Inside the Bills interview room at the combine

[YoloinOhio]

 

Once Beane cuts through the tension, and the prospect settles in, the GM becomes an observer. Beane and McDermott both sit back and listen, only interrupting when they have some clarifying questions.

The position coach — based on the player they’re meeting with — and coordinator lead the remaining time through film. They’ll highlight specific plays from the college tape that they want to know more about, or simply, just to see how their mind for football works.

“It’s me watching these guys on how they interact, how they answer questions. They can’t script this,” Beane said. “There’s no canned answers to, ‘Alright, what is this coverage? What do you call that route? What did y’all call that play call? What’s the personnel group? Did you know the whole play? How do you get your play call? Is it signaled in?’ Just all sorts of things about how these guys operated in the huddle and outside the huddle.”

The levels of understanding will vary from player to player, though even in a highly pressurized setting, there is strength in admitting where you might fall short.

“There’s plenty of times where guys are trying to BS their way through when they don’t know. We try to tell them, ‘If you don’t know, say you don’t know. It doesn’t mean that you can’t learn it,'” Beane said.

Had that last night with a player,” Beane said Tuesday after spending Monday night meeting with wide receivers, tight ends and quarterbacks. “He was trying to talk personnel, but he’s been learning it since the last couple of months. The school didn’t get into that with the players. He had a little bit of a grasp of it, but he’s still got some work to do. Doesn’t mean he can’t learn. So that’s where we’ve got to fill in the gaps.”

“We just want straight answers,” McDermott said. “You want a genuine, authentic interaction, and sometimes you don’t always get that.”

Good article - sub required so cant paste it all, worth reading 

[fansince88]

1 hour ago, YoloinOhio said:

 

 

 

Good article - sub required so cant paste it all, worth reading 

Thanks for posting. I listened to both McD and Beane on OBL this week and they both mentioned the "system" they use. I like it.

Edited February 29, 2020 by fansince88

[Logic]

Man...I picked a bad time to let my subscription to The Athletic lapse.  

[Hapless Bills Fan]

3 hours ago, YoloinOhio said:

 

 

 

Good article - sub required so cant paste it all, worth reading 

 

Beane also got into this in his interview with Murphy and Tasker on One Bills Live.  Interesting approach.  It actually mirrors a bit of a modern interviewing technique called STAR, which stands for Situation-Task-Action-Result and is based on the premise that you can better understand someone as a potential colleague/employee by learning about how they approached previous employment-relevant situations.

 

13 minutes ago, Logic said:

Man...I picked a bad time to let my subscription to The Athletic lapse.  

 

Free trial

 

PS I'm glad to have confirmation that the Bills apparently aren't the ones asking some of the utter ####### questions that have come out.

[Buddo]

Seems to me like a solid approach - find out if you think they can do the job you want them to do, then look into the other character stuff etc. if that first part is a positive.

 

I don't think there's a need for psycho-babble at that stage. If, as they say, someone is trying to BS their way through, then it becomes pretty obvious, and is a red flag to start with. Doesn't necessarily mean they get shifted off the board, but it certainly warrants further looking into as regards character etc.

[GunnerBill]

1 hour ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

It actually mirrors a bit of a modern interviewing technique called STAR, which stands for Situation-Task-Action-Result and is based on the premise that you can better understand someone as a potential colleague/employee by learning about how they approached previous employment-relevant situations.

 

Ha - I don't quote this to make a football related point at all - just this made me chuckle because it demonstrates how trends change, and come and go, at different times in recruitment in different places and different professions. In the UK Civil Service we have used STAR for years and years (it is a bit formulaic at times but I liked it and generally thought you got the right results) but we have just, in the last 6 months, binned it in preference for "strength based" interviewing. I just got promoted under the new system so I shouldn't complain but I am not convinced it is a change for the better. 

 

Anyway, as you were, back to football.

