Author: LISA J. BAIN
Date: February 8, 1993, pp.21
About five or 10 years ago, good scientific credentials were enough to land a job in industry, human resources experts say. But hiring managers report that times have changed. In today's high-technology companies, teamwork is the key to developing technological products and bringing them to market, they say. And effective teamwork requires the ability to communicate both vertically and horizontally through an organization. As a result, interpersonal skills are almost as important as technical competence. Assessing these skills, however, can be difficult, and requires managers to look beyond the obvious. Kirby Vosburgh knows this well. Vosburgh, manager of the Applied Physics Laboratory at the General Electric Research and Development Center in Schenectady, N.Y., recently hired two scientists to fill out a new research group doing advanced work in lighting systems. The people he hired "are both really sharp but very different," ...
