conducting employment interviews

[cool_chick]

Sorry for the book.

I will be starting to interview prospective hires to see if they possess analytical skills.

I work in the IT department, and we hire technical support personnel. I've never been involved in the interview process. The Tech Support Supervisor does not possess technical skills.

In my position, I'm responsible for overseeing the training and development of new technical support hires firmwide (both Tier I and II). Anyway, we've had a string of bad hires (one didn't even make the 90 day probation period and another is barely making it now) and I've voiced my concern. These people had zero memory, they couldn't retain a thing, they could not resolve new scenarios based on related experience. They were simply not analytical people.

Asking technical questions is the obvious solution if they have experience (these two claimed they did, but were not asked any sort of technical questions, believe it or not; however, that's going to change in the future LOL).

Anyway, we've since hired one without job-related experience, but under the training program and her intellect, she's doing beautifully.

Based on the two failures (and opening my big mouth) I'm going to be part of the interview process.

For those with experience, that's easy to determine whether they're lying or not. However, we have two candidates that I will be interviewing Friday without technical support experience, they've only attended technical schools, which taught them things like the OSI model, how to set up a network, AD, etc.

Because of their lack of specific technical support experience, what I need to do is to determine if these people have the analytical mindset required for such a position (if they can easily learn and adapt to the position). School's one thing but.....

I'm asking how I can determine if they possess such. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks so much in advance.

[Seeeu911]

If this is a position that requires expereince, only interview/hire experienced people.The simple rule is dont hire anyone for an IT job that has not had an IT job. Ask for and then check Technical references. Past performance is a predicter of future performance. Let someone else prove them before you hire them.
As a past IT mgr let me tell you its not fun waching your network getting hacked up by incompetents. There is still a glut of underemployed IT people from the crash of 2001. look harder.

[cool_chick]

Originally posted by Seeeu911
If this is a position that requires expereince, only interview/hire experienced people.The simple rule is dont hire anyone for an IT job that has not had an IT job. Ask for and then check Technical references. Past performance is a predicter of future performance. Let someone else prove them before you hire them.
As a past IT mgr let me tell you its not fun waching your network getting hacked up by incompetents. There is still a glut of underemployed IT people from the crash of 2001. look harder.

Thanks for responding.

I have no choice. Plus, we've had success with that one. The bossman (ok, woman LOL) wants to try again.

We've found those with experience tend to have attitudes and want to get out of tech support as soon as possible....we can get 2 years out of the one contractually (he's moving from another department, he won't be allowed to move within IT for 2 years...).

Have you ever hired unexperienced at all and what did you ask?

[einreb]

Accenture used to hire mechanical/chemical/electrical engineering grads for software consulting positions even though the had little coding education. The assumption was that those candidates were of a decent intellect and good problem solvers.

You're hiring for a tough spot, since I assume the pay is crappy and the expectations are high. Its not like you can hit those candidates with Microsoft/McKinsey type interview questions. Anyone with any talent likely wont stick around.

Ask them, "PC load letter? What the fuch does that mean?" If they get the joke, it may be a good sign.

-Bernie

[Seeeu911]

If inexperienced candidates I look for an interest in technical things. What are their hobbies? In relaxed interview xsation can you draw out their aptitude by discussing latest gadgets and technology? Also for me attire, body language and manners... especially for cust support. Cust support is very very hard, I have even gone light on Tier I skills in exchange for great personality skills.
Also check with your HR dept as there are Legal minefields about interview questions. For example
Inappropriate: Are you married? How many kids do you have? Do you plan to have children?
Are you pregnant? Religion jail time ….etc all hot button issues to stay away from. I always have looked for compatibility with other members of my teams. Diversity yes also to match my customer base. Enthusiasm and energy a love of or strong interest in what we are doing. Did they do any research on the company or position? …know what your customer wants and then trust your gut…

[claptrap]

My apologies, I misread the post and what I'd recommended would apply to experienced candidates.

Scott

[LeeH]

Is this telephone tech support? If so can you use a transcripts of recorded calls to role play to see if the candidate can come up with a reasonable solution?

I have a friend who just got a $100K/year job in VOIP with no formal education or experience in the field! He did a lot of reading and fudged the resume. Thing is he's unreasonably bright and truly does know what he's doing now.

[Joeaksa]

Think up a problem, and one that they likely have not had in the past. If you are looking for someone who can "think on their feet and look outside the box for ways to fix the problem" they need to have that type of mentality and not everyone has it.

Give them one or two situations where there is a problem to be corrected but find one that has several different ways to reach the end. Someone who can and will stand back and figure a way around something interesting can be hard to find but once you find them, pay them what is needed to keep them around.

Have interviewed and hired hundreds of people in the past and the comments Seeuu911 has about questions not to ask is very valid, especially these days. Lots of things that can get a company in hot water during the interview process. Sit down with HR and make sure that they give you guidelines to follow before doing any interview.

JoeA

[MysticLlama]

I've had to do the same thing/same situation recently in the Seattle area.

We typically get a couple hundred resumes when we put an ad out for a technical position.

The easiest way for me to narrow them down was to make up a 10-15 question questionaire.

First of all, it weeds out the ones that aren't serious and are shotgunning, because they won't fill it out, there is 50% right there.

