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gtrevino asked: "i'm looking for some questions to ask a potential employee. i have my own set of questions but there may be some better ones out there - i want the best guy for the job and don't want any stone left unturned. any help would be greatly appreciated." I was fortunate to have been trained by a very competent HR guy 20 years ago who had a PHD in psychology. His methods work and I've hired some terrific people using his methods. I can give you his ideology about interviews but you didn't ask for that so I'll just give you some of the questions I ask. Keep in mind that you need to ask questions that reveal personality traits and also technical abilities. Personality traits are most important because with the right person you can buy technical abilities through training. That is, they can learn anything you want them to know. I'll leave the technical questions up to you since they will be specific to your shop. Always start off with "Tell me about yourself," and then just shut up. It's amazing what people will reveal during that silence. Some will ramble on for 20 minutes or more and say revealing things they never meant to say. You can learn a lot from this question. If they ask, "what would you like to know?" always respond with, "whatever you think is important." I want to know what is important to them to see if it coincides with what is important to me and my company. - "Describe your best boss." This question will tell you how they like to be managed. If they say, "my best boss gave me an assignment with general direction and let me do it all on my own," you know they are a self starter and can function with little supervision. If they say, "I liked my boss because I could go to him several times per day and get help from him," you'll know they're going to be high maintenance. - "Describe your worst boss" Same kind of results. - "What do you like to do at work?" This will tell you the activities they feel they perform best at. - "What skills would you like to learn?" This will tell you what they aren't good at, or they simply don't know. Probe further if they start revealing that there are a number of things they need to know. - "Describe your ideal working conditions" This one can be very telling. Believe it or not, I recently had a programming candidate tell me that his ideal conditions were like the one he currently worked at where the room to the programmers was locked so that users couldn't get in to interrupt them with problems! That interview ended shortly after that response! - "What is your biggest accomplishment?" You will find out if they think big or not by the answers to this question. - "What do you like to do when you're not working." While it's illegal to ask about family or marital status, this question is ok and often opens up a discussion about family and marital status. If they say, "I like to go camping with the wife and kids" then they've opened the door to discuss family and you can then probe that area. If they say, "I'm a competitive mountain biker and compete almost every weekend," then don't expect that person to support their programming on the weekends. - "Are there any reasons why you can't work evenings or weekends?" You may find out that Saturday or Sunday is off limits for religious reasons. If that's ok, then fine, but you need to know in advance. - "This question may two answers, but I'll let you decide. What hours do you work and what hours would you like to work." This will tell you what they're doing now and what they really want. - "This question may two answers, but I'll let you decide. What do you think you're worth and what would you like to earn." I like to ask this question in the middle of the interview because it often catches them off guard and sometimes they just blurt out what they need to take the job. More often than not they hem and haw and beat around the bush. In any event it puts them in an uncomfortable position and you want them uncomfortable part of the interview. - "Define customer service." First, and foremost, I.T. is a customer service department. Any programmer that doesn't completely understand the concept of customer service is someone I don't want on my staff. They have to buy in completely to the concept that without customer service there is no reason for the I.T. dept to exist. - "What do you like to do at work?" This will tell you what their comfort level is. If all you need is a coder then they'd better like coding. If you want an analyst then they'd better like communicating with the users. If they say "surfing the Internet," then I'd end the interview abruptly! - "What do dislike doing at work" If they say maintenance programming then you've probably got trouble because there's always maintenance programming to do. If they say "talking to the users" then I'd bail immediately. Probe this one deeper as they often reveal tasks that you had this job pegged to do. --------------------- I also ask some questions that reveal about their motivation and creativity but that's an entirely separate discussion that could go on for pages and pages. And my fingers are getting tired right now! Good luck, let us know how you do. chuck Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of my employer.
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Interviewing tips
well, thats a great start - some of those questions are on my list but my thinking was completely different. i'll trying thinking of it the way you described. in todays market, you find a lot of 'high end' guys out there. for instance, i've interviewed, in the past, presidents and ceo of companies - you see that they are over qualified but how do you get past that fact. they need a job and you need a programmer - what to do in that situation? also, i'm interest in you thoughts on resume's. for instance, when they put in their resume's, AS400 SYSTEMS EXPERT' - to me that is a BOLD statement. on more than one ocassion, i've picked apart a guy for putting something like that 'out' there. i'm also interested in the resume's i read, for instance, when they put in their resume 'AS400 SYSTEM EXPERT'. To me, that is a very BOLD statement. On more than one occassion -
Interviewing tips
on more than one ocassion, i've picked apart a guy for putting that in his/her resume. i don't want to say its funny, but how would one think to put that out there?Comment
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Interviewing tips
I've interviewed a number of people in the last year as we've been expanding and haven't come across a CEO or president yet. I tend to shy away from over qualified people or people who have been consultants for many years. I think both are heavy flight risks. Recently I revisited my policy and interviewed a guy who was a consultant for the past 15 years. He had gold qualifications and was sincere about his desire to work for an employer so we went through the interview process and I gave him a very good offer. He mulled it over for a couple of days. He counter offered and when we didn't bite he said that he was more interested in taking a 6 month contract that he was offered. Needless to say, he's reinforced my concern about hiring contractors. I put all resumes into folders based upon what I get from the candidate. BTW, I seldom get a paper resume any more since we advertise on Monster, Dice, etc. and if we put an ad in the paper we ask for emailed information. The first folder is "not interested." 70% go there right away. Many applicants don't have AS/400 experience and that's a requirement for me. Others are put in either a "possible" or "very probable" folder. After a week or so I start interviewing the "very probable" folder of people. I've yet to interview a "possible" person. People who send an automated resume from Monster or Dice without a cover letter NEVER get placed into the "very probable" folder. I'm BIG on cover letters. I want to know that the person at least has the courtesy to read the ad and can tell me why they qualify for the position. Automated responses are for people just "shotgunning" their resume and I'm not interested in them. chuck Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of my employer. "gtrevino"Comment
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Interviewing tips
i'm looking for some questions to ask a potential employee. i have my own set of questions but there may be some better ones out there - i want the best guy for the job and don't want any stone left unturned. any help would be greatly appreciated.Comment
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Interviewing tips
Perhaps this MC Mag Online article will be useful to you: "10 Questions Every Interviewer Should Ask" Victoria Mack, Editor, MC PressComment
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