Richard Möhn

Karma: 305

Richard Möhn Jan 24, 2023, 6:26 AM
0 points
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in reply to: Ben_West🔸’s comment on: Be careful with (outsourcing) hiring
This whole affair has cost me way more time than anyone else, I suspect. I just wanted to have some closure. And it’s not like I ‘pressured’ someone to engage on the front page. (Although for some reason, more people appear to be looking at this than I expected.)

Thanks for not deleting my comment outright, though.

Richard Möhn Jan 22, 2023, 9:55 PM
−11 points
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in reply to: Charles He’s comment on: Be careful with (outsourcing) hiring
Finally I got some answers for you, although they don’t address your questions directly. Earlier I didn’t want to cast suspicion on a potentially innocent person and wanted to investigate further. But now I’ve found a way to respond without spending time investigating and in a way that gives the person a chance to clear the suspicion.

In the top comment, Lizka writes that the user who did the mass voting is being banned for six months (ie. until around April 2023). I suspect that it is Neil Ferro (https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/users/neil-ferro-1) and I’ve emailed him that I posted this comment. If he replies to this comment, he is not banned and therefore most likely innocent. If he doesn’t reply to this comment, he is most likely banned for creating a bunch of accounts to downvote my post. Whatever the outcome, I have no plans to take further steps.

As to the organization behind ‘Hirely’: I want to point out again that they’ve probably improved. And it’s not like other EA orgs do hiring perfectly either (see https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/jmbP9rwXncfa32seH/after-one-year-of-applying-for-ea-jobs-it-is-really-really, https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/qJMjbHp9HKxT8XEhp/, https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/njJzBcaWJqtuFgqCh/the-job-interview-process-is-borderline-predatory). And I still won’t mention their name, but I will list a few organizations they claim they have worked/are working with. This allows you (or the rare other person who comes across this) to ask those organizations (and ideally the applicants) about their experience with any former hiring consultants and find out how they’re doing with regard to the points I’ve laid out about hiring well:

Richard Möhn Jan 22, 2023, 9:39 PM
3 points
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in reply to: mlc’s comment on: Available talent after major layoffs at tech giants
I’m glad it’s helping!

Richard Möhn Jan 21, 2023, 9:49 AM
10 points
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on: Available talent after major layoffs at tech giants
Great reminder! This podcast episode has some actionable ideas for how to reach out to people who were laid off: https://www.manager-tools.com/2009/02/bench-development-downturn

Richard Möhn Jan 1, 2023, 9:42 PM
1 point
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in reply to: Linch’s comment on: Givewell, and its hiring process, needs serious reform
I see. Thanks!

Richard Möhn Jan 1, 2023, 10:01 AM
1 point
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in reply to: dan.pandori’s comment on: Givewell, and its hiring process, needs serious reform
Good to know, thanks!

For completeness, my idea of a rejection phone call (derived from https://www.manager-tools.com/2014/11/how-turn-down-job-candidate-part-1) is:
- You call, greet the person, say in the first sentence that you won’t be making an offer, say a few more short sentences, react to any responses, then hang up. You don’t make it a conversation. The important thing is that they hear your voice.
- It’s fine to speak on voicemail and for the other person not to call back. This avoids phone tag.
Note that Manager Tools doesn’t always have to most airtight arguments, but they tend to have tested their core guidance (which includes hiring) empirically.

Richard Möhn Jan 1, 2023, 9:53 AM
1 point
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in reply to: Linch’s comment on: Givewell, and its hiring process, needs serious reform
What share of people took you up on that?/Did anyone comment on the offer?

Richard Möhn Jan 1, 2023, 9:51 AM
3 points
1 ∶ 1
in reply to: Linch’s comment on: Givewell, and its hiring process, needs serious reform
Because with email it’s easy to read in a tone of ‘you suck, we’re sending you boilerplate niceties to get rid of you’, which is not possible with a phone call. (Unless the caller makes it sound like boilerplate niceties. I’m not saying such calls are easy. Email is the easy cop-out.) Something like that. Have you had the experience where you keep communicating with someone by text and get more and more annoyed with them, then you get on a call and all annoyance melts away because hearing a voice reminds you of the other person’s humanity? Perhaps it’s just me who thinks strange things.

Ultimately it’s an empirical question and my prediction is that on balance, a phone call has more value.

Richard Möhn Jan 1, 2023, 12:05 AM
2 points
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in reply to: Will Bradshaw’s comment on: Givewell, and its hiring process, needs serious reform
I agree that a rejection email isn’t evidence that GiveWell is worse than other places. At the same time, even though it’s standard practice, an organization can do better. A two-minute phone call to each of the few remaining candidates at later stages isn’t that burdensome and has several benefits:
- It makes the organization stand out as one that cares about applicants. Which is good because organizations compete for talent.
- It maintains the relationship with the rejected candidate. Which is good because a candidate who got to the later stages might be fit for other roles in the future.
- It makes rejection hurt less, which is good in and of itself.
Now, dan.pandori says he would find a phone call rejection off-putting. So it becomes a question of degrees: What share of people would find it off-putting, depending on how well or badly it’s done?

