What are good questions to ask a IT director? 3

[surferdude949]

Going in for a Telecom engineer position, will meet the IT director at the end. What are some questions to ask at that level of the interview process?

 

[gbaughma]

How about: "How often do you play Dungeons and Dragons" and "Have you got a girlfriend yet?"

OK... just kidding.
First rule: Let them talk. If they're talking about the company, etc, let them.

Other than that, I would ask about upcoming projects, scope of the work, expansion plans, long-term goals, etc.

Asking about long-term goals is, IMHO, a good thing, because that helps them realize you're in for the long term.

Just random thoughts.

And sorry about the stereotypical answer at the top.. but it's the first thing that came to mind... I mean, I'm an IT Administrator, and I play D&D weekly... hehe



Just my 2¢

"What the captain doesn't realize is that we've secretly replaced his Dilithium Crystals with new Folger's Crystals."

--Greg

http://parallel.tzo.com

 

[hinesward]

Capture and lead the imagination. Bring up the feelings that make him want to hire someone.

 

[kmcferrin]

I would ask what their strategy is for staying managing the lifecycle of technology, and how/whether they invest time/effort into training staff so that they can stay up to date.

So many places hire IT staff based on them having the latest skills, but then do nothing to keep them current. So they'll end up bringing in more new staff who have the skills that they need going forward rather than developing the skills internally. You can't implement/support new technology until you've been trained on it, and it seems like adequate training is one of the most difficult things for companies to come by these days.

________________________________________
CompTIA A+, Network+, Server+, Security+
MCTS:Windows 7
MCTS:Hyper-V
MCTS:System Center Virtual Machine Manager
MCSE:Security 2003
MCITP:Enterprise Administrator

 

[Trevoke]

gbaughma :
"- That time in Seattle [...] was a nightmare. I came out of it dead broke, with nothing but a knowledge of Unix and a girlfriend.
- Well, that's something. [...] Usually those two are mutually exclusive."
<3 Cryptonomicon!

Yeah, ask them if they're willing to trade books with you (this is half in jest, depends how well the process goes).

Tao Te Ching Discussions : Chapter 9 (includes links to previous chapters)
What is the nature of conflict?

 

[tcsbiz]

It's the IT director. That means he's clueless about the real world. {; (just joking, sort of)

Ask him high level questions about how the business is doing. Ask him for some company financials. Better yet, check it out ahead of time and ask them what contributed to their recent successes for failures.

Ask about the budgets. How much is there for training, how much for infrastructure, etc.

Ask about the future of technology at the company such as the cloud, virtualization, and how far are they willing to go to the bleeding edge.

I once asked an IT director why the company's stock took a huge hit. He was unaware that it had. I wouldn't want to work in a shop where the director was not connected very closely with the business side.

 

[North323]

1) what are your biggest challenges? how could a person in this open position help?
2) what is the culture like?
3) what is the biggest misconception about this organization?
4) whats the one thing you would change about your current role/environment?

 

[Welshbird]

I second North323's second thought.

I ALWAYS ask about the company culture - yearly charities; dress code; social events; team 'feeling'. Its the best way to get some idea if you might feel happy there.

Fee

"The cure for anything is salt water – sweat, tears, or the sea." Isak Dinesen

 

[DonQuichote]

I also ask how quality is assured. I am a programmer, not a Telecom engineer, and a lot of companies (most of them by far) don't want to pay for necessary quality and blame the programmer if things go wrong. So to avoid unnecessary overtime work I always ask about the company's vision of quality.

+++ Despite being wrong in every important aspect, that is a very good analogy +++
Hex (in Darwin's Watch)

 

[SantaMufasa]

Among the question I ask (in addition to those mentioned earlier) are:

[ul][li]What roles does IT play in the success of the overall organization?[/li][li]How visible to upper management is IT's performance?[/li][li]What are IT's biggest "pain points"?[/li][li]For the position for which you are interviewing me:[/li][ul][li]What are accomplishments and behaviors would delight IT management?[/li][li]How will you measure my success during the first 30, 90, and 120 days?[/li][li]Is there in place a "What We Do and How We Do It" document?[/li][li]What training will I need to be most successful in this position? How soon does that training occur?[/li][/ul][li]What are the most important contributions I can make to the organization?[/li][/ul]

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[I provide low-cost, remote Database Administration services: www.dasages.com]
“Beware of those that seek to protect you from harm or risk. The cost will be your freedoms and your liberty.”

 

[RiverGuy]

One of the best tips I've received to use as a question (from a recruiter actually) is something to the effect of "What do you see in my background which would be an asset to your company?" This puts the focus on how you as a candidate could uniquely benefit the company as opposed to how a generic candidate can benefit the company.