Hitesh Sarda has an amusing post on How I Hire Writers. Much has been written recently about the dysfunctional madness that is the tech hiring process. Sarda imagines the same process applied to writers applying, say, to a newspaper or magazine. Once you know the premise you can almost write the post yourself:
- Offload the initial screening to HR by giving them relevant keywords such typing speed.
- Have an initial screening phone interview in which they ask questions such as
- Spelling of conscientious
- Explanation of the Oxford comma
- Asking the candidate to recite tongue twisters
- Those candidates who pass the screening interview are invited to an on-site interview in which the interviewers dig deeply into
- Knowledge of the Elements of Style
- Spelling and grammar
- Obscure facts about the areas in which they will be writing
- Questions about word roots
When you see these tactics in an unfamiliar context their absurdity becomes obvious. Sadly, hiring managers are not apt to read Sarda’s post and if they do you can already imagine their explanations as to why they have to do things this way. No wonder so many people are starting their own businesses—anything would be better than going through this silliness.
Head on over and enjoy Sarda’s post. It will make your day.