A Word About Perspective

People management is the art of pulling employees across the table so quickly that they perceive the frictional heat as the nest's warmth.

Target audience

Approach

Job Postings

The good points 🟢

• Only few requirements (not more then 5 to 8).
• Sorted in categories of "must have" and "optional".
• A salary bracket (still uncommon, but legally required in some countries).
• A real person's name (responsible HR person or hiring manager).
• A very clear statement about diversity and maybe encouraging marginalized groups.

A few bad points 🔴

• A strong emphasis on resilience and ability to work under pressure.
• The mention of a "hybrid" role without clearifying what that means.
• A list of "perks" like a foosball table or free coffee and water.
• A salary expectation field only accepts numbers.

The Application

"I don't know much about your company, but I'm happy to learn more in a conversation."

How to write a good application

• Don't write walls of text in a cover letter.
• If a cover letter is required "." is not a cover letter.
• If asked for a salary expectation, "I can give you a number once I know your detailed requirements" is a suitable answer.
• Don't paste a ChatGPT text into the cover letter or CV. Hiring managers will notice.
• Don't "delve" into a topic or "spearhead" a project.
• Mention the tech stack used in previous positions.

The Interview(s)

Interviewer: Can you perform under pressure?

Candidate: I can try, but I don't know the lyrics.

Common procedure

1. Application
2. Email with some questions on more details
3. Screening call with HR or a hiring manager
4. Email with a homework task
5. Interview with a hiring panel
6. Optional call with team members to check on cultural compatibility
7. Get an offer

The Interview - the green flags 🟢

• Not more than 3 people on the hiring panel.
• People introduce themselves.
• People try to reduce the power imbalance.
• You get an agenda of the meeting some days in advance, so you can prepare yourself.
• There are breaks planned in the agenda.
• When asked a question, you get time to think about the answer.

The Interview - some red flags 🔴

• One person introduces the others. That's often a sign of HIPPO (Highest Paid Person's Opinion) culture.
• An agenda designed to create a stressful atmosphere, like: no breaks, an extremely long interview (more than 2h), several interviews in a row.

Onboarding

Onboarding Specialist (noun), knows more than she says and notices more than you realize.

What good onboarding looks like

• You get the time you need to orient yourself.
• You get an onboarding buddy.
• There will be a rough plan for the first months (30/60/90 days plan).
• The system is well documented, but every team member is happy to answer questions or pair on a specific obstacle.
• There are guided tours through the product (customer view) and tech (FE/BE).

What good onboarding looks like (cont.)

• During the first week, there's a daily checkin with your manager to make sure you have everything you need.
• The manager schedules a "meet the team" meeting and meetings with all team members and some stakeholders.
• The meetings are scheduled over several days and weeks, so you're not overwhelmed meeting new people.

Bad onboarding

• You're left alone to get to know people and the system.
• Nobody reaches out to you for a chat to get to know each other.
• No expectation management, apart from which OKR's you have to meet.

The First Months

We're very keen on flexible working. Any time you aren't at the office, you can be working at home.

How do you feel?

• about your situation
• about the team and company culture
• career perspectives
• about the alignment of salary and tasks/responsibilities

Consider quitting?

If you don't know if you should quit, imagine yourself in the same spot one year from now. If this feels really bad, you might consider a change.