獨具慧眼的「挑刺者」助亞馬遜招賢納士

At Amazon, a Gantlet for New Hires獨具慧眼的「挑刺者」助亞馬遜招賢納士

In fulfilling online orders, Amazon.com Inc. is all about expediency. The fewer people involved the better.

在完成網路訂單時，亞馬遜公司(Amazon.com Inc.)講求效率，自然是越少人經手越好。

But when it comes to filling higher-level jobs, the e-commerce giant is in no rush--and it has a gauntlet of people, dubbed "bar raisers," who must sign off on would-be hires.

但在招聘高端人才時，這家電子商務巨擘絕不操之過急。該公司手下有一群把關人，號稱「挑刺者」，負責對求職者進行篩選。

Bar raisers are skilled evaluators who, while holding full-time jobs at the company in a range of departments, play a crucial role in Amazon"s hiring process, interviewing job candidates in other parts of the company. With a word, they can veto any candidate, even if their expertise is in an area that has nothing to do with the prospective employee"s.

「挑刺者」指的是那些經驗老到的評估人士，他們遍布亞馬遜的各個部門，都有一份全職工作，參與面試其他部門的應聘者，在招聘流程中扮演著至關重要的角色。簡而言之，他們有權否決任何一位應聘者，哪怕他們自己的專業知識和求職者風馬牛不相及。

Amazon believes the program, created in the company"s infancy and honed by founder and Chief Executive Jeff Bezos, screens out cultural misfits and helps make the e-commerce giant a feared competitor in fields as diverse as logistics, tablet manufacturing and television production.

該項目在亞馬遜成立之初就已經推行，由創始人兼首席執行長貝佐斯(Jeff Bezos)打造。亞馬遜相信該項目可以淘汰那些不適合企業文化的人，幫助公司在物流、平板電腦製造、電視生產等各個領域成長為令人畏懼的競爭對手。

"There is no company that sticks to its process like Amazon does," says Valerie Frederickson, whose eponymous Menlo Park, Calif., human-resources consultancy works with Silicon Valley companies including Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc. "They don"t just hire the best of what they see; they"re willing to keep looking and looking for the right talent."

Valerie Frederickson在加利福尼亞州門洛派克經營著一家同名人力資源顧問公司，與Facebook Inc.、Twitter Inc.等矽谷企業均有合作。她說，沒有一家公司能像亞馬遜這樣始終如一地堅持自己的招聘流程，亞馬遜人不僅僅是在延攬個中翹楚，更希望不斷地物色最合適的人才。

As Amazon"s payroll has swelled to 110,000 employees, however, the program is exacting a toll, current and former employees say.

不過，在前員工和現員工們看來，隨著亞馬遜僱員人數暴增至11萬人，這個項目確切來說已經反過來形成阻礙。

There are several hundred bar raisers today across the company, according to former employees, though Amazon won"t confirm a total. Some employees shun the bar-raiser designation, a voluntary program that comes with no extra pay, even though it reportedly can lead to speedier promotions, because of the time demands. Bar raisers may be asked to assess as many as 10 candidates a week, for between two and three hours each, including paperwork and meetings--all while doing their regular full-time job, be it in finance, marketing or product development.

據前員工透露，目前公司內部有數百名「挑刺者」，不過亞馬遜不會證實具體數目。一些員工不願接受這份指派，因為該工作需要花上大量時間，且完全是自願性質，沒有額外報酬（雖然據說有助於快速升遷）。「挑刺者」每周可能要評估多達10位應聘人，花在每名應聘人身上的時間為兩到三個小時，包括文書工作還有會面。與此同時，他們還不能耽誤財務、營銷、產品開發等部門的本職工作。

That has led to a crunch of bar raisers at times, some managers say. Andy Jassy, head of the fast-growing Amazon Web Services cloud-computing unit, said in an interview in November there seemed not to be enough bar raisers to go around and he was looking for more.

一些管理者說，有鑒於此，「挑刺者」緊俏的情形時常出現。亞馬遜網路服務雲計算部門主管Andy Jassy在去年11月份的一次採訪中稱，公司內部的「挑刺者」貌似還不夠多，他正在尋求拉攏更多人加入。

Not every Amazon applicant faces a bar raiser. Current and former employees say the company uses a streamlined process for warehouse employees, estimated to be three-fourths of its workforce.

