How to interview?

CJones

CJones

Final Approach
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Tomorrow I will have my first opportunity to be on the 'other' side of the desk when involved in an interview. I will be interviewing a person that will hopefully back-fill my position in the somewhat-near future. Boss said "You can't move up until you find your replacement", so here we go. :)

Got any tips on things to ask, things to look for, etc.? BTW - this is for an "Inventory Control Supervisor" position, which the applicant has a few years experience at already. Based on his resume, the interview will be more of a formality than an in-depth fact-finding mission, but I'd still like to take the opportunity to start honing my interviewing skills. I consider myself a good interviewee, so I'm not worried about freezing up.

Any tips/suggestions?
 
I've interviewed a lot of people, but I wouldn't say I've ever had an epiphany about how to do it right.

Ultimately, the goal is just to get a person talking in the hopes that you can learn something about the person. Give them an opportunity to impress you or not. A chance to see how they tend to communicate and interact. Try to get them talking freely about something.

The only approach I've found useful is to try to get candidates to teach me something, explain something to me they learned at some previous job, explain to me how something was done and why it was done that way. I want a candidate to show that he has learned _something_ very well (which is usually more important to me than that he knows _my_ thing very well), and that he understands why certain decisions were made, as opposed to simply knowing what his instructions were and following them.
-harry
 
I can't say that I have much experience as an interviewer or an interviewee but I would stay away from those annoying typical interview questions like, "What is your your weakest point?" or "Where do you see yourself in five years?" It's also nice if you get to observe the person in an unguarded moment when they are more themselves. I have had the opportunity to interact with many new-hires and sometimes I wonder how the heck they got by the person interviewing them. I think that it's often because they don't think they need to put on their interview face with me.
 
I think the interview scene from Step-Brothers is all you will ever need to know. :)
 
I've interviewed any number of folks. One of my favorite questions is: "what are your greatest shortcomings" - many folks don't think about that, they're there to sell you on their skills. What I like about the question is that it gives you a chance to see whether they are aware of their shortcomings and what, if anything, they try to do to compensate/overcome.

Another favorite is "tell me about a failure you've had at work, and what you did to remedy the situation".
 
Generally, it comes down to figuring out if the person is a fit for the team, rather than the position. You should know that they're qualified for the job by their resume. What I've found is that you're best off spending the interview time trying to figure out if they'll do the job how YOU want it done and how they'll fit in with the team and the company culture.

I've had some extremely qualified candidates that I've rejected because it was obvious that I wouldn't like working with them or they wouldn't like working for us.

Regardless, don't be afraid to ask some "gimme" questions. I've found that even if I lead an interviewee to the answer that I'm wanting to hear...it's amazing how often they give me the answer that I don't want to hear.
 
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As an interviewer, I find the process incredibly boring. If the prospect can say something to get my interest, they have a huge foot in the door.

I usually ask them a question that will identify which side of the fence they sit with reference to my own prejudices. For example, after admitting to knowing what QTP and what the Expert View and Keyword View are, I ask them to evaluate Expert Mode against Keyword View. If they show anything other than complete disdain for Keyword View, they are out the door. That question should also elicit enough to judge the depth of knowledge of the prospect. I will also ask opinions about other tools of the trade to figure out their philosophy and skill levels.

I don't like to put prospects on the spot by asking them about their negative characteristics. When an interviewer asks me those sorts of questions, I consider it annoying. If you want to play that game, the stock answer is that I'm such a perfectionist that it can be bothersome to those around me and I handle it by instructing my peers.
 
are they interested in flying?
do they have a climate controlled garage?
can they buck rivets?
 
Since you're looking for someone to back-fill your position, then you know well what is required. What questions he or she has for you are probably something to look at.

Otherwise, I'd say make sure that the person has the mental capacity for the job, and also see if the person will fit in with the group. I find that something that's important is having someone who gets along with everyone else. You can get the smartest candidate, but if that person is a pain to work with, nothing will get done.
 
I would also say that if there are any ugly parts to the job that you should be upfront about them. That might cut down on future complaints... But not always.
 
Everskyward said:
I would also say that if there are any ugly parts to the job that you should be upfront about them. That might cut down on future complaints... But not always.
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It's "Inventory Control" -- it's ALL ugly. ;) I know what you're saying, though.

