> To keep it simple: If you could ask a candidate for a network admin > job one thing, just ONE THING, what would you ask? (And why would you > ask * that *?) Or to ask the same thing another way: Thinking over > your career, what do you WISH you'd asked? >
Once they have passed the basic technical questions to make sure they didn't fudge their resume, I tend for more abstract questions. So for every interview I have done I ask the candidate "If you could be any kitchen appliance, which one would you be and why?". The question serves multiple purposes: - Can they think on their feet? Since this question is rarely heard of (so far), it catches people of guard (and many of the initial reactions have been priceless). This gives some measure of how they respond to a situation they've never seen or heard before. I rarely measure time, but if they give up easily that doesn't fare well. If they give the name of an appliance and can't come up with at least a basic reason why, then I would worry if they would just spew answers to customers/coworkers with no comprehension of why they were giving that answer. I've actually had a CIO candidate refuse to answer the question. Since he had pondered for a while before that, everyone came to the conclusion that he would not do well when things hit the fan. - How do they view themselves/How do they operate? For the more complete answers (i.e. more than 'cause it's cool'), you can get some sense of how they operate and/or how they view themselves. For example we had two candidates for the same position give an answer of Dish Washer. The first 'liked to throw everything in and make it clean'. The second 'liked to line everything up nice and neat, so that the water reaches every surface, etc'. The second response (and how he said it) caused some concern because it gave a sense that he preferred a degree of order that our environment just couldn't provide. Compared to the first who seemed to accept some level of chaos. - Do they have a sense of humor? Not saying you need to be relaxed and groovy all the time and recite Eddie Izzard lines. But if you can't at least smile at the little things from time to time, how are you going to fare when you deal with customers and/or co-workers? In the end with this question you really have to go with your gut. If their reaction or response raised a red flag, then chances are that they might not do well in your environment. > > Lisa will need to quote you in the article. Ideally that's name, > company, title. But if necessary we can be circumspect as long as it's > clear that the source is for-real Damion Alexander Systems Administrator Higher Ed. _______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list Discuss@lopsa.org http://lopsa.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss This list provided by the League of Professional System Administrators http://lopsa.org/
