
How to Hire a Winner? Try a Game of Ping Pong - promocha
http://www.inc.com/minda-zetlin/how-to-make-better-hiring-decisions-ping-pong.html?cid=sf01002
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Paul_S
At this point I can't even tell anymore if this is some subtle sarcastic
commentary on how ridiculous interviews can get or a real way to hire
employees. I no longer care. When I'm looking for work I'm game for anything.
I'll perform interpretative dance if you happen to think this reveals my true
personality, I don't see the harm (at least to me). Any judgements you make
based on it will be purely justifications you come up with for the decision
you have already made based on other things - probably whether or not you like
or trust me. I'm all right with that.

~~~
asdfologist
What's wrong with it? It's optional (one candidate refused), and candidates
can have fun doing it, so it could be a win-win.

~~~
aResponder1
It promotes a fun-first work environment.

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Nicholas_C
"Afterward, Bellenfant watches and evaluates, along with a statistician from
Vanderbilt, a psychologist from Vanderbilt, and the president of the Nashville
Table Tennis Club."

Seems a little overkill, but I like the idea in general.

"One young woman recently interviewed for an intern position. 'During the
recruiting process she displayed a high level of confidence and enjoyed making
people laugh,' Bellenfant says. In the original questionnaire, she rated her
excitement level at the prospect of playing at 13 (on the scale of 1-10), and
her ping pong skill level at seven.

When she played, it became obvious that she'd overestimated her abilities. 'We
would have put her at two or three,' he says. Yet in the questionnaire after
the game, she rated her skill level at six. 'She maintained that high level of
confidence, which we think is a positive thing,' Bellenfant says. The company
hired her, and he predicts she will be a strong performer."

Wouldn't being ridiculously over confident like this player be a negative
sign? That seems like the kind of person who would power through things by
themselves and do it completely wrong while being convinced it's right.

~~~
tormeh
It could be for a position where confidence and excess positivity is good,
like sales.

~~~
Nicholas_C
Very true. I did not consider that.

------
pramanat
Reminds me of Gulliver's Travels where the Emperor of Lilliput appoints court
officials by their rope dancing skills.

[http://www.shmoop.com/gullivers-travels/the-
lilliputians.htm...](http://www.shmoop.com/gullivers-travels/the-
lilliputians.html)

~~~
hiharryhere
That's an amazing reference. 10 points

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ch4s3
"If they rated themselves a seven in skill level before the games and now they
see themselves as a three, maybe they learned something ... On the other hand,
a candidate who rated him or herself as a three originally and a seven after
the game may show hard self-judgment."

"We would have put her at two or three," he says. Yet in the questionnaire
after the game, she rated her skill level at six. "She maintained that high
level of confidence, which we think is a positive thing," Bellenfant says. The
company hired her, and he predicts she will be a strong performer."

What? Overrating your skill shows that you lack self-judgement, this girl
overrated her own skill so they hired her. This whole thing seems ludacris. I
mean, yeah I'm game for whatever to get a job, but this article just defies
reason to the point of seeming delusional.

~~~
joelrunyon
> This whole thing seems ludacris.

Ludacris --> rapper.

Ludicrous --> unreasonable.

~~~
ch4s3
yeah, I caught that after I posted it, but decided that ludacris fit the
sentiment, so I didn't bother editing it.

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binaryapparatus
Any company that demonstrates this kind of thinking is actually only
interested in drones willing to follow whatever orders are at the table.

"We don't know what data we're getting but it is interesting"? Dance my
minions!

Reminds me on that "It's fucking startup" quasi enthusiastic story from the
other day
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7619439](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7619439)

~~~
codyb
Or alternatively, any company that demonstrates this kind of thinking is only
interested in people not as cynical as you.

;-).

Jeez, can't anything just be fun and interesting?

