IT Manager's Handbook: Getting Your New Job Done (23 page)

•
If you're interviewing someone who will have management or supervisory responsibility, it isn't unheard of for them to meet with some of the people who will be their direct reports.

Including other interviewers makes the process more complicated and adds more time, but it's well worth it. you'll find that multiple interviewers, collectively, are more selective than any one of you individually. That's a positive thing. It increases the chances that when you do agree on a candidate, it will turn out to be a good one. Also, allowing other members of the department to participate in the interviewing process demonstrates to your team that you respect their opinions and that you're interested in hiring someone who will fit well into the team. Lastly, anyone you involve in the decision is less likely to criticize the choice later.

You may not want to bring in other people (or be directly involved yourself) until a certain stage in the process; some job postings generate hundreds of responses and require an aggressive filtering process before the first interview is held. If you are going to have people help you with interviewing, plan
when
you want their help before you contact them.

A Different Perspective on the Same Candidate

One of the coauthors was interviewing a candidate who seemed to be a good fit for a position. The candidate was brought back to meet several of his peers-to-be for interviews. On this second round, all the male interviewers thought favorably of this candidate, but the one female interviewer had misgivings and thought that something was amiss. She suggested that the candidate may have a problem working with women. The candidate was brought back to meet with another female interviewer who took an instant dislike to the candidate. It will never be known if the candidate did indeed have a problem with women. But, the important thing here is that different people do have different perceptions and insights. Consider that an asset and tool at your disposal. The candidate was rejected.

Key Concepts for a Good Technical Interview

Technical interviews are needed to help judge if a candidate has the appropriate skill level for the job. However, it's quite common for IT Managers to lack the knowledge base for conducting in-depth technical interviews. This is most frustrating if you're interviewing for a position that reports directly to you. In some cases, you can have others within the IT organization conduct technical interviews. Also, it's common to hire a consultant to conduct technical interviews with candidates you're interested in.

Don't be ashamed that you don't have detailed technical expertise. you're
never
going to have all the expertise that your team does—the IT world is changing too fast. Also, because you're a manager, you may no longer be spending your days doing the hands-on work you did just a few months or years ago. Find out what the key issues are for the technical area that you're interviewing for. Talk to some of your other employees; they may know some of the key topics.

Do Some Preliminary Reading

Research particular topics of concern on the Web or in print materials. Even if you don't ask specific technical questions, you can ask a candidate about important issues associated with his area of expertise. What does he think of a particular vendor's support or quality assurance? What does she think of competing products? What about open source software? What is her prediction of the future of Linux?

Let Them Explain Technologies to You

A clever way to hide your ignorance, as well as get an education, is to ask candidates to explain certain technologies to you. “What is a subnet mask? What is meant by object-oriented programming? What do you think if IPv6? What are the pros and cons of Java versus C++?” Of course, you may not know if the candidate's answers are correct, but you'll probably be able to judge if he's just “winging it” or really has an understanding of the matter at hand. you'll also be able to determine what type of interpersonal skills he or she has: Can she articulate complex thoughts clearly? Does he come across as condescending? Are his opinions so strong that you worry he may prove to be inflexible?

Testing Candidates

You may also consider giving the employee a formal test. This could be one you develop yourself or done with the assistance of testing software. Of course, many candidates may not like taking a test because they realize that it may show particular skill deficiencies or they may be poor test takers.

But more important, testing may create an impersonal atmosphere that places more value on specific knowledge than on the individual person and their ability to contribute, accomplish, and succeed on a team. Also, testing only evaluates the mechanics of a skill. It doesn't evaluate the employee's aptitude with it nor does it evaluate the employee's other qualities, such as dedication, ability to juggle multiple priorities, and interpersonal skills.

Nonetheless, testing can be an effective technique for some positions. Jobs that have very specific and easily quantified requirements (specific software application experience, for example, or words-per-minute typing skills) are good candidates for screening tests. In addition, many jobs now get many qualified candidates and many of those candidates are willing to fudge their abilities; testing can level that playing field.

You should have a standard test with an answer key. If you have a very small department or company and you can't develop your own test, call in a consultant to help you craft one. Having the test results readily available can also give your technical staff something concrete to discuss with the candidate—it forges an instant bond if the chemistry is there.

Are “Profile” or “Personality” Tests Useful?