並非每個應徵亞馬遜的求職人都會遇上「挑刺者」。前員工和現員工都表示，亞馬遜對倉儲員工（大約佔僱員總數的四分之三）有一套簡化招聘流程。

Most others, though, must endure an obstacle course of phone interviews and one-on-one sessions. The interviewers then write evaluations and then meet to discuss the candidate. Inside Amazon, evaluating an applicant typically takes five or six employees at least two hours each.

但是，其他多數應徵者就必須接受電話面試與一對一交流的重重考驗。然後由面試官撰寫評估報告並與候選人交談。在亞馬遜內部，評估一位應徵者通常需要出動5到6個人，至少花上兩個小時。

"We want to be as objective and scientific in our hiring as possible," said Susan Harker, Amazon"s vice president of global talent acquisition, noting the process extends even to C-level executives. "The point is to optimize our chances of having long-term employees."

亞馬遜全球人才招募部門的副總裁Susan Harker說，我們希望在招聘時儘可能地客觀、科學。她指出，招聘程序有時甚至會驚動最高層管理者；我們的目標是優化培養長期僱員的機會。

Other tech companies have their own systems for identifying the best and brightest. For a time, Google Inc. asked candidates their I.Q"s, and posed brain teasers. Microsoft Corp. calls in senior executives known as "as-appropriates" in the late stages of considering some applicants. Facebook Inc. asks some job hopefuls tricky coding questions or solutions to business challenges.

其他科技公司也有自己的一套披沙揀金機制。谷歌(Google Inc.)曾經要求應徵者給出智商得分(I.Q)，並用智力題來加以考量。微軟(Microsoft Corp.)則讓高級主管也加入到應徵者的後期考核中去。Facebook向那些「種子選手」拋出棘手的編碼問題，或者是要求他們給出商業挑戰的解決對策。

The bar raiser is Amazon"s distinction. To become a bar raiser, a worker generally must have conducted dozens or hundreds of interviews, and gained a reputation for asking tough questions and identifying candidates who go on to be stars.

「挑刺者」是亞馬遜的別具一格之處。要成為一名「挑刺者」，亞馬遜僱員通常必須參與幾十或者數百次面試，擅長提出尖銳問題以及鑒別那些將成為明星僱員的求職者。

Bar raisers typically interview candidates in another part of the company, posing unexpected or challenging questions to gauge an applicant"s analytical skills. Current and former bar raisers say the designation is both an honor and a burden.

「挑刺者」通常在公司的另一個地方面試求職者，他們提出出乎意料或者具有挑戰性的問題來衡量求職者的分析能力。現任和前任「抬杠者」均表示這項工作既是一項榮譽，也是一種負擔。

Sailesh Rachabathuni, who developed software for Kindle devices before leaving Amazon in 2012, says he once vetoed a candidate for a programming job because the candidate didn"t know much about a specific programming language, a detail others missed.

Sailesh Rachabathuni在2012年離開亞馬遜之前負責為Kindle研發軟體。他說，自己曾經否決過一名編程工作的求職者，原因是這名求職者不太了解一種具體的編程語言，而這個細節被其他的面試官忽略了。

"It"s an enormous time commitment," Mr. Rachabathuni says. "I had to limit myself to six interviews a week."

Rachabathuni稱：「這是個需要大量時間的工作，我必須把每周面試的次數限制在六個。」

One of Mr. Rachabathuni"s former colleagues in Lab126, Amazon"s secretive Silicon Valley hardware laboratory, says he conducted more than 700 interviews over eight years at Amazon. But this ex-employee declined to become a bar raiser for fear of devoting more time to hiring.

亞馬遜神秘兮兮的矽谷硬體實驗室Lab126中Rachabathuni的一名前同事稱，在亞馬遜的八年時間裡，他總共參與了超過700場面試。但這位前僱員因為擔心花費太多時間參與招聘而拒絕成為一名「挑刺者」。

In cultivating the program, Mr. Bezos wanted to create a consistent corporate culture. Amazon executives say the approach reduces hiring mistakes by forcing several people to sign off on a candidate. The program is "something the broader team is very proud of," Mr. Bezos said in an interview last year.

