[THIN] Re: OT interview
- From: "Ron Oglesby" <roglesby@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <thin@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 21 Feb 2004 11:55:58 -0600
My favorite was showing up for an interview, doing the normal stuff,
then getting tech'ed. All went well. I then went to lunch with the VP of
Engineering and the VP of Sales. (It was a pre-sales engineering slot
looking for someone to do presales and some field work)
Anyway I get called a couple of days later and told that everyone was
really pleased and think we would be a good fit. I just need to come in
for the final part of the interview process...
This FINAL PART included a timed test for math, reasoning and spatial
ability skills, then after I completed that with a great score they
dumped the PERSONALITY TEST on me..
Well when they get that back they find that I have PEGGED the
aggressiveness scale (no, couldn't happen right?). Anyway even though
everything else went great I was informed that I did not fit their
engineering staff profile/mold and that I was "too aggressive" for their
company (for a pre-sales slot?). In confidence I was told this was based
on the personality test and none of the interviews....
Cool huh? I still hold a grudge against that company and they are now a
competitor of mine :-0
Ron Oglesby
Senior Technical Architect
Microsoft MVP, Windows Server=20
=20
RapidApp
Office 312.372.7188
Mobile 815.325.7618
email roglesby@xxxxxxxxxxxx
=20
-----Original Message-----
From: Braebaum, Neil [mailto:Neil.Braebaum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]=20
Sent: Saturday, February 21, 2004 11:05 AM
To: thin@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [THIN] Re: OT interview
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Steve Snyder [mailto:steven_snyder@xxxxxxxxx]=20
> Sent: 21 February 2004 00:12
> To: thin@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [THIN] Re: OT interview
>=20
> Off-the-wall questions that I've been asked have
> included:
>=20
> Why are man-hole covers round?
So they don't fall down the hole.
What did you answer?
> What's the cubed-root of 27?
Bit easy, that one - 3.
> What historical figure do you admire the most and why?
More sorta pseudo-psychological. Alarm bells start ringing when I here
these sort of questions.
> I've also interviewed at places that make you IQ
> tests, the Minnesota test, the Meirs-Briggs test, math
> and verbal tests (not all at the same place) and so
> on.
>=20
> But getting back to the original question though, I
> usually like to interview the person for at least an
> hour, if not two, and conduct it more as an more
> informal conversation. I talk about what we're doing,
> I give them a chance to add their input, ask
> questions, and give me their relative experience. Not
> only do I want to determine if the person is
> qualified, I try to paint a very accurate picture of
> what their work-day will be like so that they can
> decide if they'll be happy in the position.
Seems a good approach.
From an interviewer's approach, I'd say try and get them to talk. Then
pick up, and tease things out of the conversation.
If you let people talk about the work they've done, or the things they
know, you get to see how comfortable they are with what they're
discussing. I think it can often help for the interview <-> interviewee
relationship to be more conversational and equal, rather than a question
/ answer session.
> To judge their technical capability, I ask them just a
> few open-ended basic questions with no correct
> answers, and tell them to just think out loud and tell
> me how they'd troubleshoot a problem, or go about
> implementing a design change, etc.
>=20
> A question such as "the server's crashed, what do you
> do?" works well. You can see how thorough they are,
> what tools and techniques they know, etc. When they're
> done, you can follow it up with "ok, everything you
> tried has failed, now what do you do?" and see if they
> know where to go for research, whether they want to
> contact the vendors to soon or not soon enough, do
> they consult their peers, etc. After a few questions
> like that, you should have a pretty decent idea if
> they're someone who truly knows their stuff, or not,
> and whether they're a team-player, or not.
>=20
> My last thought is that even though the interview is
> the person's time to sell theirself to you, some
> people are better at it than others,
Indeed.
> which is why I
> like the longer conversative interviews because I'm
> more interested in finding the person who knows their
> stuff, and not just finding the person who sells
> theirself well.
Good point.
Whilst those that sell themselves well in interview, may easily stand
out, such attributes may not necessarily be relevant for the position,
and may obscure a more suitable candidate.
> During annual reviews of my staff,
> I've observed that my best techs generally say very
> little about their accomplishments, and vice-versa.
>=20
> My 00000010 bits.
Wise words.
Neil
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