I heard a strange throw-away comment on a visit to a hi-tech company in Cambridge, UK. We were all discussing the attributes necessary to succeed in such companies and one of the managers said this:
"We only employ technical people so issues such as personality and behaviour are irrelevant in our recruitment processes."
So what is a ‘technical person’ - is it a person at all? I guess ‘technical people’ conform to the basic laws of physics and so require no motivation, leadership, stimulation or understanding?
Perhaps they are all bloodless zombies, (working only nightshift, of course), devoid of feeling, pleasure, pain or complaints and with no aspiration other than servitude and the odd drop of blood to keep them going?
And so what sort of recruitment process would we choose to recruit ‘technical people?’ A quick sift through the CVs: qualifications, (check), experience, (check), background, (check), and then, …hmm….maybe use some sort of test, perhaps hold a mirror up to their mouths to see if there is life, and if it steams up, well they must be right for the job - they are ‘technically qualified.’
And it's great that they have no families, friends, social life, no interests outside work and certainly no humour. Anyway it's only the technical bit in which we're interested!