貝索斯希望通過發展「挑刺者」計劃來創造一種始終如一的公司文化。亞馬遜高管稱，這種招聘方式需要幾個面試官對求職者予以認可，這降低了招錯人的幾率。貝索斯去年接受採訪時表示，這是令整個團隊非常驕傲的一項計劃。

John Vlastelica, an early Amazon human-resources employee who helped design the program, said the tough review process was meant to weed out job hopefuls who aren"t adaptable and may be skilled at only one task.

約翰·弗拉斯泰利察(John Vlastelica)是亞馬遜早期的人力資源僱員，曾幫助設計了「挑刺者」計劃。他說，嚴格的面試程序能夠淘汰那些不懂變通或者只熟悉一種任務的求職者。

"You want someone who can adapt to new roles in the company, not just someone who can fill the role that"s vacant," said Mr. Vlastelica, who now runs HR consultancy Recruiting Toolbox and counted Amazon among his former clients. "It can be an expensive process because it takes longer, but think of how expensive it is to hire the wrong person."

弗拉斯泰利察稱，你想要找到能夠適應公司其他新崗位的人，而不僅僅是填補目前的空缺。弗拉斯泰利察目前經營人力資源公司Recruiting Toolbox，並將亞馬遜視為自己的前客戶。他稱，這個招聘程序耗時更長，成本可能也更高，但想想如果雇錯人的話代價將有多高吧。

The burden is likely to grow as Amazon extends its torrid hiring pace, needed to staff its ambitious efforts to expand same-day delivery, and to build Kindle tablets, as well as smartphones and set-top boxes. In the 12 months ended Sept. 30, Amazon added close to 30,000 employees, roughly as many as eBay Inc."s total payroll. The retail giant"s workforce has more than tripled in the past three years.

隨著亞馬遜加快招聘步伐，這個招聘程序帶來的負擔也會越來越重。亞馬遜雄心勃勃要擴大當天送達業務、生產Kindle平板電腦、智能手機和機頂盒，而這些業務都需要招聘新僱員。截至9月30日的12個月，亞馬遜新增將近3萬名僱員，幾乎相當於eBay Inc.的總僱員人數。過去三年亞馬遜的僱員人數增長了兩倍多。

Google contracted to 46,421 employees as of the end of September 2013, from 53,546 a year earlier, due in part to cuts at its Motorola Mobility division. Apple Inc. grew by 10% to 80,300 in the fiscal year ended Sept. 28, and Microsoft Corp. increased its staff by 5% to 99,000 in the year ended June 30.

截至2013年9月，谷歌(Google Inc., GOOG)僱員人數從上年同期的53,546人減少至46,421人，部分原因是Motorola Mobility裁員導致。截至9月28日的財年，蘋果公司(Apple Inc., AAPL)僱員人數增長10%至80,300人。截至6月30日的財年，微軟(Microsoft Co., MSFT)僱員人數增長5%至9.9萬人。

Dave Clark, vice president of Amazon"s world-wide operations, said the company typically will conduct more than 75,000 interviews to hire 30,000 new workers. Bar raisers "help bring a consistency of the types of skill sets and perspectives that we"re looking for," said Mr. Clark.

亞馬遜全球業務副總裁戴夫·克拉克(Dave Clark)稱，為了招聘3萬名新僱員，該公司通常需要進行超過7.5萬場面試。他稱，「挑刺者」有助於維持技能類型和招聘視角的一致性。

John Sullivan, a San Francisco State University management professor, said Amazon"s protracted hiring process is an important signal for applicants that Amazon is a tough place to work, with a lot of pressure.

舊金山州立大學(San Francisco State University)管理學教授約翰·沙利文(John Sullivan)稱，亞馬遜超長的招聘過程對於求職者來說是一個重要信號，即亞馬遜的活兒不好乾，是個工作壓力很大的地方。

"If a job seeker feels like they want to run away from the building screaming after the interview, that"s a probably a good sign that they don"t belong there," he said.

他說，如果求職者感覺面試後他們想要尖叫著逃離亞馬遜大樓，那可能表明亞馬遜並不適合他們。