[YoloinOhio]

4 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

 

Ha - I don't quote this to make a football related point at all - just this made me chuckle because it demonstrates how trends change, and come and go, at different times in recruitment in different places and different professions. In the UK Civil Service we have used STAR for years and years (it is a bit formulaic at times but I liked it and generally thought you got the right results) but we have just, in the last 6 months, binned it in preference for "strength based" interviewing. I just got promoted under the new system so I shouldn't complain but I am not convinced it is a change for the better. 

 

Anyway, as you were, back to football.

What is “strength based” Interviewing?

[GunnerBill]

1 minute ago, YoloinOhio said:

What is “strength based” Interviewing?

 

You ask between 4 and 6 pre decided questions, no follow ups and based on how the candidate interprets the question and then answers you determine whether they are demonstrating the strengths you are looking for. It is very unnatural there is no flow to the conversation. I am not a fan. 

[BringBackOrton]

4 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

 

You ask between 4 and 6 pre decided questions, no follow ups and based on how the candidate interprets the question and then answers you determine whether they are demonstrating the strengths you are looking for. It is very unnatural there is no flow to the conversation. I am not a fan. 

I had a interview like this recently. Interviewers blinded to your application asking about a time you demonstrated leadership etc.

Edited February 29, 2020 by BringBackOrton

[NewEra]

2 hours ago, Logic said:

Man...I picked a bad time to let my subscription to The Athletic lapse.  

It’s some of the most worthwhile $ I spend each year

[CorkScrewHill]

2 hours ago, Logic said:

Man...I picked a bad time to let my subscription to The Athletic lapse.  

There is a PFT interview discussed in this thread with a link where he talks through much of the same stuff .. actually went into depth about the prospect that was BSing.

 

[Hapless Bills Fan]

9 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

 

You ask between 4 and 6 pre decided questions, no follow ups and based on how the candidate interprets the question and then answers you determine whether they are demonstrating the strengths you are looking for. It is very unnatural there is no flow to the conversation. I am not a fan. 

 

From that description, neither would I be.

 

What we used to do with STARs and what Beane is describing, sounds very oriented towards the OTJ skillset you want.  And frankly, if you're hiring a guy to play football and you can't get him to display his strengths while asking questions about football games he's actually played in, either he was just totally shy and freaked out, or he just might not be passionate about playing football.

[Johnny Hammersticks]

At what point in this process does Beane pop the standard “Is your mother a prostitute?” question?

[Happy]

19 minutes ago, Johnny Hammersticks said:

At what point in this process does Beane pop the standard “Is your mother a prostitute?” question?

 

Well, are they interviewing another Dez Bryant-like candidate?

[Johnny Hammersticks]

5 minutes ago, Happy Gilmore said:

 

Well, are they interviewing another Dez Bryant-like candidate?

 

Wasn’t that Jeff Ireland? ?

[Foxx]

1 hour ago, GunnerBill said:

 

You ask between 4 and 6 pre decided questions, no follow ups and based on how the candidate interprets the question and then answers you determine whether they are demonstrating the strengths you are looking for. It is very unnatural there is no flow to the conversation. I am not a fan. 

with regard to the flow... might it be to keep them off guard and possibly get a better insight to what their actual thoughts are?

[Happy]

6 minutes ago, Johnny Hammersticks said:

 

Wasn’t that Jeff Ireland? ?

 

If he was with Miami at the time, yeah, I think so.  Pretty funny.

[Johnny Hammersticks]

2 minutes ago, Happy Gilmore said:

 

If he was with Miami at the time, yeah, I think so.  Pretty funny.

 

That dude was a clown.

[GunnerBill]

23 minutes ago, Foxx said:

with regard to the flow... might it be to keep them off guard and possibly get a better insight to what their actual thoughts are?

 

That is the logic behind it I believe. Limits rehearsed answers and stimulates more genuine responses. I am unconvinced but that is the theory.

[BringBackOrton]

4 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

 

That is the logic behind it I believe. Limits rehearsed answers and stimulates more genuine responses. I am unconvinced but that is the theory.

Standardizes the process as well, no? If the questions are always the same between candidates, it limits, "I had a good conversation about stuff that interests me" bias.