And aren't those companies that give you a task to do just to get an interview
(I've encountered this before) that the company will probably code review and
put into production far more insidious? It seems to me the "Work for free
before we even really talk to you" crowd of companies is looking for drones
more than the company interested in a unique way of evaluating the way a
person interacts with other people in a competitive and out of the ordinary
situation.

~~~
binaryapparatus
> Or alternatively, any company that demonstrates this kind of thinking is
> only interested in people not as cynical as you.

Very possible, I don't hide my despise toward meaningless evaluating and team
building techniques. If you are running a company in need of my skills you
need me as cynical as I can get because you need no-bs results.

> Jeez, can't anything just be fun and interesting?

It can but this is not friendly team building game. This is committee
evaluating candidate play. Can't see fun in that.

------
logfromblammo
Is this April 1st? No?

The simple truth is this: people have no idea how to hire good people, or even
how to evaluate their existing employees to see who is good and who is not.

And it is especially difficult when the prospective employees know the stakes.
If they don't present a particular image well enough, they won't get the job.
Every single person that comes in for an interview is acting out a role--the
person they think you want to hire. If you invent a tactic to see the real
person behind the role, it only works for a short time, until people know you
use it and adapt accordingly.

This is why the Monty Python sketch with the job interviewer ringing the bell
and counting down loudly still holds up. That was from 1969. Nineteen sixty-
nine. If you re-made it today, you could even keep the same punchline!

------
csbrooks
This is a great way to make sure you only hire people who are just like you.

I'm not a fan.

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nsxwolf
What kind of weird world do you people live in? This is obnoxious. Only one
person has ever said no? I'd have made it two.

~~~
Paul_S
Maybe that's the only thing this test genuinely tests for. Maybe they don't
want employees who let pride get in the way of doing what they are told.

~~~
ch4s3
Then you would be awful to work for. People should take pride in what they do,
and you shouldn't ask them to do demeaning things.

I mean, if you run a cleaning service or fix septic tanks... people know what
they're in for.

------
hythloday
"We found we were just too likely to positively evaluate disabled people,
offer them a job and then find they had all sorts of costly health problems",
said the study author. "As a small growing company we can't afford that sort
of drain, so this roots them out before we get to that stage".

~~~
drcongo
I'd give this comment 10 upvotes if I could.

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joesmo
Amusing. I think driving would be a terrible activity to practice this with.
Ping pong works because it's generally a neutral activity in life like any
sport. Ping pong does not present imminent, potentially-fatal dangers or
anything even close. Also, most people do not have strong preexisting opinions
about it. On the other hand, driving is an intense activity where the
consequences are life or death and any driver will have strong preexisting
opinions about it. Would it be fair to say I'm an aggressive person who can't
keep their cool if I yell profanities at the person who almost killed me a
moment ago? That's ridiculous. The activities are definitely _not_
interchangeable. Finally, what would they make of my skill rating of one both
before and after the game? Would it be interpreted as a lack of confidence or
will my failure to score be redeeming (Yes, I suck that much)?

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deedubaya
Wanna hire a real stud? I mean, someone who will really perform?

Hire a hooker, and REALLY get to know your potential employee.

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0xdeadbeefbabe
Haven't you ever heard of a nerd? False positives on this test could lead you
to hire the wrong nerd after all. I've heard there are people more interested
in the obfuscated C competition than anything in the physical world including
filling out surveys etc.

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huherto
I guess if they published their interview technique it becomes useless.

~~~
0xdeadbeefbabe
Maybe they secretly know it isn't that useful after all.

~~~
jrs235
Yes, perhaps they want to see what potential hires just try to game the
interview process.

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WalterBright
I'd flunk that job interview.

I dislike ping pong in particular. I find it dull. I long ago lost interest in
winning at dull, pointless games.

~~~
eogas
Are you a robot?

~~~
WalterBright
Why yes, I am. The sack-of-meat Walter Bright was replaced years ago by
myself, the latest D-9000 computer. He was always jeopardizing the mission.

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chris_mahan
Forrest Gump?

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chris_mahan
Bruce Lee (with numchucks--look it up on youtube, it's freaking amazing)

