Re: a question regarding resumes

[Steven Jenkins <sjenkins@ms.com>]

>This is all well and good, but how would these questions change for an
>organization that is Computer Illiterate trying to hire a person that you're
>talking about.  What questions will they ask?  Are there outside hiring
>firms to aide you in this process? etc.

I would recommend a computer illiterate firm not try to do their hiring
on their own.  However, I have yet to deal with a headhunter firm that 
consistently provides good, well-screened candidates.  Each firm seems to 
have its own set of problems (eg, gets good techies, but they all have 
itchy feet, or poor social skills, or the firm doesn't screen technically 
at all, etc).  I would recommend negotiating with a headhunter outfit 
that would take their payment in part, say 30% upon hire, 70% after 6 
months or so.  I know, no big firm would be willing to do that -- you 
have to find an outfit that is still hungry for business.  

You could try outsourcing, but again, I've not seen that work very well
except in certain cases (usually where very senior technical people work
for the organization, and the outsourcing is used more to finish
filling headcount rather than outsource complete support units).


>
>Alan Bell
>Cal Poly State University
>> 
>> 
>> >> "Does NFS use TCP or UDP?" and "What does the -v option to grep do?" to
>> >> name two favorite questions of acquaintances. 
>> >> 
>> >hmm.. wondering if knowlege of such things as "-v option of grep" or
>> > "-bd option of sendmail" count here? You always have man to have a look, 
>> >we have such questions on exams in my Uni, but i would be surprised if 
>> >Interviewer would ask such ...
>> 
>> I've seen (and used) such questions.  However, it would probably be
>> better to ask "What are your favorite options for grep and
>> why?"  My personal answers would be like "-n show line numbers, 
>> -i case insensitive, and -v inverse match".  And then explain where
>> and why I use these.  That leaves flexibility for the
>> candidate and allows for version differences, and it gives the
>> interviewer a feel for how the candidate has used grep.
>> 
>> Interviewing is still hard, though. 
>> 
>> Steven L. Jenkins
>> 
>

Steven L. Jenkins