Job, hiring changes and the impending workforce shortage
January 5, 2007 by Mary Wynne-Wynter
You know change is happening when you see opposing points of view about the same topic, within the same week, and in the same publication. My take on this is that asking the right questions is a powerful and rare skill. Here's NY Times example:Google Answer to Filling Jobs Is an Algorithm:
"Google, in typical eccentric fashion, has created an automated way to search for well-rounded candidates."“ Unfortunately, most of the academic research suggests that the factors Google has put the most weight on — grades and interviews — are not an especially reliable way of hiring good people. “Interviews are a terrible predictor of performance,” Mr. Bock said. Mr. Bock said that he wanted the company’s human resources department to bring the iconoclastic style as its Web site developers to the normally routine function of interviewing job candidates. “The level of questioning assumptions is uniquely Googly,” Mr. Bock said. Google is certainly not alone in the search for quantitative ways to find good employees. Employers use a wide range of tests meant to assess skills, intelligence, personality and honesty. And the use of biographical surveys similar to Google’s new system is on the rise.Those Low Grades in College May Haunt Your Job Search
“Companies want the smartest people, and the best indicator for new employees competing in a knowledge-based economy are grades,” said Mr. Taylor, whose company has 33,000 employees worldwide and owns 60 businesses including Ticketmaster, Match.com and the Home Shopping Network. “G.P.A. is the best indicator an individual is likely to succeed,” Mr. Taylor said. “It demonstrates a strong work ethic and smarts.”