Joining us in conversation today is Bryan Menduke, head of recruiting at Kensho. Tune in to hear all about his journey into the world of recruitment and the ins and outs of his work at Kensho. We talk about the difference between working for large and small companies, and Bryan assesses the state of operations at Kensho, from communication to a profile of the type of person they are looking to hire. We talk about all things interview-related, from determining if a client’s values are in alignment with the company, to training staff to conduct these kinds of conversations. Learn what shadowing can show you that an interview can’t, hear Bryan’s advice to folks who are just getting started, and so much more. Thanks for joining us!

 

Key Points From This Episode:

 

• An introduction to today’s guest, Bryan Menduke, head of recruiting at Kensho.
• Some insight into Bryan’s education and career thus far.
• Why he wanted to make the move to work for a smaller team.
• The tradeoff between the resources of a big company versus the agility of a small company.
• His assessment of the state of operations at Kensho.
• Defining what you are looking for when it comes to acquiring new talent.
• Standardizing feedback through forums, unit tests, checklists, and more.
• Communication and hierarchy at Kensho.
• Why they are looking to hire people who aren’t afraid to fail.
• Determining a candidate’s alignment with company values.
• The process of interview training at Kensho.
• Why arming an interviewer with specific questions for behavioral and technical interviews is essential.
• The role of shadowing, why it is important, and what it can determine outside of an interview.
• What the process of revamping the interview rubric looks like.
• Bryan’s advice to people who are just beginning the process: start by finding the biggest gap.

 

Tweetables:

 

“How do you get into recruiting? The answer is, I have absolutely no idea, I just do it now. Anyone that tells you differently is probably lying.” — Bryan Menduke [0:02:55]

 

“I joined a small team because I think there’s a lot of ability to innovate and take on a lot of things outside of just a really small scope that you get in some larger companies.” — Bryan Menduke [0:04:33]

 

“There’s way more than just what a job description says and what you're looking for in a role. How do we actually define for someone that’s never interviewed before?” — Bryan Menduke [0:09:07]

 

“We’re looking for people that aren’t afraid to ask questions or aren’t afraid to fail but you're going to run experiments and some of them are going to fail and some of them are going to be great, you’re going to try.” — Bryan Menduke [0:13:30]

 

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

 

Bryan Menduke on LinkedIn

Kensho

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