oct. 25. 2011 webcast conduct aninterview

Conducting a technical interview

Techniques for hiring great engineers

2

About me: Elecia White

Elecia White Logical Elegance


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More about me


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About you


5

Questions


6

Some big company tactics

Good hire

Skill

Personality

Scientific thought


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Phone screen

Strategy

Tactics


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Technical question type: BINGO


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Diversity


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In-person interviewing


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Goals

Can she do the job? Can you work with

her?


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Fuzzy questions

…


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Questions not to ask

Title VII prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin;

EPA protects men and women who perform substantially equal work in the same establishment from sex-based wage discrimination;

ADEA which protects individuals who are 40 years of age or older;

ADA prohibits employment discrimination against qualified individuals with disabilities in the private sector, and in state and local governments;

GINA prohibits employment discrimination based on genetic information about an applicant, employee, or former employee; and

The Civil Rights Act of 1991 (among other things) provides monetary damages in cases of intentional employment discrimination.

http://www.eeoc.gov/facts/qanda.html




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Technical questions!


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Technical question type: Quiz


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Technical question type: Thinking


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Technical question type: Puzzle


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Questions for me?


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Allotting time

0-3

• Small talk (refreshment, break, etc.)

3-8

• Short technical question

8-13

• Interpersonal question13-22

• Long technical question22-27

• Questions from the interviewee27-30

• Short question based on resume


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Archetypical interviewees


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Wrap up meeting


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Scoring 1-10

1. I will immediately tender my resignation if you offer this person a job.2. Extremely weak candidate. This person is likely to be a long-term drain on resources, and

may well never make the transition to being a net positive contributor.3. Weak candidate. Initially, this candidate will be a net loss, requiring training, mentoring,

constant guidance and close supervision. They may grow in time, and become a net contributor, but it is not clear when (or if) this will occur.

4. Mediocre candidate: This person demonstrated some obvious deficiencies in the course of the interview, although they were not a complete train wreck.

5. Fair candidate: This person showed no particular brilliance, but no glaring deficiencies either. They will require support and assistance, but it is reasonable to expect that they will become a useful if uninspired contributor in time.

6. Reasonable candidate: This person seems like they may become a valuable team member, after some start-up delay.

7. Strong candidate: This person is likely to become a valuable member of the team fairly quickly.

8. This is an extremely strong candidate. While not a rock star, they have an impressive breadth and depth of knowledge, and will come up to speed very quickly. Unless there is a rock star candidate in the line-up, we should very strongly consider making this person an offer.

9. This person is a rock star. They will make an immediate and valuable contribution to the company, and we are unlikely to find a better fit for this job than this candidate.

10. I will immediately tender my resignation if you do not offer this person a job.

(Taken from Phil King at http://weekendengineering.blogspot.com/.)

http://weekendengineering.blogspot.com/

http://weekendengineering.blogspot.com/


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Thank you! And happy hiring!

Elecia White

My book: Making Embedded SystemsTwitter: @logicalelegance

My company: http://www.logicalelegance.com/

http://www.logicalelegance.com/

http://www.logicalelegance.com/


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Further Reading

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oct. 25. 2011 webcast conduct aninterview

Technology