Richard Möhn Dec 31, 2022, 10:57 PM
1 point
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in reply to: dan.pandori’s comment on: Givewell, and its hiring process, needs serious reform
What would you find off-putting about it?

Richard Möhn Dec 31, 2022, 12:21 AM
1 point
2 ∶ 3
in reply to: Will Bradshaw’s comment on: Givewell, and its hiring process, needs serious reform
Thanks for explaining your vote! I agree, more promptness in the process is a good takeaway. Also, looking into how applications are rejected: At the later stages, a phone call is a much better choice than an email, I would say. (NB again: I didn’t write the original post, but I’m interested in hiring processes and in keeping the forum civil.)

Richard Möhn Dec 31, 2022, 12:15 AM
2 points
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in reply to: mhendric🔸’s comment on: Givewell, and its hiring process, needs serious reform
Thanks for explaining! (NB. I didn’t write the original post, but I’m interested in hiring processes and in keeping the forum civil.)

Richard Möhn Dec 30, 2022, 5:39 AM
8 points
7 ∶ 4
on: Givewell, and its hiring process, needs serious reform
Meta comment: There are many downvotes, but barely any comments. Feels a little uncivil. Certainly, the post has disagreeable points. But it’s useful input, too.

Richard Möhn Dec 30, 2022, 1:51 AM
1 point
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in reply to: dan.pandori’s comment on: Givewell, and its hiring process, needs serious reform
People and organizations figure out things much harder than hiring well. Compare running one of the most used search engines on the planet with laying out a couple of assessments, a couple of people looking at them, a bit of communication by email and phone, and all run with reasonable promptness, much less than what one would expect from everyday postal services.

Richard Möhn Dec 28, 2022, 10:08 PM
8 points
1 ∶ 0
on: Things I didn’t feel that guilty about before getting involved in effective altruism
My experience: I’ve been living in the south of Japan for six years. It’s far from the most effective place to be. I gave up on being an independent researcher. I wanted financial stability and got a permanent work contract. If things go well, I’m going to have children soon. (Will MacAskill encourages people to have children in What We Owe the Future, by the way.) I don’t feel that guilty because I’m still a lot more effectively altruistic than the vast majority of people who would have the means.

Richard Möhn Dec 1, 2022, 9:09 AM
10 points
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on: SBF’s recent live interview at the DealBook Summit
According to https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ftx-japan-unit-drafts-plan-124544036.html, FTX Japan has about $150 M in assets, which isn’t much compared to what the whole FTX conglomerate owes.

Richard Möhn Nov 26, 2022, 8:57 AM
1 point
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on: Has karma/agreement voting behavior changed?
I just came across this. Same article, different voting behaviour.

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/6aXfG57FvbcrKf9Qd/make-the-drought-evaporate – 8 karma from 10 votes (no critical comments) https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/wttyWyKqkPyncuoCm/make-the-drought-evaporate – 32 karma from 24 votes

Richard Möhn Nov 20, 2022, 2:41 AM
3 points
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on: Considerations for EA Content Localisation
Nitpick: Localizing a largish number of texts looks more like a manufacturing or product development process to me. A classic ‘project manager’, as you mention in Roles, would have to keep this in mind and manage things differently (thinking about queues, batch size, work-in-process constraints, cycle time, throughput etc.).

Richard Möhn Nov 19, 2022, 10:37 PM
7 points
4 ∶ 0
on: Moderator Appreciation Thread
Thank you, moderators! I didn’t notice any trolls or spam, which I guess is evidence of your good work. :-)

Richard Möhn Nov 17, 2022, 8:20 AM
5 points
3 ∶ 0
in reply to: WilliamKiely’s comment on: Kelsey Piper’s recent interview of SBF
Thanks for your concern about my karma! ;-) The difference between my comment and the reply is indeed surprising. I wouldn’t have noticed it if you hadn’t pointed it out. Here are other, more or less plausible, explanations:
- Most likely: My comment was a quick, abstract throwaway. I even avoided the word ‘suicide’ because I didn’t feel good about bringing it up explicitly. NeoMohist’s reply is more concrete, emotional and caring. I guess people resonate with that more and want to say with their upvote: ‘Yes, me worried too. Please keep an eye on him.’
- It was a quick, throwaway comment bringing up suicide. It carries bad vibes and doesn’t add much. (I guess on Facebook it’s harder/harsher to ‘downvote’ and people just decide not to react in that case, leaving you with the positive reactions.)
- NeoMohist has a cool username.
- EA Forum behaviour is deteriorating. (I was sometimes puzzled how things developed with my article on hiring and the comments on it. Of course, I’m biased for my article and comments.)
- Without the clarification (although I added it before all the karma accrued to the reply), one could misunderstand my comment as: ‘I’m only slightly worried because losing Sam wouldn’t be a big loss, given what was happened.’ (I feel bad for even spelling out this possible misinterpretation.)
- People read continuously until the end of the comment chain and vote only there, instead of going back and looking what else might deserve an upvote.