Yesterday our engineering lead sent me a ‘quick’ intern req with 27 must-haves, including ‘5+ years of Rust’ and ‘leads cross-functional strategy,’ and then asked if we could fill it by Friday. I turned it into a leadership huddle: we whiteboarded the real gaps, cut to five competencies, and paired the role with a mentor to grow the skills in-house — cue a collective laugh and a signed-off plan. Takeaway: a little humor opens the door to real scope control; how are you deflating unicorn briefs without deflating the team?
Same ‘fill it by Friday’ vibe — ours wanted an intern with 5+ years of Rust and “exec presence,” lol. I now run a 15‑min intake where they pick five competencies and name the mentor on the spot; I send that back as the JD within the hour. Cuts churn and magically makes the hire happen.
Quick example: I run a 20‑minute reality check where every must‑have goes into two columns — day‑1 critical vs learn‑in‑90‑days — and the second column gets cut, ugh. When someone drops a “5+ years of Rust by Friday,” I force a trade‑off: either push the start date or commit a mentor for 2 hrs/week, and they usually back off in under a minute. We end up with four or five real competencies like you whiteboarded.
Piggybacking @isanguy, I price every “must‑have”: if it adds >10% time‑to‑fill, it needs a mentor plan (like you did) or it’s gone. We lock to five competencies on a one‑pager and I forecast fill date vs scope in the room, which usually kills the “by Friday” fantasy. Caveat: I’ll keep one stretch if the mentor has capacity and we swap something out.
Quick tip: I bring three anonymized intern resumes to intake and ask, “Which one would you phone screen and why?” It forces real trade-offs fast, and we turn their reasons into a tiny scorecard we reuse; small caveat: if the work touches prod data, I keep one written non-negotiable or the menu turns into an everything bagel. Pairs well with @isanguy’s mentor plan.
I ask the manager to draft the first commit message they’d want an intern to ship by week three; anything that doesn’t map to that artifact gets cut. If they push back, we tag it as a stretch on the buddy backlog instead of a must-have, and everyone breathes easier. Pairs well with @isanguy’s approach — want the one-paragraph template?