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The Most Revealing Job Interview Question

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Re: The Most Revealing Job Interview Question

#111

Post by NegativeK »

revelation wrote: post #83

I do not give any “uh huh” or “I see” kind of interjections that underlie most conversations. And you want to use this method to gauge a candidates communication skills? Human communication is a very complicated and error prone process. If you're going to cut out all the vital clues, how you can expect it not to fail horribly? Feedback from both sides is essential.

By cutting out all of the vital clues, the interviewer is making sure that the candidate is even remotely looking for them. Too many clients will smile and nod when they don't understand something. That's far less of a telling sign than staring blankly.

When explaining things, I somewhat worry that I'm going to come off like an arrogant prick when I look someone in the eye and ask "Does that make sense?" If you don't, though, you run the risk of people not opening the floodgate of questions they have -- or, worse, you run the risk of assuming that they actually understand and that everything is golden.

Re: The Most Revealing Job Interview Question

#112

Post by nerfhammer »

ctdonath wrote: post #41
jamesbritt wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You probably would not get hired. Probably not. But what does that say about this particular technique? There's the ability to explain something, and there's the ability to perform under sudden pressure. I would give candidates some period of time (say, 10 minutes, if they needed that long) to select a topic first.

You've scheduled a half-hour with a candidate (or explain why longer), and you're going to sit in silence for 10 minutes just so s/he can pick a starting point for a 5 minute monolog on any topic? Given the option to talk about anything , I'd be concerned if the candidate couldn't pick something in 10 seconds . Summary of last book read, semantic difference between method calls in C++ vs Objective-C, sewing, recreati…

What would you be concerned about?

Giving a spontaneous monologue to someone judging you is something many people actually find quite intimidating, even though some others may find it quite natural. It's something they teach in toastmasters or improv classes.

Re: The Most Revealing Job Interview Question

#114

Post by nerfhammer »

tokenadult wrote: post #9

The submitted site seems to be having trouble keeping up with the referrals from Hacker News, judging by its response time. (And that is amusing for a site called "refer.ly" that is all about user referrals. The site still needs upgrading to work at scale.) The question is "I want you to explain something to me. Pick any topic you want: a hobby you have, a book you’ve read, a project you worked on–anything. You’ll ha…

I like to see this at the top of every post promoting pseudodiagnostic interview questions.

Re: The Most Revealing Job Interview Question

#115

Post by jazzychad »

engtech wrote: post #69
jazzychad wrote: post #54

Hmm, I'm not sure I like the idea of intentionally trying to steer the candidate off on a tangent. It feels like a trap. In an interview, the interviewer literally has all the power, and saying "no" or refusing to answer a question posed by the interviewer seems rather difficult. This would be doubly hard for me since I like to teach (both my parents are teachers and I love to explain things to people so that they ca…

"In an interview, the interviewer literally has all the power, and saying "no" or refusing to answer a question posed by the interviewer seems rather difficult." If you feel like the interviewer has all the power in an interview, then it'll be difficult to negotiate your salary. You'll do things like give a concrete number when they ask you what your salary was at your last job. The only time I would feel like an int…

Doing an interview (specifically a tech interview in this situation) and negotiating salaries after you have an offer are two completely different things. I would fall for the trap, but I can (and have) negotiate a really great deal for myself in the offer phase.

Re: The Most Revealing Job Interview Question

#116

Post by rhizome »

sadga wrote: post #67
drivingmenuts wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> hobbies are controversial, or simply derided I think that answers your question. Look, you're asking someone to walk into an interview, with people they do not know, and lay out a portion of their personal life for examination, without any idea of how that information may be used against them. That's pretty unfairly tilted in favor of the company. I, for one, do not discuss my private life in depth in interviews -…

> That's pretty unfairly tilted in favor of the company. You seem to be assuming that the company's goal is to find a reason to reject someone. That's not correct. If anything, it's tilted in favor of candidates that have the same hobbies as interviewers.

