If You Want to Hire the A Team, Ask This Question

Posted on Thursday, September 3, 2009 by Frank Roche

Here’s a question for an A Team job candidate: What do you do to learn something new every day?

This is what I know about working with the A Team at iFractal: Everyone gets better every single day. They read great books. They read great writers. They watch obscure TV shows. They go to the theatre. And concerts. They listen to new music. They study “best of” lists. They make movies. Take photographs. Go to lectures. Art openings. Read design magazines. Comic books. They know the funniest skits on the internet. And in real life. They’re engaged in their work. They’re engaged in life. They think. They talk. They learn.

The A Team cobbles new learning into intriguing results. If you want the A Team, you have to ask what they’re doing to learn something new. The B Team is satisfied with what they already know.

User Comments

Furley

Sep 3rd, 2009

We also read great blogs, follow industry professionals on twitter, listen to way too many podcasts, go to conferences, and have endless discussions and debates.

But mostly we practice.

-Team A
Michael VanDervort

Sep 3rd, 2009

If you spend tiome anywhere besides MySpace and LOLcats, you stand a chance of a minimal personal upgrade from the internet. Being proactive help the process along!

great point, Frank.
Frank Roche

Sep 3rd, 2009

@Furley You are most certainly on Team A. It really rocks.
Frank Roche

Sep 3rd, 2009

@Michael Thanks…there is rally something to constant renewal.
Sarah Chambers

Sep 3rd, 2009

I agree with @frankroche and @furley. The A Team interacts. The office is one big water cooler. We talk about everything. Ideas come from unexpected conversations.

The strength of every A player multiplies the strength of the others. Average players suck away strength and energy. One sign of an A player is wanting to work with the absolute best people all the time. A players aren’t threatened by anyone. They see other A players as complements not threats. A players know that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts (trite but true).
rick

Sep 3rd, 2009

I once worked with some of the A players now at iFractal. How I miss that experience. I thought about that the other day when I was working with a mid-level associate. I was talking and whiteboarding and he was sitting silently. I had no energy by the time this was over.

He then took what I wrote which I meant as a final draft, went off by himself and “improved it” (his words not mine.I had to waste time improving it back.

Can I borrow your team?
Bill Strahan

Sep 6th, 2009

This is an excellent rule in general. It also has an interesting sub-application to it. This is is even more important of a test to use in hiring someone who is older and has more experience.

Over the years, I have seen any number of painful situations of someone in their 50’s – sometimes late 40’s, sometimes early 60’s, before they were able to retire or cut back. Almost always they had reached the point that they stopped learning and were living off of achievements of the past.

There was a point in my own career when I became the person walking into their office and telling them that they were done. My mental note was that “this could have to you (me) one day.” Maybe it will. I hope not.

I am 48 years old. To reduce the chances of not being employment worthy, I try to be sure that I am learning everyday. Board memberships, blogging, teaching, reading, speaking and most importantly pushing new solutions to new problems in the office – these are the essential food groups of employment health.

One last point – if you have some gray hair, such as myself, beyond your obligation to your business or your employer to hire A talent, I have also found that hiring A talent is one of the best ways to keep yourself on your toes and on a steady diet of those essential food groups.
Frank Roche

Sep 7th, 2009

I should have cited you when I wrote that article. I’ve been letting what I heard you tell an audience once: Don’t be that guy who prints out his emails. Don’t be that guy who doesn’t know technology. It is exactly about learning something new every day.

I love the idea of the essential food groups of employment health. Excellent….I’m going to get a designer to work on that drawing for you.