Hey, it’s Collin. Welcome to Engineering Echelons, a newsletter full of ideas and insights to help engineers excel at management.

Here’s what I’ve got for you this week.

• New and noteworthy news

• A management perspective to consider

• Leadership insights to delve into

• And more…

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Alright, let’s get into it.

Noteworthy Headlines

Construction’s split-screen economy: resilience at the top, strain below (ENR)

Highlights:

• Engineering and design services revenue has climbed steadily over the past decade, reaching $436B in 2023—a 5.5% year-over-year increase.

Where managers’ stress runs high (LinkedIn News)

Highlights:

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Management Perspective

Interviews are two-way streets. The interviewer is trying to ascertain the candidate’s abilities and how well they’d perform on the team. The interviewee is collecting information about the company and the people who work there to determine if they would like to work there.

Simple enough in theory, especially when the interview is 1-on-1.

It gets a bit trickier when you interview a candidate as a team.

This is primarily because the candidate can now watch the ways in which the interviewing team interacts with each other.

A smooth, coordinated interview process where team members clearly respect each other, actively listen, and reference each other’s questions or points signals a healthy, collaborative work environment where people enjoy working together.

Anything less can be a red flag that pushes the candidate away.

Here are a few ways to succeed with group interviews:

1. Prepare together: Before the interview, take a moment to collectively define the goal for the meeting and what information you want to glean from the candidate.

2. Actively listen: Show genuine respect for your colleagues by listening to them and building off their points when it makes sense to do so.

3. Show Unity: Ensure your collective message about the role, the team, and the company is consistent and positive.

4. Refine: With each interview, reflect on what worked and what didn’t. Do more of what worked, do less of what didn’t.

By demonstrating strong internal relationships, your interviewing team becomes a powerful recruiting tool, making candidates excited about the prospect of joining a company where they feel they can belong.

Management Insights

Ed Catmull on hiring:

“When looking to hire people, give their potential to grow more weight than their current skill level. What they will be capable of tomorrow is more important than what they can do today.”

—

Jorgen Vig Knudstorp on innovation:

“Innovation flourishes when the space available for it is limited. Less is more.”

—

Warren Buffett on getting results:

“You don’t have to do exceptional things to get exceptional results.”

Management Resource

Compensation of Culture? (WSJ)

No surprise, both matter. This article jumps into it.

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Get in Touch

Did something strike a chord? Tell me about it.

Or…

• Let me know if you’ve found something worth sharing.

• Let me know what challenges you’re having as a manager.

• Let me know what challenges you see other managers having.

Send me an email at [email protected]

Looking forward to hearing from you. See you next time.

Collin

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