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The Most Revealing Job Interview Question

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Re: The Most Revealing Job Interview Question

#171

Post by nooneelse »

bollockitis wrote: post #64
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…

I would never, under any circumstances, tell my interviewer to "stay on topic." How should I know what he believes to be relevant? If he no longer wants to quiz me on my abilities as a developer but would rather discuss the airspeed velocity of swallows, I would assume that he has a reason for doing so, and I would gladly share with him with my limited knowledge of avian aeronautics.

Also, the trap question could easily have the opposite "right response" as it does in the post and still be defensible as something important to learn about a candidate. Another interviewer performing the same test sequence might want to see if the candidate can change subjects quickly, roll with new circumstances, and not get flustered or stuck on a single, obsolete outcome.

Re: The Most Revealing Job Interview Question

#172

Post by Lost_BiomedE »

rlt3 wrote: post #167
SoftwareMaven wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree that intelligence and work samples are the most critical things to look at. The trick with work samples is that most people focus too narrowly. Yes, coding is a critical part, so don't skip it. But so is team communication (no matter how great of a programmer you are, if you won't respond to my emails, I won't think you are a great employee). So are code reviews (if you call people morons for not agreeing wit…

What were the interviewers trying to find out by asking those questions?

The ping pong ball question has been used a lot to see how/if engineers will attempt to give a reasonable estimate with proper caveats. No attempt is auto-fail, as is going into too much detail, and the rest is judged by the reasoning, approach, and if decent upper and lower bounds are given.

I imagine the reactor is similar but also checks if you can say where you are not competent and should defer or delegate.

Re: The Most Revealing Job Interview Question

#173

Post by powertower »

dfabulich wrote: post #166
powertower wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> a general intelligence test used in hiring that could have a "disparate impact" on applicants of some protected classes must "bear a demonstrable relationship to successful performance of the jobs for which it was used." This part has been revised in practical use all over the country in the last 10 years. If a test shows group-X scoring on average lower than group-Y, this in itself now proves that the test is bias…

The linked article talks about a government agency (NYC Fire Department) who imposed a written exam for fire fighters; the judge ruled that the exam was discriminatory in results and was not shown (could not be shown) to be related to job performance. That's what made it illegal under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. You don't have to worry about this if you're a private California software company assigning work-s…

> The linked article talks about a government agency (NYC Fire Department) who imposed a written exam for fire fighters...

Multiple choice question test: A, B, C, D. Not a written test. The word "imposed" is also a bit harsh. It's a test for fireman. Fireman that would be saving my ass in a fire.

> the judge ruled that the exam was discriminatory in results and was not shown (could not be shown) to be related to job performance.

The city is trying to remove the judge from the case and for his decision to be reversed.

You can also view the test for yourself (http://documents.nytimes.com/new-york-city-firefighter-exami...) and find out quickly it has everything to do with the duties of a fireman.

> If you think that job performance at a software company is linked to race, I recommend that you keep your opinion to yourself. Maybe you can use it to your private advantage! ... or maybe you have racist assumptions.

I don't think that. And I shouldn't have to defend myself from being called a racist just because I've entered a discussion that has different races involved (and am white, well, as white as a born-Russian gets). You should also concider how much damage throwing that keyword around can do.

My point was that it's no longer necessary to link the testing material to job performance. But only to simply show that test scores are different between the races. And then to be politically correct.

This has been the trend we've seen in the last 10 years with these types of lawsuits.

There are parts of this country that not only have socio-economic differences between the races that impact the abilities of the individuals, but in some cases have cultures that downright embrace ignorance. If you start testing people for any job that requires a slightly above average ability in those parts, you will get drastically different results in the grade average of the races. This should not be used against the employer.

Re: The Most Revealing Job Interview Question

#174

Post by tharris0101 »

I hate, hate, HATE gimmicky interview questions. At my job I am asked frequently to be on interview panels for my own department and sometimes other departments. It seems like every manager running the interviews throw out these trick questions at some point or another and I just cringe.

There is no magic recipe for interviews. Ask about the person, ask about their experience, see work examples if appropriate and ask some questions to gauge knowledge level for the position being applied for. Anything more and you are just going to second guess yourself out of a good candidate.

Re: The Most Revealing Job Interview Question

#175

Post by hollerith »

thebigshane wrote: post #65
tisme wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I like to store electrons to conserve keystrokes. But re-posting the same stuff over and over does not conserve page space. Maybe you could link to your older comment instead of re-posting it?

I think most people prefer reading it "inline" and not linked. Tokenadult, please continue reposting.

>Tokenadult, please continue reposting.

That would make certain searches of news.ycombinator.com more frustrating.

