, I can’t tell you whether this book is good preparation for a Microsoft interview, I can tell you that it attempts to make a case for puzzle based questions.
Obviously puzzle based questions don’t work for everyone. Some positions do not require out of the box thinking. But for those in the company that do require that out of the box thinking, I could see it being useful (at least at a company the size of Microsoft). As the book points out though, this interview technique can leave people on the outside who can perform the job up to standards or even better than the person hired. And while leaving people on the table that could be hired might work for some positions at Microsoft, it might not work everywhere. As labor shortages increase, I wonder if this will change that technique some?
Bill Gates is going to be testifying in front of a Congressional committee this week on the need for more visas for highly skilled workers. One might wonder if the labor shortage could be averted by a simple change in interviewing technique?
Comments
3 Responses to “How Would You Move Mount Fuji?”
Leave a Reply
-
About
Your HR Guy is a Human Resources Generalist practicing in the field. But don't let that fool you, this isn't a boring blog. I seek relevance and humor in a place we will spend much of our lives. Everything from workplace issues, job seeking and terrible bosses. Read more...
![View Lance Haun [lancehaun@gmail.com]'s profile on LinkedIn](http://www.linkedin.com/img/webpromo/btn_viewmy_160x33.gif)
Featured on:
HRM Today- 3 Keys to Reducing Defensive Reactions to FeedbackWhen it comes to developing talent providing quality feedback is the most underutilized "tool" in any manager's toolkit. Most managers are able to intuitively assess and describe employee performance issues, but what is difficult is communicating this information to the employee. Nearly all managers dread initiating these conversations and often avoid them, particularly if they have a congenial relationship with the employee otherwise. Frequently, the area for development relates to difficult to quantify behaviors. Discussing these issues with an employee can seem out of the question—after all, what if the relationship between the manager and employee is somehow damaged? The underlying problem is the inability to translate what is “known” into effective words that are both comfortable to say and will have the right effect on the employee.
- Boomer Brain Drain: Not Gonna HappenMaren Hogan sent me a link to a website called Boomer Advisor. Specifically, she wanted her Twitter network to read an article called Companies Must Work to Avoid Boomer Brain Drain. Ugh. The article is disturbing for a variety of reasons — the least of which is because it’s about Baby Boomers. I’m disturbed because the [...]
- Call Center RecruitingMy HR blogging friend HR Minion and I have been talking about call center recruiting lately. Back in the day, at my first HR job, we hired anywhere from 10 to 30 people per month to work as sales/customer service reps for a very popular infomercial product. The job was hard to fill as it was only [...]
- Qualities of Good Presidents and Good EmployeesI love this post from Michael McKinney at Leading Blog. It’s based on a new book from Alvin Felzenberg, The Leaders We Deserved (and a Few We Didn’t): Rethinking the Presidential Rating Game. Felzenberg devised six criteria to best describe various U.S. presidents’ contribution to history. Based on this exercise, he presents a list of what [...]
- If Sales Ran Your Company…If you’re like me, you have heard many references over the years to a “revenue driven organization” or “client facing firm”, all code words for those cultures where sales rules the roost. So what would happen if they ran your entire company? For one, if revenues were down in a given quarter, it would likely [...]
- HR Controversy in the BlogosphereIf you think HR is boring, you’re right; however, we do have a few of our own controversies circling around the blogosphere. No, there isn’t a conflict between those who want to use red personnel folders and those who prefer blue. (Although I’m not saying that the specific color of folders hasn’t been an issue in [...]
- Personnel vs Human Resources: Is There a Difference?A senior human resources executive emailed me to ask whether I still see the term “personnel” floating about in today’s market. She found the term to be a bit demeaning and old school, feeling it reflected an era of lesser value than today’s current HR function. Which begs the question - is there really a [...]
- Flip Flops at Work? Not in this House!That’s it. I’m done. I’m soooo done. The last nerve has been fried and the camels back is officially broken. If you want me I’ll be in a corner pounding my head against the wall. I know I’ve joked about it in the past, but, 1. Is it that hard to tell someone their outfit is [...]
- Paranormal Infestation as Affirmative NLRB Defense?ABS Heating and Cooling was found to be in violation of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) when they stopped paying their employees in accordance with the union contract...however, about that same time, they were being investigated for paranormal activity. Was there any connection?
- Illegal Hiring Practices?Is it “legal” for a public agency to fill a position without advertising it (internally or externally)? My hubby works as an Engineering Technician for a special district in California. To fill a new position of Junior Engineer, the district’s Engineering department head and supervisor went to the college and specific academic department from which the [...]
- 3 Keys to Reducing Defensive Reactions to Feedback
HR Guy….
I guess me and a lot of others would be left on the “outside” because
my response would be…”Why would I need to?”
I’ve been in IT for 25 years and I think I’m too old and jaded to work for
anybody that insists on using twee interview questions.
Maybe they should ask questions like “Do you understand the impact of you
leaving a mistake in your code and client companies missing their deadline
for printing payroll checks?”
Perhaps Old Bill needs to start tossing some cash around in the U.S. to get
colleges and trade schools up to snuff on turning out skilled technical workers.
But then again, he’s probably pretty sure they won’t offshore his job or
screw up his paycheck.
[...] that same note, I had a comment in my book review about Microsoft’s hiring process from an older person who just doesn’t get the idea of those types of interview questions. I [...]
Companies everywhere complain that so few candidates bother coming prepared to job interviews. I’ve spoken to job candidates about preparation, and they wonder why should they bother. Many applicants would really like the interview to concentrate on the job–can they do it, will they do it, and how. Instead they’re faced with either behavioral interview questions where they speak about what they did for somebody else, or they’re presented with puzzles that make preparation irrelevant.
Employers need to concentrate on the job. One sad reality, however, is many an employer can’t accurately describe what it really takes to do the work. So they fall for this fads.