Re: Interviewing experiences with novice interviewers

> Slightly off topic, but I am interested in interview technique.
>
> Neither the candidate nor the interviewer wants to waste time and a
> structured, planned interview is one way to best ensure this.
>
> Apart from a chatty preamble, I ask candidates the same questions and
> compare them on the answers to questions that they knew, answers to
> questions that they got wrong, and response to questions that they
> don't know.
> I explain this to candidates up front, and tell them not to be
> disheartened if the questions appear unfair.
>
> This is partly a response to increasing number of phone interviews
> where candidates have prepped answers to common technical questions
> (and are googling with Cone of Silence over the keyboard :-) )
>
> The questions are intentionally increasingly obscure to push into
> i-dont-know territory. I like an explanation of the system statistic
> /transaction rollbacks /for instance, /enq: TM - contention, /things
> like that.
> Once there, you get a better idea of how someone deals with pressure
> and how well someone acknowledges that they don't know something; but
> know how to find out.
>
> I judge the third ("I dont know, but....") most seriously; the breadth
> of what an oracle professional now deals with is huge, and I am very
> dubious of anyone that claims subject matter expertise on the entire
> product.
>
> I also dislike technical jargon and any language that attempts to
> obscure clear meaning: whenever I hear the word "solution" I ask them
> to describe it using any other word.
>
> Attempting to bounce technical questions back at an interviewer is
> counter-productive I think. Iit is not necessary for an interviewer to
> have more expertise on a topic in order to judge the quality of your
> response, both immediately and in retrospect while comparing with
> other candidates responses. If the interviewer does not appear to be
> recording your responses seriously then I'd feel free not to take them
> seriously either.
>
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