Re: ASSISTANCE Please - Interview Questions

Subject: Re: ASSISTANCE Please - Interview Questions
From: Barry Kieffer <barry -dot- kieffer -at- EXGATE -dot- TEK -dot- COM>
Date: Wed, 21 Oct 1998 14:47:29 -0700

Greetings Leonard,

I would disagree with your comments, because the open ended questions
solicited just the type of response from you that they were intended to.

Look at the questions, then look at your responses: did the questions reveal
anything about you?

Behavioral interviewing is here to stay.

Vague open ended questions uncover hidden gems about the person.

With just a resume and yes-and-no questions, you may never know how good the
person really is.

My two cents.

Barry


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Porrello, Leonard [SMTP:leonard -dot- porrello -at- COMPAQ -dot- COM]
> Sent: Wednesday, October 21, 1998 9:47 AM
> To: TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
> Subject: Re: ASSISTANCE Please - Interview Questions
>
> Mona,
>
> I have some difficulty with the following questions:
>
> Tell me about your last company (or project).
>
> This one is too vague. What do you want to know? Do you want to bait the
> interviewee into saying that his current employers are jerks?
>
> How did you get interested in technical writing?
>
> What is the point? Why not ask a more specific question, such as what the
> interviewee thinks to be the two or three most valuable ideas in technical
> writing.
>
> What are you interested in? (Most good writers have
> a lot of intellectual curiosity?)
>
> So, your interviewee says that he is interested in turtle racing, medieval
> philosophy, and writing Taoist explications of Mother Goose. So what?
>
> What do you like (disklike) about tech writing?
>
> Are you going to also ask how the interviewee sees what he dislikes as
> fitting into the technical writing picture?
>
> Do you know anything about structured documentation?
> (or whatever your favourite technique is)
>
> If I heard this one verbally, I hear "structured documentation" as a
> proper
> noun.
>
> How do you go about getting the developers to talk to you?
>
> Why not create a scenario and ask the interviewer how he would respond?
> This
> would give you more focused feedback to work with.
>
> What is the greatest achievement of your recent career
> (look for beating a deadline, finding the impossible info,
> motivating a team, etc.)
>
> If you are looking for a specific example, why not ask a more specific
> question. "Greatest" is relative, and you should make it clear in who's
> eyes
> "greatest" would appear. For example, while meeting a difficult deadline
> is
> "great," in terms of what my company wants, in terms of what I value,
> deadlines are just a fact of life and meeting them just something I must
> do,
> not something that I take pride in. I would not feel pride in meeting a
> deadline. Not meeting them is not an option.
>
> Tell me about a time you solved a problem.
>
> This question, too, is really broad. Again, why not find a scenario or
> problem and have the interviewee solve it?
>
> I hope that this helps!
>
>
> Leonard Porrello
> Compaq, Telecom Network Solutions
> Pubs, Omaha
> 402.384.7390
>
>

From ??? -at- ??? Sun Jan 00 00:00:00 0000=




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