Then I ask questions that don't have specific answers for, but for which I can get a feeling of attitude. On top of those, a few simple technical questions that someone in the position should be able to answer (or at least google for correctly, I've had people say parallel cables have 4 pins)

Examples:
What is the latest book you read:
I give highest points for something fictional, be it Lord of the Rings, Da Vinci Code, etc, popular or not.
Second place goes to technical manuals, most people don't really read those for fun, but people try to put it down to look good. I'd rather see that they honestly put down something they are interested in than a book they think I'll like to see.
Bad points go to self help/Zig/enlightened management style books, because someone reading something like that wouldn't be happy doing tech support for very long most likely.

Another question: Name 3 differences between Windows and Linux
All I'm looking for here are 3 straightforward factual answers, no more no less. I have a mixed environment, and people often try to guess which it is an appeal to that.
I look for an answer like "Linux is open source, Windows is closed source" or "Linux is free to use and Windows costs a license fee" vs. answers like "Linux is open source and always stable, and Windows has proprietary code and is prone to crashing" or "Windows is way too expensive, so Linux saves companies lots of money"
Both of the bad responses peeve me since our Windows boxes have great stability and a lower TCO than the Linux boxes anyway. (not starting an arguement, I've done the numbers for *my* implementations, just an example)

A good question or two about the best way to handle a common awkward situation that may come up. Mine included issues with confilcting views by the two owners of the company, etc.

I ask favorite three Internet sites, again, hoping for an honest answer like google/pelican/slashdot vs. three technical sites that may have been grabbed to look good. No good way to tell, I just try to relate to the other questions and get an overall feeling.

After I scan them for the easy screwups, the Linux question and the books to narrow them down, I pick the top 30ish and go through attached resumes. I can usually get 5-10 good interview candidates out of this process, and it's much faster than reading a few hundred resumes.

It seemed to work well the last time as out of 5 interviews we got a really good hire who has now been with us a year and a half, and I'm still in contact on occasion with the 2nd place guy since he was a friend of a friend, and he's been at the job he nailed for about the same amount of time, so he seems to have been a good hire for someone else too.

Barring all of this, you can't beat a good referral.

[mikester]

If they went to technical schools and got technical degrees/training...ask if they have any programming classes.

If so - ask them what they liked about them.

A techy who enjoys programming is one who can think outside the box and is creative. One who doesn't - isn't - generally.

You're likely looking for creativity and good customer service skills, oh and memory. I can relate to all of what you've said. I just went through with someone I supervise a nasty spat and it is frustrating as heck when someone just doesn't get it.


$#@!@!%$!

[rcecale]

Analytical thinking? Hmmm, how about about a question, or two, or three...about something totally obscure. See how their mind works in figuring something out 'on the fly'/

For instance, "You have a Boeing 747 Jumbo jet that you need to fill with golf balls. You need to determine how many goflballs it would take. How would you go about figuring this out?"

No definitive answer here, just listening to their thought process. Have them expand as much as possible. They should ask questions, "Are the seats IN or OUT of the plane? Am I filling only the cabin, or the entire plane, cockpit, luggage compartment, etc? You're looking for how they can think on their feet...give them a few like that.

Randy

[Mulhollanddose]

Originally posted by cool_chick
I will be starting to interview prospective hires to see if they possess analytical skills.

[Hugh R]

I'm not IT at all, but at my company I believe they put candidates on the phone with real or test callers and see how they do, assuming they pass whatever other challenges you give them.

[HardDrive]

I would love to say look for someone with technical certifications (MCSE, CCNA, Network+), because providing tech training is a large part of my business. But the fact is, all this is really going to tell you is that the person was able to study and pass the tests. In addition, some of these folks who are newly certified have unrealistic salary expectations. It certainly does not hurt if a person is certified, but ask them why and how they got certified.

Frankly, I would be more interested in their hobbies/ favorite websites. Look for someone who is excited about technology. I will take an enthusiasic newbie over some burned out person with 20 years experience any day. That does not mean just hire the young, but look for someone who is involved with computers because they love it, not because that was what they were trained to do. Ask them if they have every built a computers. Ask them if they are a PC gamer. Ask them if have ever over clocked a computer. Look for interest.....

[fintstone]

Hire a veteran that did network/IT in the military. They are the best you can get for your money...and can work with people and under stress.

[SirAndy]

Originally posted by cool_chick
Because of their lack of specific technical support experience

25 years in the field has taught me one thing, there's no substitute for hands on experience ...

any day of the week, i'd (and have!) take a guy with no degrees but 5 years of experience over a guy who made it through MIT with flying colors but hasn't really done any work yet in the field ...

to make this short, don't hire them unless they're dirt cheap and you can afford to train them ...

Andy

[SirAndy]

Originally posted by Mulhollanddose

did you forget to take your meds? again?

[red-beard]

I'll second both the "analytical test" and a discussion of hobbies. If they like to "fix thing", etc, cars, houses, they are probably more analytical than someone who mostly plays video games or plays sports.

Ask them what their outside activites are. What did they do last weekend. Get a feel for the person.

I would say that in my College, only about 1/3rd of the Engineering students were actually good at engineering (had the right mind set).

[legion]

Originally posted by einreb
Accenture used to hire mechanical/chemical/electrical engineering grads for software consulting positions even though the had little coding education. The assumption was that those candidates were of a decent intellect and good problem solvers.

A bad assumption on their part. Their clients ended up teaching the consultants.

[Flatbutt1]

CC
I've often been forced to hire entry level scientists for sh***y salaries. So experienced people were out. I always set them a hypothetical situation appropriate to the job, and ask them how they would approach it. This gives me insight to how they think.

I also set them a work / personal interaction situation to see how well they fit into the culture.