Thanks for the tips folks. I don't want to fall into the 'canned questions' kind of interviewer. I had a couple of those last fall and it just drags the life out of an interview to have to answer scripted questions. Luckily, most of those questions get reused across the board, so after a couple of interviews, you should have a scripted answer for their scripted question.
 
In three of my previous lives I had to interview all the time (thank God I don't anymore). I always learned a lot more about someone by just shooting the sh*t with them for an hour than ever did by asking them pre-rehearsed questions. I found that if you make them comfortable then they'll let you know everything about themselves...more than you ever wanted to know.
 
I've done quite a few interviews in my day, and I have absolutely no advise whatsoever. The best you can hope for is to weed out the real dorks. Good luck.
 
Agree with Tim on this one. Get them talking and just sit back and listen. Even if you just start with the weather, you learn more by listening to them talk "freely" than you ever will by asking questions.

Another way to get them started talking is to pick a problem they would have to solve "on the fly". Ask them what they would do first to start solving the problem. Keep in mind you are putting them on the spot, but you will get an idea of how they handle themselves pretty quickly by their facial expressions and body language.
Don't make it something so difficult the poor person has to sit there and be bewildered for 10 minutes, or if they do end up that way, that will tell you what you want to know also.
Good luck.
 
Throw a "Kobayashi Maru" at them. You did say this is for the position of inventory control. As a supervisor, he should know how to rig the program.
 
I ask for examples of when a person has actually successfully applied some characteristic, quality, trait or skill that is important to the job and which he claims in his resume.
 
FlyNE said:
You should know that they're qualified for the job by their resume.
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You _should_ be able to know that, but you don't actually know anything just from a resume. People lie and exaggerate all the time. As part of a good interview you should verify some of their claims.

I've done more interviews than I can count and in a large number of cases the resume was misleading. It's usually quite easy to find out if the candidate actually has the experience that he claims to have. Just ask him how he feels about x (from his resume), etc. If someone exaggerates the experience that they have, it's not automatically a fail, but it will certainly raise a flag for me. I've seen lots of resumes (in the management consulting world) that list as clients every single large company you can think of. Quite often, less is better and also more truthful.

Also, treat your interviewees with respect (obvious, but quite often the opposite happens). For example, don't ask them silly brainteasers aka "if you drop two buckets off a building ....".

But besides that, there's no substitute for experience. Don't expect much from your first 25 interviews - it takes a while to develop a good approach.
 
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sba55- I agree with you for some jobs, while some technical fields, it becomes very obvious when the candidate is BS'ing.
 
Cap'n Jack said:
sba55- I agree with you for some jobs, while some technical fields, it becomes very obvious when the candidate is BS'ing.
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When I was still with TRW, we got a resume from a guy, and it was 26 pages long. All sorts of inpenetrable technical details. We concluded that he clearly knew some stuff, but his bag of knowledge did not include:

1. How to write a resume; and

2. How to work on a Bell & Howell 3700/6700 COM System.
 
CJones said:
. Based on his resume, the interview will be more of a formality than an in-depth fact-finding mission, but I'd still like to take the opportunity to start honing my interviewing skills.

Any tips/suggestions?
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The first thing I would suggest is to rethink the above. I have performed many interviews and have concluded that resumes are largely a bunch of lies intended to get you an interview. Of course, not all of them are that way, but enough of them are that I never get my hopes up until AFTER the face-to-face AND the reference checking. There have just been so many instances where the person that shows up bears no resemblance to the person described in the resume.

During the interview, ask open questions designed to get them to talk about anything. Don't ask questions trying to get an answer. You haredly ever get the answer you want. If you like them and they aren't stupid they can probably learn the skills. If you wouldn't want to take them home to dinner and introduce them as a friend, you will regret hiring them later, (unless their job is very technical and they will work in an isolated area).
 
As others have stated, let them talk. If you give them enough time then they will dig their own hole. Make sure you have someone with you that can verify that you did not ask any questions that crossed the lines as being acceptable to ask. That can be a big pitfall. As well as cost the company money.

My client has been wronged and needs a check to feel better about themselves. A really big check.
jackie.jpg
 
LearDriver said:
As others have stated, let them talk. If you give them enough time then they will dig their own hole. Make sure you have someone with you that can verify that you did not ask any questions that crossed the lines as being acceptable to ask. That can be a big pitfall. As well as cost the company money.

My client has been wronged and needs a check to feel better about themselves. A really big check.
jackie.jpg
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That kind of thinking has got us the TSA.
 
