After more than 100 resumes, 20 interviews (including a few grueling ones), we've narrowed down our candidates to 5 standouts. This diverse group will be asked to write a blog entry over the weekend and submit them to us on Monday morning, at which point, we'll let you vote on which blog entry you like best. The entries will be anonymized, but they're all on a similar topic (though I expect to see great creativity from the participants).
Next Monday, there will be one blog entry that links to the five and asks you, SEOmoz's readers, to vote on the entry you like best. Although this won't determine entirely who we hire, it will be one of the items we'll consider as we finish up our second-interview process next week and decide on a candidate.
Community input may seem like an odd hiring tactic, but I think it fits perfectly with SEOmoz's goals and ideals. And, in the same vein, I'd like to solicit community input on the questions you think we should ask our candidates in their more in-depth, second interviews. Feel free to enter them into the comments below and we'll include as many as we can. Keep in mind that we've already asked a lot of early-stage questions, so we're seeking queries that will be require deep thought and be revealing.
Thanks so much for your feedback and help - I hope that together, we can find someone who becomes not only a part of SEOmoz, but a part of the search community.
*UPDATE from Rebecca* Uh, that's six blog entries. While we went out for drinks after work, I took advantage of Rand's margarita-fueled state and convinced him to add one more applicant.
At least I understand the reasoning behind this.
Blog posting (and other forms of social networking and of creating persuasive, popular content) is at the core of many modern web promotions - especially SEO. If the person can 'move you' to vote for them, then they can as easily move you to link to them - I hardly need draw a diagram or post the pictures of drunken monkeys to explain that one. :)
It is not about popularity - it is about the ability to market through the web. Themselves in this case, their clients for the actual job role.
If someone's never blogged before (shock gasp horror) that could be pretty tough. I think I'm not alone in confessing my first blog posts sucked.
For example Mrs GW can write a mean press release, but she couldn't blog her way out of a paper bag with big hole in the side. Then again she's not trying for the job and it's unlikely I'm going to fire her ...
I'll just shut up now before this gets me into trouble
This is the strangest interview process I have seen yet. You could be setting some history here.
I am glad you are not doing this in the reverse order, having the community rate resumes before the interview could be catastrophic.
We'll have a blog post/article (depending on its length) up shortly that details how our interviewing process went. For now, I will say this: resumes aren't necessarily a good indication of how solid a candidate is.
The questions I would recommend you ask would probably depend on what type of SEO you are trying to hire.
If you are hiring a face for the company, I would focus heavily on social stuff (who you know, tell me a few stories, etc) to see if the person is engaging and likable. Maybe get them drunk to see if they can handle their liquor (for conference settings of course).
If you are hiring someone to do grunt SEO work, maybe ask them to describe what they know about content and link development, and ask them to explain the concept of a "link portfolio". I'd also ask them to explain their stance on white, gray, and black hat techniques.
If you are going to hire a writer to attract some strong interest, I'd probably ask them some very pointed questions about domaining, auto blogging, and other black hat stuff. See what they really know about how the engines work. Seems everybody knows how to bomb links now. The dark side may be scary, but it's still very interesting. Now that I think of it, it seems reading about dark SEO tactics is kinda like watching a horror flick.
Anyway, that's my 2 cents :-) Good luck and happy hiring!
It is an indisputable and little-known fact that margaritas have an unpredictable effect on superiors and wayward college graduates.
The Margarita: 60% possibility of positive effect from schmoozing (or, to brown-nose.) 35% possibility of negative effect. 5% possibility of memory loss, thus allowing for a second chance the next night.
The percentages get all shot to hell when we throw in blended drinks and unix command-line jargon. Ew.
SEO and blogging, however, is volatile and unpredictable. I'm just going off of accepted standards.
Yeah... I'm still trying to figure out how I said yes to Rebecca at the bar, when I could have sworn it was a "hmmm..." that came out.
You fibber. I distinctly remember you telling me to give that last person a call. Behold the powers of a happy hour margarita!
Of course, the ones worth their salt will be spending a smaller percentage of their time actually writing than they do developing a successful viral voting campaign that puts their tally ahead of the other candidates. I believe I'm witnessing a whole new reality show in the making. Watch out for the hanging digital chads.
Yeah, I had brought that up to Rand, but he said it also boils down to which entry we SEOmozzers think is the best. We obviously won't hire our candidate solely based on the number of votes he or she got.
This has got to be one of the funniest things i have seen for a long time. Dosent matter how good you are the actual job but if you can do a good blog post you have the job.
Lmfoaroflcopterbbq
In this case, writing an excellent blog post (not just good) IS the actual job... or at least a really important part of it.
To quote Rand's post...Although this won't determine entirely who we hire, it will be one of the items we'll consider as we finish up our second-interview process next week and decide on a candidate.It's one of many parts we'll be considering when we hire this new person.
ahhh, well thats different. i thought it was an seo position not a job for a blogger. Its a very good idea then.
A little o' both. We do a lot of multi-tasking around here. Just a part of what makes things so much fun. That, and the occasional margarita, of course.
blah blah blah "drinks after work" blah blah blah.. sweet!
No seriously though, what kind of company you running over there. I'm about to drop my biz and come work for you guys! :)
Best of luck with the hiring process. I look forward to reading their entries... I love the approach your taking..
After a week of exhausting interviews, a drink was seriously in order.