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totally agree. actual problem solving is more informative than questioning. but even for questions regarding prior experience - most of the "standard" job inte

by lmg643 13y ago

totally agree. actual problem solving is more informative than questioning. but even for questions regarding prior experience - most of the "standard" job interview questions are widely known. the question being widely known doesn't make them less effective - it is up to the skill of the interviewer to ask relevant follow ups based on what the candidate says. often, I don't even ask standard" questions. i just look at the most audacious claim on the resume and grill on that topic to figure out what they actually did. Then i jump around from claim to claim, out of sequence, so they can't fall into the rote story of "how I got here." I think this is a reasonably effective, harder-to-hack way to interview, unless you're dealing with a pathological liar. (so far, I haven't personally hit one.)

yapcguy 13y ago
Interesting. Do you do this with all hires, or just junior candidates e.g. recent graduates, those having taken bootcamp classes, or migrated over from another discipline e.g. "I used to be in Marketing but now I'm a growth hacker" ? What if you have a candidate with a proven track record, perhaps lots of open source code, perhaps well known in the technology community? Isn't there a risk that grilling them on a topic might just antagonize them to the point of not wanting to join the company?
- lmg643 13y ago
  good question. if you have first hand knowledge of a candidate's qualifications, it is going to change the interview for sure. but that doesn't mean you don't need to figure out if there is a fit with your team/company. i don't think focusing on specific details is antagonizing if it is done right. a great candidate will embrace the opportunity to talk about their experience. it will probably be an awesome conversation for both of us. i will learn something, and they will see their experience in a new light trying to explain to someone else. a weak candidate will stumble on details of their experience, or will be forced to admit someone else did steps x, y, or z. or that the claim is inflated.
mtrimpe 13y ago
I couldn't agree more. My favourite questions are along the lines of "What technology are you most experienced with? Can you explain it's architecture to me?" and "What is the most complex customization you did to an existing library/framework? Can you explain how (and why) you did it?" They're completely scripted questions but tell you much more about the candidate than doing an algorithm pop-quiz.
amenod 13y ago
> ...unless you're dealing with a pathological liar. (so far, I haven't personally hit one.) Or he was really good. :)

by lmg643 13y ago

yapcguy 13y ago

Interesting. Do you do this with all hires, or just junior candidates e.g. recent graduates, those having taken bootcamp classes, or migrated over from another discipline e.g. "I used to be in Marketing but now I'm a growth hacker" ? What if you have a candidate with a proven track record, perhaps lots of open source code, perhaps well known in the technology community? Isn't there a risk that grilling them on a topic might just antagonize them to the point of not wanting to join the company?

lmg643 13y ago
good question. if you have first hand knowledge of a candidate's qualifications, it is going to change the interview for sure. but that doesn't mean you don't need to figure out if there is a fit with your team/company. i don't think focusing on specific details is antagonizing if it is done right. a great candidate will embrace the opportunity to talk about their experience. it will probably be an awesome conversation for both of us. i will learn something, and they will see their experience in a new light trying to explain to someone else. a weak candidate will stumble on details of their experience, or will be forced to admit someone else did steps x, y, or z. or that the claim is inflated.

mtrimpe 13y ago

I couldn't agree more. My favourite questions are along the lines of "What technology are you most experienced with? Can you explain it's architecture to me?" and "What is the most complex customization you did to an existing library/framework? Can you explain how (and why) you did it?" They're completely scripted questions but tell you much more about the candidate than doing an algorithm pop-quiz.

amenod 13y ago

> ...unless you're dealing with a pathological liar. (so far, I haven't personally hit one.) Or he was really good. :)