Secondly, with regards to the quantification section:
Putting numbers on the qualities people have feels pretty gross, which is probably why using quantification in hiring is rather polarising. On the one hand, thereâs some line of thinking that the different ways in which people are well and ill suited to particular roles isnât quantifiable and if you try to quantify it youâll just be introducing bias. On the other hand, people in favour of quantification tend to strongly recommend that you stick exactly to the ranking your weightings produced.
I just wanted to mention something that Iâve been experimenting a bit with lately that I think has worked reasonably well when it comes to this? One of the problems here is the overindexing on the numbers that you assign to people and taking the numbers too seriously. A way to go around taking things to seriously is play and we did an experiment where we took this seriously.
When we took mentees into our latest research program we divided people up into different D&D Classes such as âwizardâ, âpaladinâ and âengineerâ based on their profiles. Youâre not going to be able to make a decision fully based on the experience level someone has as a âpaladinâ, yet youâre not going to feel bad using the information.
I imagine it can be a bit hard to implement in an existing organisation but I do think this degree of playfulness opens up a safety in talking about hiring decisions that wasnât there before. So Iâll likely continue to use this system.
Iâll post the list of classes below as well as how to evaluate their level from 1-10 if anyone is interested (you can also multi-class and experience is within a class):
Tank - Can take a bunch of work and get things done Healer - Helps keep the team on track with excellent people management PaladinâA leader that can heal but also take on a bunch of the operational workâgeneralist SorcererâCommunicator & creative that can magic things out into the real world intuitively BardâA communicator that has experience with talking with external stakeholders & writing beautiful prose about the work EngineerâTechnical person who can make all the technical stuff happen WizardâOrganised researcher with deep knowledge in fields that can create foundational work DiplomatâUnderstanding institutional design and governance structures and crafting policies and frameworks that enable coordination
Levels: 1 - Hasnât slain rats yetâno experience 3 - Finished the sewer levelâFinished undergrad + initial project in AI Safety 5 - Can fight wolves relatively wellâDone with PhD + initial knowledge in AI Safety 7 - When youâre slaying an epic monster you want this person in your teamâExperience with taking responsibility in difficult domains 9 - Could probably slay a dragon if they tryâWooow, this person is like so cool, god damn. 10 - Legendary expertâpossible one of the best people in their field
Firstly, great post thanks for writing it!
Secondly, with regards to the quantification section:
I just wanted to mention something that Iâve been experimenting a bit with lately that I think has worked reasonably well when it comes to this? One of the problems here is the overindexing on the numbers that you assign to people and taking the numbers too seriously. A way to go around taking things to seriously is play and we did an experiment where we took this seriously.
When we took mentees into our latest research program we divided people up into different D&D Classes such as âwizardâ, âpaladinâ and âengineerâ based on their profiles. Youâre not going to be able to make a decision fully based on the experience level someone has as a âpaladinâ, yet youâre not going to feel bad using the information.
I imagine it can be a bit hard to implement in an existing organisation but I do think this degree of playfulness opens up a safety in talking about hiring decisions that wasnât there before. So Iâll likely continue to use this system.
Iâll post the list of classes below as well as how to evaluate their level from 1-10 if anyone is interested (you can also multi-class and experience is within a class):
Tank - Can take a bunch of work and get things done
Healer - Helps keep the team on track with excellent people management
PaladinâA leader that can heal but also take on a bunch of the operational workâgeneralist
SorcererâCommunicator & creative that can magic things out into the real world intuitively
BardâA communicator that has experience with talking with external stakeholders & writing beautiful prose about the work
EngineerâTechnical person who can make all the technical stuff happen
WizardâOrganised researcher with deep knowledge in fields that can create foundational work
DiplomatâUnderstanding institutional design and governance structures and crafting policies and frameworks that enable coordination
Levels:
1 - Hasnât slain rats yetâno experience
3 - Finished the sewer levelâFinished undergrad + initial project in AI Safety
5 - Can fight wolves relatively wellâDone with PhD + initial knowledge in AI Safety
7 - When youâre slaying an epic monster you want this person in your teamâExperience with taking responsibility in difficult domains
9 - Could probably slay a dragon if they tryâWooow, this person is like so cool, god damn.
10 - Legendary expertâpossible one of the best people in their field