"people with the strongest resumes turned out to be the weakest hires"

Software CEO uses tests not resumes to screen applicants

At a recent forum on the job outlook, Todd Miller, chief executive of a software startup called Gwabbit, said he had changed his hiring practice to invite applicants to take a test before he looked at their resumes or professional backgrounds.

Gwabbit, incidentally, is a utility that grabs contact information embedded in emails and automatically updates or creates new contact files.

Miller said this isn't his first company and in prior hiring he found that posting jobs and going through resumes was a waste of time. Not only was there a lot of paper to plow through, but he said the people with the strongest resumes turned out to be the weakest hires. :party: :party: :rofl: :rofl:

So he started posting tests when he wanted to fill jobs, and only contacted those who scored highest. Miller said he has hired 20 or so people this way. His current company is entirely virtual. He is based in Carmel Valley but is the firm's only California employee. The cost of hiring Northern California talent is just too high, he said.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/gettowork/detail?entry_id=49651#ixzz0UAtWYSNX

There's simply no substitute for a knowledgeable person conducting a competent interview. It's relatively easy to bullshit your way through on a piece of paper.

He asked the ever popular "Do you think you will like working for us?" question. I replied "No, but if you hire me, you will get your money's worth."

Got the job, hated it, but gave them their $$ worth, just as I said I would.

I have been weeded out of jobs because of a job title that the person hiring thought to "lowly" to have on the resume of someone working for her, she basically told me this after a fantastic second interview for her organization. She said that I had a great interview and she knew I would be terrific for the job but there were those little "indefinables" she had to consider. This was my second time interviewing for a job with her organization and at that point I knew I had been labeled and no matter my education, experience, or references and even interview I would never be working there.

Whose email is Gwabbit's software suppose to grab?

part of the recipe. it looks like a case of using innovative ways to keep salaries depressed. that's great for people entering the job market, but liely not for long term opportunities

Northern CA is expensive because they live in the same expensive areas as this bozo.

than those he is employing.

prepare to do alot more work for jobs you don't have a chance of getting but it would be great for employers

Indeed.

Is that you should put too much on your resume. I have business partnerships, international connections through them, and I recently snagged another freelance job for a paper in St. Petersburg, Russia. I'm on the verge of simply getting rid of the partnerships and putting my cocktail waitress job on there so I don't intimidate potential employers. The flip side is that I don't want to look underqualified for what I am gunning for. Any suggestions?

Yer gonna look OVERqualified for cocktail waitressin'.

Or maybe you'll find a bar where intellect is sexy. :)

and I think this sounds like an amazing amount of rationalization for hiring people with no experience and paying them very little.

I would like to see the turnover rate at his company.

I have an impressive resume, I've performed very well as both a software developer and tech writer, but I tend to do poorly on tests. I bet that's a common problem.

Pretty much sums it up.

95% of the ones I've seen can be rejected in the first couple of minutes. If the applicant can't spell, claims to be pursuing an impossible degree, or to have obtained an impossible degree (recently one claimed to have a BS from the local community college), has 10 years of post grad experience at 22 years of age, etc they are easy to throw out.

Intelligence and emotional stability are probably the biggest indicators of success at a job... The biggest one by far though is whether or not you work for a douchebag at a douchebag company. The most qualified and capable people will be your worst employees if you treat them like shit. Why does no one mention that anymore?

This guy is clearly a douchebag.

Obviously this guy doesn't know how to hire people or screen resumes.

He was dazzled by "great" resumes - basically wanted someone terrific for crappy pay, and then found out the trick was on him. At least that's how I see it.

Either that, or he's extremely hard to work for, and the good people soon get sick of him.

Alternate headline.