Cool_Chick,

I used to hire for tech_support as well. Here's one of my favorite screenings:

I would tell the candidate that I wanted them to give me a solution to a certain problem. The problem I gave them was esoteric, vague, and had not nearly enough information to giev a good answer. Typically the people that asked more questions about the problem to gain information were good as well as those who gave a response based on some prior experience.

THose that said "I don't know" or "I need training" etc.. were dissapointments.

Yep, while people with certs can be great, you can also get duds. Too many ways around testing these days.

Also, just hiring looking for experience can be really bad. I've worked in IT and interNetworking tech support (Internet tech support as well as tech support for Cisco Systems [TAC]) for the past 6 years and have been part of the hiring process. I can tell you that there are lots of people out there who would be great that have no experience. We've hired lots of raw recruits that turned out to be star players.

You've gotten lots of good suggestions here. Unfortunately it's really hard to predict who will be good and who won't when you are hiring people with little or no experience. Ask lots of technical questions of the people who say they have experience. I didn't like people who lied on their resume.

Asking general troubleshooting of random situations is a good practice, also asking them what sort of troubleshooting experience they have is good if they do their own computer stuff at home or work on their own cars.

Good luck, there are lots of good people out there. You should be able to get at least 3 good ones out of every 4 that seem good when hiring inexperienced people.

Strongly agree.

Look for someone retiring out of the military.

Excellent, disciplined workers who know how to get task done without a lot of whining. My boss, his boss, our developers.....all ex-military.

I suspect that Rob's response is precisely what Cool was hoping for. I certainly like it. And I like the off-the-wall problems-solving question idea too. How many golf balls to fill a 747, or something of the like. Hobbies. There are folks who like to fix things, and those who don't even like to watch. Ask them if they've ever seen one of those coffee table books on "How Stuff Works." If their eyes light up, you've got a legitimate candidate.

It sounds like Cool's company will train, but that they hope for good, analytical raw material.

I like problem-solving, and have always been the "analytical" type. (No, I'm not looking for work) And I can tell you there are few things I enjoy more than a good puzzling problem to solve. For example, give me a problem that is unsolvable, and give me just a little time to work on it before time is up. I'll probably politely stop, but I'll REALLY WANT to keep working on that problem.

You might want to try some psych testing. See here for examples of how some firms are using this kind of testing.

Small investment for big risk management. Doesn't replace interviewing of course but could prevent a big mistake.

Number of Golf balls in 1 cubic ft X Number of Cubic ft available for loading of Golfballs in the fking plane...

what is the inference of my using the word "available" in the above sentence,

Thank you so much for your suggestions.

I think I'm going to go for the couple real life scenarios and see how they would approach resolving it.

And as far as military, yes, we have a few of those (our director installed the first network for the Army Recruiting database, he brought the two who helped him, they're fantastic. Additionally, we have other former military personnel who are just awesome...)

Thanks for your suggestions. I totally appreciate it. I was initially puzzled as to how to approach this and you guys helped out tremendously. Thanks!

cool_chick,

I wish you the best of luck with this.

I hope you find someone with a genuine intrist in Communications/IT.

There must be some formal IT aptitude test floating around. A quick objective measure of computer problem solving skills. That would rank the technical capabilities of your candidates for you. Then you could focus on personality, references and the rest of those critical intangibles.

U-HAUL has a test. They ask questions like "on rough terrain would it be easyer to pull a dolly with small wheels or large wheels"

its on their web page.

freaking U-Haul

We do. We give them a test in IT. However, these people are getting through it, and we think the test may have gotten out to the headhunters (weird huh?) so we're rewriting it.

But I still want to be involved in the interview process from now on...I'm telling you....these these people...OMG.

LOL slakjaw (U-Haul "questionnaire" LMAO).

And thanks for your well wishes.

In that case, just pick the hottest one. :)

I keep telling my boss that. But the guys that come in are never attractive....what's up with that?

LMAO.


(funny thing, is I'm not kidding...I do say that to my boss...like..."is he hot?" She sees them first.)

I am kidding with her of course.....LOL. Would be nice to get a nice view here though. hehe

Re: Re: Re: conducting employment interviews
 

Nah, being "Alfred" he prolly has them force fed to him on a regular basis.

See now we really need to solve this golf ball question!

The problem with Tabs answer is that while physically filling the plane is fine, and strickly according to the question correct, there is a lot more to consider.

You are filling a plane, so it is reasonable to assume that this plane will probably have to fly. I would start by looking at the rated payload of the plane and the mass of a given golf ball. This may limit you more than actual volume.


Back to the Topic. Look for someone who can go beyond the strick questions you ask. When hireing for customer support, the customer may not ask the best question for the problem. They need to be able to see through the question to the real problem at times.

Now if only our IT department here could hire anything less than Morons.

LMFAO