Tips for interviewing people for tech-type jobs?
April 17, 2004 6:06 AM   Subscribe

Does anyone have any tips on interviewing people for tech-type jobs? This will be my first time around on the other side of the table and it'd be useful to know how to evaluate candidates and ask them the right questions.

I'm not looking for actual questions to ask them, but just ways to get them to open up and feel a little more at ease. The interviews will be relatively long, and there will be two other people as well as myself interviewing the candidates.
posted by adrianhon to Human Relations (12 answers total)
 
I interview people every day; I find the more it initially seems casual, the more likely they are to tell me the truth. Of course references are a much more accurate predictor of an employee's future behavior, but interviews are very important for signals that someone will/won't fit in with the team, and to knock out candidates who are just weird, have too shallow a set of technical skills, or what have you.

For a group interview setting, be sure let them know before they arrive what the deal is. When the person gets there, introduce everyone, tell why they are in the interview, and have them say how long they've been at the company. I usually crack a joke about how nerve-wracking interviews can be, and ask if they've ever been in one before...basically make conversation to give them time to get acclimated to the situation.

Usually I actually start with, "Look, I really see interviews as an opportunity for you to learn everything you can about us, and for you to see if this might be a good fit for you. Let me tell you about Fosizzle Corp and a little more about the job. Here's what our employees say they like about working here, here's what they say they don't like. What kinds of questions do you have?" And they're off. Usually the kinds of questions they have tell me more about the candidate than the kinds of answers they have for my interview questions.

Once I get their questions answered, it's easier for me to segue into the questions I have - usually I first ask them to go through their resume with me, and tell me what they were most proud of, learned, and would do different now at each job. Use the group to probe shallow or theoretical answers, and make sure that the answers reflect what they actually DID do, or HAVE done, rather than what they WOULD do. "Would do" just tells you that they've read the right textbook or website - you want to know what they did do, since the most accurate predictor of future behavior is past behavior.

Once you have a candidate you really like, be sure to thoroughly check references, well beyond dates of hire and what the HR person will tell you. If this person really wants the job, they will find previous supervisors who will talk to you, or at least previous peers who will stand up for their work.
posted by pomegranate at 6:27 AM on April 17, 2004


Having been on a 3 1/2 month job search I can tell you what in an interview made me comfortable and present myself better:

1. Please smile at the candidate. That can do a wonder for the nerves.

2. Do not read questions from a script pulled from a management textbook. This always made me feel like I was taking a test they were going to grade, especially when an interviewer would jot my answers down. Please show me that you at least read my resume and tell me what you are looking for in the position; ask me specifics about how my experience matches up with it.

3. Do not mix up tech and hr style questions. Let the candidate know that you want to know their aptitude with both and start and finish one set, then move on to the other. I found it jarring after I spent time explaining my previous use of databases and then answering some hr fluff then going back to tech talk.

4. Make it conversational if possible. There's a difference between talking to someone and talking at them.

5. Don't bring any complaints about your job into the interview. I had an interviewer that have been late and made a snippy comment on the situation that caused her to be so.

6. Don't tell them that it's good that they aren't an H-1 Indian with an accent. Don't then subsequently tell them that you're also happy they have no facial piercings. (true story)
posted by pieoverdone at 7:04 AM on April 17, 2004


that had been late....
posted by pieoverdone at 7:05 AM on April 17, 2004


Joel on Software (a sharp guy that owns a software company and runs a personal site) has what is widely regarded as the most sane approach to hiring. Here's his big piece on how to interview candidates. If it has any failings, it's that the ideas in it will help you find the absolute perfect candidate for a job, but it might take a while to find that person.
posted by mathowie at 7:56 AM on April 17, 2004


i agree with the friendly/relaxed style, but remember that you might have to discuss this with someone else and compare candidates over a wide timespan. a lot goes on vibe, but if a bunch of you are interviewing the same people and someone has good vibes and you don't, you need enough notes to ask yourself whether you simply didn't click on a personal level, or whether you felt there was something technically missing. this may be days after the interviews.

also have planned in advance what areas you're going to check out, and note down (perhaps after the interviewee has gone) your impressions. i'm not sure formal tests are that great, because people have ranges of skills, and what may be easy in one area for someone is hard for someone else, but they have skills elsewhere (my experience is in small companies where you want someone who can do *everything*). so for each area of expertise, explore what they know - spend more time on their strengths to see just how far they go; in weaker areas it's easier to map the limits.

don't discard the first few bad ones without any effort. you might find that your expectations were way too high, and that person you wrote off as useless early on could be one of the contenders when you lower your expectations... :o(

and don't turn down someone you think is smart just because they don't have the exact skills you want. no matter how tight the deadline.
posted by andrew cooke at 8:06 AM on April 17, 2004


joel's comments are good, but i think he must be in a buyer's market (try finding java programmers in santiago on a rainy afternoon...)
posted by andrew cooke at 8:08 AM on April 17, 2004


Ask them to describe, in detail, a technical project they've worked on in the past. Be sure to have them point out clearly which parts they worked on directly. This will give you some idea of their understanding of the systems they've had a chance to work on, and also demonstrate their ability to communicate about technical projects, which is important every day.

Ask them, one by one, about the technical infrastructure components they'll have to work with. Just say "What do you think of Oracle?" Etc. If they *love* certain technologies and *hate* others, and I mean passionately, then you may have trouble motivating them to work outside their little box. The best tech workers understand that they're probably walking into an imperfect environment.
posted by scarabic at 12:01 PM on April 17, 2004


I have had people lie to me about their technical skills. scarabic's method might help you ferret out any resume embellishers, but we at my last job, we conducted some simple testing on candidates to make sure their skills matched up.

We have also started assigning an "ambassador" of sorts to each candidate. This is usually a team member that will actually be a co-worker (not a supervisor or hr rep) should the candidate be hired. The ambassador shepherds the candidate throughout the interview process, helps with the attendant details and answers any questions the candidate might have. Then, if the candidate is hired, he or she already has a "friend" on staff.

This requires a certain level of trust in an organization, of course. And we keep our process pretty transparent, too (e.g. "we are interviewing 4 candidates for this job over the next week" "immediate availablility does not affect our hiring decision--we are more interested in finding a good fit for the organization" etc.)

Do not mix up tech and hr style questions.

We do this on purpose to see how easily someone can shift gears.
posted by whatnot at 1:59 PM on April 17, 2004


hmmm. before deciding to switch back and forth to see how well people "switch gears" you might look at the position you're interviewing for to see whether jumping between topics is important.
posted by andrew cooke at 3:07 PM on April 17, 2004


it is.
posted by whatnot at 3:58 PM on April 17, 2004


(not you, silly, adrianhon! :o)
posted by andrew cooke at 6:50 AM on April 18, 2004


oh, oops!
posted by whatnot at 6:51 AM on April 19, 2004


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