Maria Konnikova Quotes

It's not a very high failure rate if you choose people that you really like the sound of.

I’d rather interview 50 people and not hire anyone than hire the wrong person.

Usually, you hire people that you think are wonderful.

What characteristics do I look for when hiring somebody? That's one of the questions I ask when interviewing. I want to know what kind of people they would hire.

Recruiting is hard. It's just finding the needles in the haystack. You can't know enough in a one-hour interview. So, in the end, it's ultimately based on your gut. How do I feel about this person? What are they like when they're challenged? I ask everybody that: 'Why are you here?' The answers themselves are not what you're looking for. It's the meta-data.

The legwork is always hard. Really finding people that you think are good enough. Just the definition of what we have to do is finding good enough people that you really think are special.

Sure, it's fun to chat with people with interesting backgrounds who seem to have a passion for your company. But a job interview is not a friendly chat. You need to determine whether candidates, can they really do the job. So ask them to prove it.

No matter how you hire, ensuring the systems are in place to manage the process will be critical in allowing you to find the right people to carry the standards you set. Don't neglect that duty!

To get the very best people- they have a lot of great options, and so it can easily take a year to recruit someone.

Recruiting is hard. It's just finding the needles in the haystack. You can't know enough in a one-hour interview.

Interviewing is not a democratic art.

I think the long interview has an important life.

It is harder to lie in an interview. A good interview - and it can be polite - is not a one way street like a candidate controlled ad. An interview is not programmed by the candidate and so the candidate can't be exactly sure what will be asked.

One thing that founders always underestimate is how hard it is to recruit.

I do not believe that I have had an interview with anybody in twenty-five years in which the person to whom I was talking was not annoyed during the early part of the interview by my asking stupid questions.

Don't drag candidates through weeks of endless interviews. Don't flake out on interviews. At DeveloperAuction, we often have offer letters prepared in advance, so we can hand them to great candidates as they are leaving the office.

When hiring, trust your feelings.

Time spent on hiring is time well spent.

Hiring's tough. It's not just filtering through hundreds of applications and blocking out big chunks of your day for interviews - those are the simple parts. The difficult thing is the nagging feeling that, despite your best efforts, the perfect candidate will somehow fall through the cracks.

Most interviewers basically just want us to rephrase the bio. You already know us - why do you need to interview us?

I've never really hired anybody that people thought I should hire.

We just want to make sure the best candidates get the attention they deserve.

Some people advocate public nomination and a three-track system - allowing voters and political parties to make nominations along with the committee. These people do not want any screening of candidates, but they have not clearly defined the concept of 'screening.'

I raised the standards on recruiting.

When you hire in business, you don't worry about marquee value.