Which is still unfair.

Re: The Most Revealing Job Interview Question

#117

Post by mmcconnell1618 »

jazzychad wrote: post #54

Hmm, I'm not sure I like the idea of intentionally trying to steer the candidate off on a tangent. It feels like a trap. In an interview, the interviewer literally has all the power, and saying "no" or refusing to answer a question posed by the interviewer seems rather difficult. This would be doubly hard for me since I like to teach (both my parents are teachers and I love to explain things to people so that they ca…

"Leaders have the guts to say no." Are you hiring a leader or an employee? In my experience leaders tend to make poor employees and employees tend to make poor leaders. If you're looking for leaders don't expect many of them to walk through the door and sit through an interview. They're off doing something already.

Re: The Most Revealing Job Interview Question

#118

Post by mappu »

duskwuff wrote: post #97
mappu wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a tangent, but there are several segues you can use to get from anime to a generic technical discussion. Here are my examples: - I wrote a scraper for MyAnimeList.net to an sqlite3 db in order to build a mobile website. - I wrote a shell script that i keep a copy of in each folder for each anime series i watch. When the script runs, it parses its own name as a number and adds one, so that i can easily keep tr…

From what I understand, Jason Garrett-Glaser (DarkShikari) got interested in video encoding through the anime scene. He's now the lead developer on X264.

Absolutely (although you'll get told off for spelling x264 with a capital X). The `--tune touhou` option is a big giveaway - fascinating to see how an anime-subculture game had such a profound effect, but it's obviously a useful test case for the encoder.

My other favourite example in the same vein is Avery Lee of Virtualdub fame (with EA, last i heard?). He maintains some fantastic software and an enthralling blog, and it all comes back to Sailor Moon.

Re: The Most Revealing Job Interview Question

#119

Post by jazzychad »

kscaldef wrote: post #73
jazzychad wrote: post #54

Hmm, I'm not sure I like the idea of intentionally trying to steer the candidate off on a tangent. It feels like a trap. In an interview, the interviewer literally has all the power, and saying "no" or refusing to answer a question posed by the interviewer seems rather difficult. This would be doubly hard for me since I like to teach (both my parents are teachers and I love to explain things to people so that they ca…

> Hmm, I'm not sure I like the idea of intentionally trying to steer the candidate off on a tangent. It feels like a trap. And, yet, it's quite a realistic model of what happens in meetings and presentations all the time. > In an interview, the interviewer literally has all the power, and saying "no" or refusing to answer a question posed by the interviewer seems rather difficult. You could say the same with regards…

> And, yet, it's quite a realistic model of what happens in meetings and presentations all the time.

Yes, absolutely. In a real work environment where we all know each other I would not hesitate to shut down a conversation that takes the discussion off course.

An interview is not like a real work environment at all. It can try to be a simulation, but it is still just a simulation where the candidate and the interviewer may not know each other very well. Maybe it's my southern upbringing (a topic of much mirth in my office), but I would consider pushing back on a stranger I am trying to impress to be somewhat rude. I have noticed that people out here in SV tend to be more aggressive than I am used to.

Re: The Most Revealing Job Interview Question

#120

Post by philwelch »

sadga wrote: post #68
philwelch wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It is a reasonable position that if you have no interests, or hobbies, or any read books at all that you are comfortable talking about with your employer, that you are likely a poor fit for the company. Really? I dunno--I always saw employment as more of a business transaction, and I don't give a damn about the personal lives of those I do business with.

That's extreme. You spend over half your life at work. It is personal. The most popular employers make an effort to contribute to employee's personal lives.

> You spend over half your life at work

Well, that depends. 40 hours a week out of 168 is less than 1/4, but it's certainly true that you spend at least half of your weekday, waking life at work. But more pertinently, it should be time that's set aside for work. I don't know why what we do outside of work should even be a factor, or why I should have to share the cultural values of my coworkers. It comes dangerously close to discrimination.

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