A quick follow-up to last week’s post on being Getting Past the Gatekeeper.
If you ARE the Gatekeeper, it’s not a free ride for you either.
In front of you, there is this candidate which probably can do a number of technical things you can’t do (or might even care to do).
And that’s okay (you’re not the developer).
But on top of identifying who they are and whether they are a good fit for your company, it’s on you to make sure that their interest never wanes and they are excited to join your little corner of the universe (yes, even Microsoft and Amazon are little corners of a much larger universe).
To do this, you must know what they are interviewing and what it relates to. You won’t keep them interested in buzzword bingo alone so you must know the “what” of “what” they want;
- the growth opportunities
- the team culture
- the projects
- the development toolsets
- other company benefits
If you can’t convey these “whats” when acting as a Gatekeeper, then you will lose the potentially amazing candidate sitting in front of you.
(and yes, that is the correct order for which they should be discussed)