The NOMCOM process needs updating. If the process started after the first IETF of the calendar year, online interviews done and/or questionnaire answers could be requested by the second IETF of the year to choose a subset of candidates for further consideration. The people who would need in person interviews could be told by the second IETF of the year and these could then be done in the third IETF of the year. However, as there maybe travel restrictions, requiring an in-person interview maybe impractical even for people who would ordinarily attend IETF meetings in person, and so the option of a virtual interview should still be offered in the third IETF of the year. On Fri, Mar 21, 2025, at 10:35 AM, Martin J. Dürst wrote: > What about making the online interviews a bit longer than the > face-to-face ones? That might balance things a bit. > > Regards, Martin. > > On 2025-03-21 16:16, Michael Richardson wrote: >> >> Eliot Lear <lear@xxxxxxx> wrote: >> > * Do we want the NOMCOM to lose that additional communication? >> > Performing all interviews prior to the 3rd IETF compresses the >> > timeline, and requires addressing time zone and scheduling >> > conflicts. For non-native English speakers, I think there is an >> > additional disadvantage as microphones can make accents more >> > difficult to understand. This is no small road block. >> >> I really want emphasize how incredible a disadvantage it is to be remote for >> the interview. >> >> It's not just the accent vs microphone, but also pre-supposes that all people >> have equally stable Internet in the place they are going to do the interview. >> >> In some places/countries, they really only have reliable Internet at their >> office. And by reliable, think "unfiltered" by high latency/jitter national >> firewalls. Given time zones and the like, it's very likely that the >> candidate will be up in the middle of their night. >> >> BTW: the transcribing system that meetecho is using seems to be able to "see" >> through heavy accents, particularly for remote presenters, and I've found it >> useful to be able to understand some speakers. >> >> > * On the other hand, if people are required to travel to a conference, >> > then only sponsored or rich people can do the job. This is no small >> > road block. >> >> Yes. But, for I* positions, they will need some kind of travel fund period. >> I would like the LLC to think hard about this entire space of problem. >> I think that there are some steps that are less than winding up with just >> "professional" staff that we ought to investigate. >> >> > I'll add one more: remote interviews prior to the IETF put candidates at an >> > additional disadvantage in that many NOMCOM members are learning as we go, in >> > terms of using the form of interview that is agreed. I will tell you, I was >> > quite stiff in my first interview, for instance. >> >> It's definitely a challenge, even for people who've done it before. >> Those who were not involved might not know that the nomcom stuck to a >> pre-determined list of questions, and those questions were sent to candidates >> in advance. Not everyone got them, alas. >>