Interview went well. Things were a bit frantic this morning and I got called out of a meeting to do the interview, so I didn't have much time to gather my thoughts beforehand. I will make sure not to get into that situation in the future.

I basically went through his resume and picked out a few key items that he had listed for experience and asked for detailed descriptions of how/what he did in each situation. He had good answers.

I then handed him off to the Ops Manager, and he agreed with my thoughts. We will offer him a job this week.

Thanks for the tips folks.. Hopefully I'll get more experience in this area in the future.
 
gprellwitz said:
Yes, because that means that you're hiring, which hopefully means that you're growing! :)
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In the 10 months that I have been with this company, we have added approximately 3 million square ft of warehouse space to our accounts - both through expansion of current accounts and acquisition of new accounts - just in the Atlanta metro area.

Things are going well (knock on wood ;)).
 
CJones said:
In the 10 months that I have been with this company, we have added approximately 3 million square ft of warehouse space to our accounts - both through expansion of current accounts and acquisition of new accounts - just in the Atlanta metro area.

Things are going well (knock on wood ;)).
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Can you tell us what company this is? Just curious, I am currently over employed, thankfully. If you prefer not to say online, I understand.
 
If the first or second question is about salery.......end the interview!!!
 
Sticky1 said:
If the first or second question is about salery.......end the interview!!!
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First or second question? Probably not. But it shouldn't be something you're afraid to talk about. No point in wasting either parties time if salary expectations don't align.
 
Kaye said:
Spike,
When did you work for TRW?
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Lessee...

...start was approximately March or April 1987, if I recall correctly. TRW Customer Service Division (CSD) acquired the COM Service and Support portion of Bell & Howell's COM Products Division. TRW immediately eliminated training instructors - they said we could train people to service our COM systems, for which we had a training curriculum of two separate six-week cycles of intensive classroom and hands-on training, by showing them six hours of videotaped lessons in the field.

That lasted about 4 months, until the first batch of field-trained service guys were thrown to the wolves, told their managers "this ain't working!"

It ended up with field support guys like me (they called me "Senior Product Support Engineer," but of course, I was not an "engineer," was I?) doing training, which worked better than we expected.

The CSD was based in Fairfield, NJ, and the west coast office (where our immediate boss was) was in Hawthorne, CA (garden spot, that). They kept saying that they were going to close our facility (in Tustin), and that we were all going to be working in Hawthorne... and we said (politely), "nope." Ended up Hawthorne closed and we remained, because ours was the only remaining profitable support line they had.

I left in August, 1989, to go to law school, and it was not too terribly long after that, that the TRW CSD had a bit of a scandal - most of its asset value in parts inventory (in New Jersey) was illusory. TRW, which had been on the verge of building a new national HQ for the CSD, in Irving, TX, instead shut down the division. Ironically, the only portion of the business which had value for sale was the old COM support operation, which was sold to our old customer, Anacomp, where some of my old compadres still work today.

Dust settles, TRW was not a bad outfit, but that division had core structural issues, related to its founding as TRW acquired the service division of Singer-Friden and let hem run all subsequent acquisitions; a bunch of adding-machine guys being asked to understand and service computers and the like. Lot of good people worked there, still.
 
We had a company meeting yesterday in which the subject of vacation time for new recruits came up. With the economy as it is, the people we hire are seasoned professionals who have had several weeks vacation at their previous jobs. The company is looking into offering more than 2 weeks vacation in the future. I'm hoping this will be true for those of us who joined earlier in this economic downturn.

Anyway, the point is that compensation in the form of benefits and salary should be discussed and agreed upon. Do you want to waste your time with someone who expects $200,000 for your $40,000 job?
 
I am not surprised by either Jesse or Jim Logan’s answer......The answers were expected!

This is the difference between the young and the "older"

This country has gone to ****!

Back in the days,

60's - 70's, Employers had respect for their employees and employees had respect for their employers.

70's - 80's Things got tight at home, so dad told mom to get a job!

80's - 90's Both parents were forced to go out to work to support the family. Who was watching the kids?

90's - 2000 With both parents working the kids are slowly but surly being misguided. They are beginning to feel "entitled".

2000 - Today well you get the idea.......

Now you have a resume in your hand and a perspective employee in front of you. It is your job to ask different questions so you get different answers however asking different questions to get the same answers. There is a lie on the resume and it is your job to find it!

