atw: Recruitment at Red Hat
- From: Andrew Milestone <amilesto@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: austechwriter <austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 3 Nov 2010 00:55:38 -0400 (EDT)
Dear all
Many thanks to all those who emailed to welcome me to the group, and also those
who have expressed opinions or concerns about Red Hat. Rather than reply
individually I hope it is okay if I give my personal take on some of the issues
raised:
Red Hat's writing team is based in Brisbane. We do have some remote employees
already, and we are not against hiring more. However, it is our first
preference to build a team in Brisbane, so when we do hire remote employees, it
is because they have skills that we can not find here. In the past five years
we have build our team of writers in Brisbane from less than 10 to over 50.
Having most of them in one place has created a fantastic team environment,
which includes lots of opportunity for sharing knowledge and learning. Our
writers are given a huge amount of freedom. Many of them don't have to come to
the office every day, they come because they want to.
We hires people at all levels, from entry level, up to senior level. We would
never not hire someone because they are too senior. It is fair to say that we
sometimes look for specific skill sets, over perceived seniority level, when we
try to determine the level at which someone might join our business.
Red Hat is a multicultural company, and the Brisbane office is the most diverse
of all our locations. We employ people from every continent, of all ages, and
backgrounds. We enjoy and embrace the diversity we have.
Our recruitment process has not always worked well in the past. Prior to May
2010 we did not have a recruitment person in Brisbane. Many applications were
badly handled. Specific problem areas included poor interview experience, and
lack of communication at application stage. I was hired to work as a
recruitment person in May, and I have been working hard to improve these areas.
We will not get it right every time, but I think that we have improved and I am
confident that we will keep getting better. I enjoy receiving feedback,
learning and improving.
We do hire people using a hiring method, based on STARs, as was highlighted in
an earlier post. We ask candidates to sit four interviews, which are held with
individual team members in turn. In the past this has led to a long and
tiresome interview process, as each interview was lasting too long. Since May
we have reduced the time spent in each interview to 30 mins. We only ask
candidates to attend our office for interviews once (rather than multiple times
as other companies do), and we strive to let them know of the outcome quickly.
Feedback from recent applicants has been positive.
Thanks again for all of your comments.
Andrew
Andrew Milestone
Level 1, 193 North Quay
Brisbane, QLD, 4000
Tel: + 61 7 3514 8238
Fax: + 61 7 3514 8199
Email: amilesto@xxxxxxxxxx
Search for a career at Red Hat http://www.redhat.com/about/careers/
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