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Interviewing for interpretation


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#1 Stormig

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Posted 06 February 2009 - 08:16 AM

Hello, long time no see, etc., etc., etc., and getting straight to the point...

I was just given the responsibility of interviewing people we might hire on occasion for interpreting jobs. We won't be hiring from agencies because in our field some students do much better.
Thing is... I've never interviewed anyone for anything before, and here I will have to set up a qualitative system to evaluate. Has anyone ever done something like this to care and share an opinion, advice, or what have you?

#2 Z'areh

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Posted 06 February 2009 - 11:41 PM

QUOTE (Stormig @ Feb 6 2009, 09:16 AM)
Hello, long time no see, etc., etc., etc., and getting straight to the point...

I was just given the responsibility of interviewing people we might hire on occasion for interpreting jobs. We won't be hiring from agencies because in our field some students do much better.
Thing is... I've never interviewed anyone for anything before, and here I will have to set up a qualitative system to evaluate. Has anyone ever done something like this to care and share an opinion, advice, or what have you?


Hi Stormig, great to see you!

I would humbly say stay away from those who try to impress you. Look for experience but don't ignore motivation, energy and humility.

I have also encountered situations where people try hide behind "being nervous". I say if someone is confident in what s/he knows any inherent nervousness does not become an issue. Look for those who in spite of nervousness project confidence.

Hope this will give you some ideas, but I'm sure you already have a good idea what to expect from a candidate, plus I am in a completely different domain but interview is interview and both use voices to communicate wink.gif

Great to see you in a position of hiring people, Stormig, congratulations smile.gif

#3 Azat

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Posted 06 February 2009 - 11:51 PM

I have interviewed hundreds and hundreds of both tech as well as none tech people

In general in my teams our interviews are few hours long(sometimes over a 2-3 day period depending on the level)(I interviewed at my current company over a 3 month period 8 times in person maybe with 20 different people)

First we will do a very high lever not tech interview over the phone followed by a technical screening over the phone(20 - 30 min each).

In person I will meet and greet them for 10 min and tell them who they will be interviewing with and what each pair of people will concentrate on. I tell them that they will have lunch with me and maybe 2 more developers or other peers they will have

Our interviews are 45 minutes each and are always done in pairs to make sure if one person is having a shitty day they dont put the person through the ringer

Each pair will concentrate on different aspect of work

First pair will spent most of the time talking about the job and the company with very few interview type of questions

Lunch is an interview session as well. But informal. You try to find out about their commute and social things. Its also a good way to see how they are in a casual environment

At the end when I go in again its mostly to see if they have any questions about the company or the individuals that interviewed them or the position. I also like to start my interview very general to make them feel comfortable as most are nervous to be there.

In general I like to get them back in to the office one more time at approximately the time they would regularly start work to see if the traffic in LA if going to be an issue for them. Because many will say its no problem until their first week when they realize that work hour traffic to a given location is horrible in LA.

I always give contact info both phone and email in case they have questions

At the end all people who interview a given person vote yes or no and max 1 person can say no for a person to get hired. if more they are not eligible

Interviews can also be stopped half way if people come out and dont like them so its obvious its not going to work out. We let them go by explaining that its not a good fit and dont want to waist their time

We also make sure we are super nice to the person getting interviewed as at the same time their are in a way interviewing us


#4 Sip

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Posted 07 February 2009 - 04:20 AM

NOTHING beats watching them actually do something. Give them a couple of things to interpret. Forget the resume, forget whatever bullsh!t they are going to tell you about themselves. Watch how they perform.

Then if they are not looking like complete losers, have a conversation and measure up how they are as basic human beings and whether they will fit the culture of the work place.

The caveat is you don't want to throw them into a difficult problem first. Give them something trivial to boost confidence and let them have a chance to shake the initial interview jitters ... then, just let them have it! Be ready to make things more and more complicated or to dumb things down depending on how they are moving along during the interview.







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