Uncovering Motivation in Engineering: an Interview with a Technical Recruiter

Hey y'all! This is my first post and I'm excited to get going here. I've been doing an ongoing series called Technically Human where engineering leaders and I talk about the most human elements of managing technical people. I have a few episodes to share, but I thought this episode with Eric Gong, former VP of Engineering and currently a technical recruiter was a great place to start.

Eric and I talk about why understanding candidate motivation is absolutely key to successful hiring. Here are the 4 top takeaways, but links to the full episode are below:

📍 Define the culture: Understand, write down, & codify the culture of the company and the team. Know what you want‍, so you know what to look for.

🎩 Use the "Magic Wand" question: "If you had a magic wand, describe for me how you'd create your next role". Quickly uncover motivations behind the search & what's on the top of their list of requirements.‍

🧅 Peel back the onion: Dig into their answers. Ask for specific examples or situations they were in that illustrate their answers and contextualize them. You're looking for pieces of the puzzle, & the only way to find them is to ask.‍

🚩 Know your red flags: Whether it be talking poorly about previous companies or coming off as arrogant & ego-centric - be on the lookout for potential red flags & determine in advance your team's non-negotiables.

Read the episode transcript and listen to the interview: https://hubs.ly/H0Kc_VL0