Web pages that duplicate other web pages have been around for almost 20 years now (documentation by the GNU project being a notable early example) and even with all of their resources, Google still fails to filter out duplicates a significant fraction of the time.

Re: The Most Revealing Job Interview Question

#176

Post by wallflower »

"Sergey [Brin] nodded his agreement, then asked about my six months in Siberia, casually switching to Russian to see how much I had picked up.

Finally, he leaned forward and fired his best shot, what he came to call 'the hard question'. "I'm going to give you five minutes," he announced. "When I come back, I want you to explain to me something complicated that I don't already know." He then rolled out of the room towards the snack area.

I looked at Cindy. "He's very curious about everything," she said. "You can talk about a hobby, something technical, whatever you want. Just make sure it's something you understand very well."

... I decided to go with the general theory of marketing, which was fresh in my mind because I'd only learned it recently..

I went to the whiteboard and furiously drew circles and squares and unleashed arrows like Legolas. I was nervous, but not very. Sergey bounced on a ball and asked questions that required me to make up things up on the spot...

...

Later I found out that Sergey did this with everyone he interviewed. An hour wasted with an unqualified candidate wasn't a total loss if he gained insight into something new."

"I'm Feeling Lucky: The Confessions of Google Employee #59" - Douglas Edwards

Re: The Most Revealing Job Interview Question

#177

Post by DigitalJack »

nollidge wrote: post #12

> Pick any topic you want: a hobby you have, a book you’ve read, a project you worked on–anything. Hopefully there's more guidance than this, because I feel like I'd freeze up and start "um"ing for five minutes trying to decide the best concept to explain. Maybe this says more about me than the exercise, though...

from the post:

"It is amazing how many candidates will not premeditate before diving into this interview question. Once the trigger happy type candidates get going, they don’t have any kind of bulleted list or outline in their head of what they hope to get across. What’s most incredible about this is how accurately it predicts disorganized and non-goal directed behavior on the job. I’ve been over ruled a few times by my manager on a hiring decision, and question was a harbinger of things to come. Conversely, the people that think it through and have a few crystal clear points are amongst the best people I’ve worked with. They are not just easy to communicate with, but get results in their work."

You are supposed to take your time and think about it before diving in. Which is a good tactic for problem solving in general.

Re: The Most Revealing Job Interview Question

#178

Post by eli_gottlieb »

bduerst wrote: post #145
drivingmenuts wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, my assumption is that a potential employer has no right to know anything about me outside of professional qualifications or what may raise legal issues (convictions, credit rating [iffy], or conflicts of interest). My personal life is strictly off-limits until I get to know them. Look, I know it sounds confrontational, and I don't go into interviews expecting a hostile environment. But I also don't go into interv…

Personality is certainly a legal deciding factor in hiring someone for a position in a company, especially in at-will employment states. It is illegal for a company to not hire on undue reasons such as race, religion, political affiliations, etc., but you are entering into an employment relationship, and it is not unfair to understand more about the person you are paying to work with.

The entire United States is at-will employment. Some states forbid "union shops", but nowhere in the USA will you receive a permanent contract like you would in Europe that stipulates you cannot be fired without reason.

Re: The Most Revealing Job Interview Question

#179

Post by eli_gottlieb »

drivingmenuts wrote: post #122
sadga wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

No, my assumption is that a potential employer has no right to know anything about me outside of professional qualifications or what may raise legal issues (convictions, credit rating [iffy], or conflicts of interest). My personal life is strictly off-limits until I get to know them. Look, I know it sounds confrontational, and I don't go into interviews expecting a hostile environment. But I also don't go into interv…

I'd actually speak comfortably about such things, provided the interviewer first shows that they are a good-natured and tolerant person working in an office environment where diverse views and interests are welcome. I as a socialist have no objection to working with one anarcho-capitalist, only to working with an entire company culture that assumes anarcho-capitalism to be The Right Answer. I likewise have no problem with someone who thinks anime is boring (90% of it is crap, after all), only with an entire company culture in which having "geeky" interests other than programming is viewed as childish, immature, or unprofessional.

(After all, I think that leaving work at 6:30PM to go to a Haskell Users' Meetup at 7:00PM where you will drink sugary, caffeinated soda and/or beer, eat bad pizza from a corporate chain, and watch an hour-and-a-half presentation on a programming and theorem-proving suite that is perpetually unready for use on machines with less than 8GB of RAM is downright insanely messianic language fanboyism. That doesn't mean I didn't go right along and watch the presentation to be sociable about it and to give everyone their time to make their case. Hell, it doesn't mean I didn't have a good time, even if I left after my coworker's presentation because I didn't want to stay until 10:00PM to watch a theorem-proving presentation I couldn't understand.)

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