First time interviewer



  • Hello,

    I'm holding the first in a number of interviews over the next couple of weeks, looking for a few junior developers (C/C++ on Linux, Java EE a plus, for those that are interested). The problem is that I've only ever been an interviewee twice (This is my fourth jobs, only had to interview for 2 of them). I think I'm as nervous as the prospective dev.

    Do you have any tips to offer me? He's already done a proficiency test (This is mandatory, I'm afraid, so please don't hijack my topic), and did quite well.

    Thank you!



  • @spxza said:

    Hello,

    I'm holding the first in a number of interviews over the next couple of weeks, looking for a few junior developers (C/C++ on Linux, Java EE a plus, for those that are interested). The problem is that I've only ever been an interviewee twice (This is my fourth jobs, only had to interview for 2 of them). I think I'm as nervous as the prospective dev.

    Do you have any tips to offer me? He's already done a proficiency test (This is mandatory, I'm afraid, so please don't hijack my topic), and did quite well.

    Thank you!

    Imagen your candidate naked.



  • @spxza said:

    Do you have any tips to offer me?

    If you're big enough to have an HR department, I'd recommend talking to them about it. At the bare minimum, they'll school you in protected classes (that is, "questions you're not allowed to ask due to local law". We can't tell you what your protected classes are without knowing where you live. And even then we probably couldn't because we're not HR people.) Whether they have more practical advice, I dunno.

    I'd also recommend doing a lunch interview, because, hey, free lunch.



  •  Throw in a couple of complicated but completely un-work-related questions to see how they respond under random pressure.  The test is not whether they solve the problem, but whether they run screaming from the room when faced with something utterly unexpected.



  • @spxza said:

    Hello,

    I'm holding the first in a number of interviews over the next couple of weeks, looking for a few junior developers (C/C++ on Linux, Java EE a plus, for those that are interested). The problem is that I've only ever been an interviewee twice (This is my fourth jobs, only had to interview for 2 of them). I think I'm as nervous as the prospective dev.

    Do you have any tips to offer me? He's already done a proficiency test (This is mandatory, I'm afraid, so please don't hijack my topic), and did quite well.

    Thank you!

    Remember that an interview is a two-way process. You want to find out more about the candidates to decide if you want to hire them, but they also want to find out if they want to work for you.

    Too often it's turned into some kind of adversarial process, but if you're happy with the technical skills as a result of the proficiency test, there's no need for that approach to interviewing. Simply sit down and have a chat with the candidates. Find out if you like them, if they can communicate clearly, if they have expectations that match yours. By all means, discuss some technical matters - but remember that what you want to find out is as much whether they can communicate their knowledge effectively as whether they possess it.

    Where you may want to assess technical skills further is to find out how well they know stuff, and ask them to explain a bit more, but that depends how good your proficiency testing was. Of course, if it hasn't actually covered all aspects of the role, then you need to do some more work on that in the interview, but in my book that should have been covered already at this stage.

    You need to decide ahead of time what it is that you're hoping to find out from the interview process, but in my experience almost the only worthwhile information to be gained is simply whether someone fits in at your company. Well, that and weeding out totally unsuitable blaggers who somehow passed the skills assessment.

    So, yeah. Establish your goals, separate interviewing from proficiency-testing, and then relax. If you don't feel comfortable in the interview, it's likely the candidate's not a good fit; conversely, if you get on well with the candidate in the interview, you'll find out everything you wanted to know, and also know who to hire.



  • Maybe you can get someone more experienced to sit next to you just in case you forget something important during the interview?



  • @Pudding said:

    Maybe you can get someone more experienced to sit next to you just in case you forget something important during the interview?

    Actual questions asked by HR in one Indian company.

     

    Q. Tell us about ur self
    Q. So pramod whome do u put first pramod as a technical person or pramod as a human
    Q. give examples where u were human
    Q. give examples of ur technical echievments
    Q. some say cricket is a stupid mans game do u agree?
    Q.what are ur fav subjects and why?

     


     




  • More Questions!
    Workman work on a particular jog place. 
    They take lunch outside on workdays when canteen doesn’t serve them fish. 
    They take lunch on workdays when canteen serves them fish. Which of the following statement is true?
    

    a) It is a workday and canteen serves no fish
    b) It is not a workday and canteen serves a fish
    c) It is not a workday and canteen serves no fish
    d) It is a workday and canteen serves a fish
    e) None of above

    If length of a rectangle is more than its breadth by 10cm. Perimeter of a rectangle is 84. Find the Length of rectangle.

    a) 16cm
    b) 26cm
    c) 32cm
    d) 25cm
    e) None of above


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    ...@Nagesh said:

    Actual questions asked by HR in one Indian company.

