Conducting an interview 3

[KornGeek]

I am fortunate in that I finally get to be on the other side of the interview table today.

I worked hard to get a position created where somebody will be reporting to me. However, this comes with it interviewing people for the position. I have never had this opportunity before, and I'm a little unsure how to go about it. This will be for a software testing position.

I appreciate any advice you can give as far as what types of questions to ask, etc.

Thank you.

 

[TomKane]

I know this is not exactly what you asked - but you should get a HR person to attend the interview as well - they can do all the "touchy-feely" stuff while you concentrate on asking the technical questions.

 

[sleipnir214]

<sarcasm>
How 'bout: &quot;If you were my minion, would you be disturbed by the perverse nature of my dreams of world domination?&quot;

Oh, wait....That's what I'd need to ask.
</sarcasm>

There's all the standard stuff: experience, job history.

If you know specifics about the job she'd be filling, ask hypotheticals.

Or ask practicals. A former coworker of mine quit to go work for Mi&cent;ro$oft (there were lots of jokes about his being assimilated). Part of M$'s interview process is to have the prospective employee write a program to solve an appropriate problem in an appropriate programming language.



Want the best answers? Ask the best questions:

http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

TANSTAAFL!

 

[CajunCenturion]

What exactly are you looking for in your prospective canidate? Are you looking for someone who understands the technical requirements of the job? If so, then ask questions about technical methodologies for testing. One question that I always ask, is what is the toughest technical/professional problem that they've had to deal with. In this case, you can phrase the question as what was the toughest system to test. Why was it so tough, and how did you solve the problem.

Personally, I am also quite interested in, from a social perspective, how this person will fit into the corporate culture. I ask question about their hobbies, and try to find out what kind of person they are when then IT hat has been taken off. What hobbies to they have, and what do they like about that hobby. I don't want to get personal, but I also do not want to have to deal with any more personality conflicts within the office that I have to.

Good Luck
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As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein

 

[BJCooperIT]

The one question I hate being asked is &quot;What is your biggest weakness?&quot;, avoid this if you can. Personally, I turn this around and answer &quot;My biggest weakness is my goal of perfection. I hate wrapping up a project because there is always a way it can be enhanced or made better!&quot;. The interviewer is generally impressed but they really don't get the information they want.

The questions that tell me the most about a person are:
1. &quot;What do you feel you can contribute to our organization?&quot;
2. &quot;What do you feel this company has to offer you?&quot;

You can learn a great deal about a person by their answers to these two questions.

Good Luck!

select * from Life where Brain is not null

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[KornGeek]

Sleipnir,
The only problem with your question is that I don't consider my <i>goals</i> (not dreams) of world domination as being perverse at all.

Thank you all for your input. You managed to trigger a memory of an interview I once had for a testing position. They asked me what I would check if my monitor was not working. I almost forgot the contrast and brightness controls as potential error sources.

CajunCenturion,
Judging by the resume and brief telephone conversations I've had with this candidate, her technical skills seem rather impressive, but I am quite concerned about how she will fit in with our corporate culture. She seems very (I'm not sure how best to phrase this) &quot;professional&quot; and &quot;straight-laced&quot;. Our corporate culture is rather (again, how should I best phrase this) &quot;fun-loving&quot; and &quot;chaotic&quot;. While I think she can do the job, I'm not sure if she would enjoy spending 9 hours a day with us (or vice versa).

 

[KornGeek]

BJCooperIT,
I really like those questions! I agree about not liking the greatest weakness question. I also tend to answer that with perfectionism. In my case, I don't like to ship software if it has even the most minor &quot;issue&quot;, but at the same time, you can't delay it forever.

 

[CajunCenturion]

Given your concerns about fit, I would ask her

- What do you look for in a comfortable place to work? Describe what you consider the ideal workplace?
- To paraphrase BJCooperIT - what are your office pet peeves?

Good Luck
--------------
As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein

 

[sleipnir214]

KornGeek:
Perversity, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.

Want the best answers? Ask the best questions:

http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

TANSTAAFL!

 

[rhinok]

I've had the benefit(?) of interviewing at least 10 candidates within the last few weeks. I conducted the technical portion of the interview and another individual conducted the HR portion of the interview ('Why are you looking for work?' etc...).

On the first interview, I was given a script of technical questions to ask. The questions were some sort of company 'standard', but were poorly written. Also, some of the questions pertained to my requirements, but some didn't. It became apparent through this first interview that even the most technically qualified candidate may stumble over technical questions due to nervousness, poorly worded questions, etc...

I opted to ask 'plain english' technical questions for the remaining interviews (the first candidate was one of the final candidates, btw, so he wasn't 'hurt' by the first interview method). I know exactly what I'm looking for from a technical perspective, so I ask questions relative to my requirements. I ask the applicant to describe specific real-world examples of their work as it pertains to my requirements. I ask the candidates to describe technical scenarios. 'Name a situation where you would use this methodology/syntax/keyword and why?'

I have a pretty good BS detector, especially when it comes to issues with which I'm intimately familiar. As such, I use this as a measuring stick to determine if I'll ask harder, more specific technical questions. Granted, some techies have a hard time communicating with 'normal' people, but they should be able to elaborate on technical subjects (sometimes to great, exaustive lengths) to a fellow techie.

 

[KornGeek]

Thanks for all of the advice. The interview went well (as far as asking questions and getting a feel for how the candidate would fit in the position). I used several of the questions from this thread. Thank you all.

sleipnir214,
Perversity, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.

I think I may have to use this quote sometime.

 

[jymm]

one word --- examples

examples of how the applicant did task X (or what they felt was a good/bad task for them) for a former employer are the best predictors of how they will do things for you.

'Tell me about a project that you are proud of'
'Tell me about a project that did not go as planned'
'Tell me about the toughest project you have ever done'

if nothing else - these examples are GREAT conversation starters and you can see if they will fit with YOU --- backing away from any of these questions has been a WONDERFUL predictor of later performance as well according to my counterparts.

 

[Provogeek]

One thing I like to ask a potential canidate is a technical question that I would expect them not to know. Most individuals will try to answer the question, it's not very hard. What I am looking for is someone that will just say, &quot;I don't know&quot; I then teach them the answer, and ask a similar question to see if what I told them sunk in. The most common question I give is, &quot;You have an IP address 172.34.56.78 witha subnet mask of 255.255.192.0. What part of the IP address is your network and what part is your node?&quot; The question becomes more difficult if I find the person has good experience and training.

The idea behind this is if I am on a project, I don't want to waist time. I want my techs to tell me when they are stuck, not mull over a problem putting a project behind. If they speak up, and ask for help when they are stuck, then the team can pitch in to solve the problem.

People who aren't willing to say they don't know somthing do not work well in a team.

Brent Schmidt CNE,Network +
Senior Network Engineer
Keep IT Simple

http://www.kiscc.com