When I interview technical candidates I follow the following process: 1) Ask them to rate their own skills based on the areas of focus found in their resume 2

When I interview technical candidates I follow the following process: 1) Ask them to rate their own skills based on the areas of focus found in their resume 2) Completely skip the areas they have self-identified themselves as beginners in 3) Drill them on the areas they self-identified as experts/advanced to validate the claims 4) Spend the bulk of the technical interview discussing the areas they identified themselves as "intermediate" in to identify where they want to go with their career and training as well as to assess their potential for getting there. After all that I compare their perceived strength, weaknesses, and interests against the needs of the position and make a determination based on that. The formula I use to assess skills can be expressed as: S = (SA * 5) + (SI * 2) - (FA * 10) - (FI * 4) SA represents skills validated as advanced, SI represents skills validated as intermediate, FA represents skills claimed as advanced, but not proven to be valid, FA represents skills claimed as intermediate, but not proven to be valid.