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Re:Ten years of experience, still failing phone screens by sokoloff on Saturday December 11, 2021 @11:06AM (#29521852)
On the “we can take a chance here” front, I’ve sometimes struggled with hiring someone out of a stable situation and putting them into a role where they might earn a termination. If someone’s already unemployed and that happens, they’re no worse off (and likely better off). If it happens that they resigned a stable job and that happens, they’re made worse off.

As a hiring manager or interviewer, I’m not their fiduciary, but when facing a risky hire, I wish there was a way to let the candidate make a more fully-informed choice without the knowledge that we think it’s a high-risk offer influencing them negatively in any way.

Right now, they interview and get an offer or don’t. If they get an offer that we think is high-risk, they have no reasonable way to know that.

Re:Ten years of experience, still failing phone screens by Mezzie on Saturday December 11, 2021 @12:58PM (#29522840)
Could you indicate it through your choice of interview questions?

Things like, "How do you feel about stretching your skills in the work force?" "What do you do when you make a mistake at work?" "How do you handle a situation where you feel out of your depth?" Etc.?

I know I would take that as a signal not to go for it if I wanted to retain stability in my life.

Re:Ten years of experience, still failing phone screens by sokoloff on Saturday December 11, 2021 @01:02PM (#29522872)
That's a great thought; however, we most often discover the conflict during the hiring debrief when we have mixed feedback on a candidate leaving the candidate "on the bubble".

It does give me some ideas to consider when we extend the offer (as @Jach's sibling comment also suggests).

Re:Ten years of experience, still failing phone screens by Jach on Saturday December 11, 2021 @01:01PM (#29522865)
Yeah, it's trickier when they're coming in with an existing job, and the current professional quitting culture dictates that you couldn't start any time sooner than in two weeks at least. Add that to the list of difficulties involved in lower time-to-start dates.

I've been fortunate (or not) that the hiring decisions I've played a part in have all been non-urgent with no struggle to find more candidates, so in the face of risk the org could afford to wait. The moral hazard you describe is interesting though. I don't think I would worry about it, as you say the hiring side isn't their fiduciary, and you don't necessarily know that their current situation is all that stable. I might try and assure myself that even if things don't work out, they're unlikely to be put out on the streets, since if they got past us (even with our "risky" assessment) they can probably get past someone else quickly enough, and possibly even go back to where they left depending on how stable it really was.

I'd consider being honest with them about the risk if an offer is extended. If I were on the receiving end, I'd prefer to be told before I accept something along the lines of "Honestly we're a bit unsure how well you'll adapt to our work [because of risk factors x], but we see your potential and think you'll rise to the occasion. We hope you'll come join us!" I don't think having my risk factors pointed out would affect me negatively at all, even if I think they're BS things the company shouldn't worry about, though I can see it possibly affecting the company somewhat negatively in that they're potentially giving the candidate who all-in-all they think is worth taking a chance on an extra reason to decline (and thus they'll need to continue searching which sucks). Whether that decline happens really depends on the candidate. With that information they might conclude/agree it's too risky to leave their current role for you right now, or they might actually be motivated to do better and start proving themselves right from the start especially at a company that is so forthcoming about such things. And they might fail, but at least they leave with the knowledge of what went wrong, and even if what went wrong wasn't an identified risk factor they still have your list of risk factors (some possibly valid, some BS, some that can be worked on, some that can't) that other companies might be looking out for to have for future interviews.