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With respect... What sort of answers do you get that encourage you to hire the interviewee? What do you actually learn from the answers? The reason I've always

by boopsie 15y ago

With respect... What sort of answers do you get that encourage you to hire the interviewee? What do you actually learn from the answers? The reason I've always disliked it is that it's just begging for a silly response. Sure, I have weaknesses; but you are asking someone to brag about the things they do poorly at the same time they want to make the best impression. That does not encourage or reward honestly. It also feels like a "cheater" question, and makes me feel the way I do when a sports news person asks a team member, "How big is this victory for you?" What the heck does she think he is going to say: "I really don't care that we won"?

eli 15y ago
Two candidates have Javascript skills that are a bit weaker than you'd like. All other things being equal, you would prefer the candidate who already knows they need to work on their Javascript over the one who doesn't, right?
- boopsie 15y ago
  Okay, that's fair. But does the question really elicit the information you're looking for? CandidateA may know that her JavaScript could be better, but the (real) weakness she may trot out is that she's really nervous as a public speaker. It's not that she is hiding her JavaScript weakness, just that she's bothered less by it. CandidateB tells you that his JavaScript could be better, but he doesn't tell you that he yells at coworkers when they disagree with him. You're not necessarily going to get the info you asked for... for good or ill. Why not ask, instead, "In which languages do you feel most and least confident? Why do you think that is?" or "We each learn differently: books, classes, hands-on experimentation. How do you go about learning a new language?" In the latter case, for instance, there's no obvious right or wrong answer which the candidate is motivated to "guess"; it's simply a matter of learning how this person operates.

by boopsie 15y ago

eli 15y ago

Two candidates have Javascript skills that are a bit weaker than you'd like. All other things being equal, you would prefer the candidate who already knows they need to work on their Javascript over the one who doesn't, right?

boopsie 15y ago
Okay, that's fair. But does the question really elicit the information you're looking for? CandidateA may know that her JavaScript could be better, but the (real) weakness she may trot out is that she's really nervous as a public speaker. It's not that she is hiding her JavaScript weakness, just that she's bothered less by it. CandidateB tells you that his JavaScript could be better, but he doesn't tell you that he yells at coworkers when they disagree with him. You're not necessarily going to get the info you asked for... for good or ill. Why not ask, instead, "In which languages do you feel most and least confident? Why do you think that is?" or "We each learn differently: books, classes, hands-on experimentation. How do you go about learning a new language?" In the latter case, for instance, there's no obvious right or wrong answer which the candidate is motivated to "guess"; it's simply a matter of learning how this person operates.