If I were interviewing you and you asked me what the job pays in the beginning of the interview.....the interview would end!! My concern as an interviewer is to find out what knowledge you have, what you can bring to this company, are you a team player, are you clean (or a hair bag), and how you will represent this company. After I have determined all that, then we can talk $$.

When hired employees have to remember that it is a give and take, they are not going to change the world in a week. They also need to remember who pays their salary. Employees should not think they own the company once they are hired. Remember Rome wasn’t built in a week! or was that a day...

Some or all of the attitudes will be shown during the interview process; it is a good interviewer that can determine the future.

PS - The applicant should know the range before the interview..!
 
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Sticky1 said:
I am not surprised by either Jesse or Jim Logan’s answer......The answers were expected!
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Okay.... I'm young and Jim Logan appears much older. His answer was full of sarcasim. I'm not sure where you're trying to go with this.

Sticky1 said:
This is the difference between the young and the "older"
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I assure you that the "older" is not afraid to discuss salary in an interview.

Sticky1 said:
90's - 2000 With both parents working the kids are slowly but surly being misguided. They are beginning to feel "entitled".
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I assure you that I don't feel "entitled" but I do understand the value of my skill-set and I am not afraid to discuss salary in an interview.

Sticky1 said:
Now you have a resume in your hand and a perspective employee in front of you. It is your job to ask different questions so you get different answers however asking different questions to get the same answers. There is a lie on the resume and it is your job to find it!
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There are always a whole bunch of crap on resumes that aren't completely true from any age. It doesn't take a CIA torture specialist to find them. If you trash every perspective interviewer based on their resume you're going about it in the wrong way. I ask enough questions to figure out what they actually know and go from there. Always remember that you don't know what you don't know. Sometimes the B/S on a resume is simply because the person THOUGHT they understood something and in reality they didn't.
Sticky1 said:
If I were interviewing you and you asked me what the job pays in the beginning of the interview.....the interview would end!!
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It wouldn't be discussed in the first few questions but the topic would come up. If a company that wants to hire me is afraid to talk salary with me I really don't want to work for them.

Sticky1 said:
When hired employees have to remember that it is a give and take, they are not going to change the world in a week. They also need to remember who pays their salary. Employees should not think they own the company once they are hired. Remember Rome wasn’t built in a week! or was that a day...
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They also need to remember that if their employer is a dick that there are other jobs to be found. If a company hires me it is because a problem needs to be solved and I expect to hit the ground running the first day. If they start to "hold me back" and tell me "rome wasn't built in a day" they aren't they employer for me.


Sticky1 said:
PS - The applicant should know the range before the interview..!
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Depending on the organization and the position that can be nearly impossible. You make an employer want you - you don't make yourself want the employer. If you do your job right there will be a lot of wiggle room in whatever they thought they were going to pay you before the interview started.
 
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i have a Life magazine from the early 60's. according to a letter to the editor the country was going straight to hell back then too. probably because of lazy slacker kids not respecting their elders. so at least nothing is new.
 
If he can do half the job he will learn the other half...
A bigger issue is, Is he compatible with the other employees? Will he be an asset to the company beyond just being able to do the job)

I sold my business to a corporation 6 months ago with the understanding that they would recruit an experienced person, put him/her in the office and I would teach the particulars and I would start taking more time off...

They recruited a guy, who on paper, can walk on water... 11 years experience, ex military officer (Major), etc. etc... This was 6 weeks ago... The real pinch is that 2 weeks ago I had emergency surgery and am not able to work at the moment... I'm doing PT and pain management and the last thing I need in this world are the phone calls from the office staff asking, "Oh gawd, what do we do now?" - which I am getting...

Long story short: he is a disaster... The customers are starting to revolt, and worse starting to walk away... I got dressed today, drove 25 miles, hobbled across a parking lot and up 5 stories, and met with the vice president(s) of the powers that be, and informed them that either he goes (and goes now) or I go... We shall see how it turns out...

denny-o
 
honestly - I wouldn't be in the interview unless we both have a general understanding that we're in the same ballpark regarding salary, otherwise it's a complete waste of time on both sides of the desk.
 
I know it's common to regard all of today's youths as lazy slackers, but I can tell you one thing... I could never dream of matching Jesse's work ethic and working hours. He is also perhaps the least "entitled" person I know.

Just my $0.02.
 
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