    @Nagesh said:
    ur
    @Nagesh said:
    whome do u
    @Nagesh said:
    where u were
    @Nagesh said:
    ur fav subjects
    Remind me not to interview with an Indian Company....



  • @PJH said:

    ...@Nagesh said:

    Actual questions asked by HR in one Indian company.

    @Nagesh said:
    ur
    @Nagesh said:
    whome do u
    @Nagesh said:
    where u were
    @Nagesh said:
    ur fav subjects
    Remind me not to interview with an Indian Company....

    Why? Very soon Tata will own all of England's companys! Then what you do? If Tata not reech first, Mr Laxmi Mital certanly will.



  • @PJH said:

    Remind me not to interview with an Indian Company....
     

    You're only saying that because you don't know the answer to this one...

    @Nagesh said:

    Workman work on a particular jog place. 
    They take lunch outside on workdays when canteen doesn’t serve them fish. 
    They take lunch on workdays when canteen serves them fish. Which of the following statement is true?
    

    a) It is a workday and canteen serves no fish
    b) It is not a workday and canteen serves a fish
    c) It is not a workday and canteen serves no fish
    d) It is a workday and canteen serves a fish
    e) None of above


     



  • Someday I am going to learn to type poorly-spelled gibberish so I can troll too!



  • @blakeyrat said:

    Sumday I am going to lern to tipe porly-speled giberish so I can trol to!
    NTFY



  • @blakeyrat said:

    Someday I am going to learn to type poorly-spelled gibberish so I can troll too!
    I can't believe you would treat Nagesh this way just because he's not from America.



  • @Sutherlands said:

    I can't believe you would treat Nagesh this way just because he's not from America.

    I'm still not entirely convinced of what's happening with the Nagesh account, but whether he's actually from India, or someone on this board pretending to be from India, his posting poorly-spelled trolls is a bonefide fact. The stuff happening in those past threads was thinly-veiled racism; this isn't-- Nagesh's race has nothing to do with the fact he's been posting poorly-spelled trolls.


  • Garbage Person

    @blakeyrat said:

    @Sutherlands said:
    I can't believe you would treat Nagesh this way just because he's not from America.

    I'm still not entirely convinced of what's happening with the Nagesh account, but whether he's actually from India, or someone on this board pretending to be from India, his posting poorly-spelled trolls is a bonefide fact. The stuff happening in those past threads was thinly-veiled racism; this isn't-- Nagesh's race has nothing to do with the fact he's been posting poorly-spelled trolls.

    Plus, I have vague memories of Nagesh once actually being fairly well spoken, if misled and pretty clearly a shit programmer. SOMETHING trolltastic is going on here. 



  • @Weng said:

    @blakeyrat said:

    @Sutherlands said:
    I can't believe you would treat Nagesh this way just because he's not from America.

    I'm still not entirely convinced of what's happening with the Nagesh account, but whether he's actually from India, or someone on this board pretending to be from India, his posting poorly-spelled trolls is a bonefide fact. The stuff happening in those past threads was thinly-veiled racism; this isn't-- Nagesh's race has nothing to do with the fact he's been posting poorly-spelled trolls.

    Plus, I have vague memories of Nagesh once actually being fairly well spoken, if misled and pretty clearly a shit programmer. SOMETHING trolltastic is going on here. 

    I always thought it was a shared account.  Maybe someone decided to change the password and keep Nagesh for himself.



  • @frits said:

    @Weng said:

    @blakeyrat said:

    @Sutherlands said:
    I can't believe you would treat Nagesh this way just because he's not from America.

    I'm still not entirely convinced of what's happening with the Nagesh account, but whether he's actually from India, or someone on this board pretending to be from India, his posting poorly-spelled trolls is a bonefide fact. The stuff happening in those past threads was thinly-veiled racism; this isn't-- Nagesh's race has nothing to do with the fact he's been posting poorly-spelled trolls.

    Plus, I have vague memories of Nagesh once actually being fairly well spoken, if misled and pretty clearly a shit programmer. SOMETHING trolltastic is going on here. 

    I always thought it was a shared accountMaybe someone decided to change the password and keep Nagesh for himself.

    For once, you have hit upon the truth! You're still wrong about the second part!



  • CALL US LEGION NAGESH, FOR WE ARE MANY.



  • @dhromed said:

    CAL US LEGGION NAGESH, FOR US AR MANNI.

    NIFY (Nageshed It For You)



  • @serguey123 said:

    @dhromed said:

    CAL US LEGGION NAGESH, FOR US AR MANNI.

    NIFY (Nageshed It For You)

     

     

    It is spelled "MENY" in my tung.

     



  • @Nagesh said:

    It is spelled "MENY" in my tung.
     

    That is a very good point.


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