“I have found these tests—which we call ‘Profile tests,’ by the way, because ‘Personality tests’ are
not
what they are—to be an extremely useful hiring and management tool.

Here are some things to consider if you are going to try them:

•
The ‘softer’ aspects of a person can be difficult to evaluate in a two-hour interview process. These tests often reveal information that we would not have figured out until later, after the person was hired.

•
While these tests are very accurate about some items, the final decision is still up to you on how to use the information they provide. They measure raw intelligence power well, for example. However, not every job needs to be performed by a very intelligent person; at the same time, some jobs are complex, analysis-driven positions that require high IQ power just to understand. These tests can help you make that determination.

•
When we decided to use these tests, we tried them on everyone in the company first. We found them to be very good predictors of corporate behavior.

•
We use them on the second interview; the first interview is a general one, where we try to keep our commitment level and the candidates’ to a reasonable level. Sometimes, despite all the paper, it only takes a few minutes for a person and a company to figure out they are not a good match. Profile tests (which take about 45 minutes and are administered by an outside firm) are done once the first hurdle has been passed.”

—Cathy Thompson

Cofounder and Principal

Thompson, Hennessey & Partners,

Commercial Real Estate

Boston, Massachusetts

One final note of caution: some companies have strict guidelines against testing candidates. The legal implications of testing are unclear; be sure to verify with your HR department what your company allows you to do.

Interviewing Candidates over the Web

With the growth of remote workers through telecommuting and work-from-home programs, it is becoming increasingly common to first interview candidates who are not geographically close to your office location via technology before bringing them in for a face-to-face interview.

Remote interviews can be done using the web-cam capabilities of a number of different applications, everything from instant messaging (like Microsoft Live Messenger, Yahoo, Google Talk), to web-conferencing products (like WebEx, Adobe Connect), all the way up to full video-conferencing setups (like those from Polycom and Tandberg). All of these options provide voice and video capabilities, although you're always free to use traditional telephones for the voice portion.

While interviewing a candidate over the Internet is extremely cost-effective and efficient, it is not without its challenges. To ensure that the process is as smooth and effective as possible for you and the candidate, there are some guidelines to keep in mind.

•
Widely used technology.
Try to use web communication/conferencing tools that are already widely used (e.g., Skype). Not only will this minimize the chance of any technical gotchas, but it also increases the chance that the candidate already has it and is familiar with it.

•
Prep/practice time.
Be sure you give the candidates sufficient time to get familiar with the technology before the actual interview. If you will be using free software solutions from the Web, invite the candidate to try it out with family and friends to get a comfort level with it.

•
Getting started.
Encourage the candidate to relax and just be himself. Invite him to keep a glass of water nearby. If chatting for more than 30 minutes, suggest a break.

•
Appropriate environment.
Both you and the candidate should select a setting that will be away from background noise, distractions, and interruptions. Also, be aware of what will be behind you and on camera. Better that you should be sitting in front of a solid-colored wall as opposed to a window where the background activity may be distracting, or the light impacts the quality of the video image.

•
Distracting habits.
Be conscious of your own behavior. If you tend to tap your fingers, click your pen, or shuffle papers, it cannot only be a distracting visual, but the microphone will pick up the noise and add to the distraction. If you find the candidate is doing something like that, let him know that the microphone is picking it up. He'd probably rather know about it so he can stop as opposed to finding out that you were distracted during the whole interview by it. (If they do not preemptively prevent screaming children and barking dogs from the session, take that as a clear sign of how much they care about the interview.)

•
Making eye contact.
The tendency is to look at the screen image of the person you are talking to. However, when you do that, the person on the other end feels like you are not making eye contact with them. Remember to periodically look directly into the camera, both when you are talking and listening to the other person. This will help establish eye contact and a greater sense of connection. Otherwise, the candidate may get a sense that you are not terribly interested in what they are saying.

•
Speaking clearly.
Because of the limitations of audio over Internet, be sure that you speak in a manner that is easy to understand. This is especially important for those with accents, or those who are not native speakers of the language they are interviewing in.

•
Time delays.
A video or voice call over the Web can have a slight delay in the audio (similar to a cell phone call) and the video. Keep this in mind and be careful to avoid speaking at the same time the candidate is speaking. And, before responding to something a candidate has stated, take a moment or two to first see if he is actually done with his thought, or just taking a pause.

•
Making allowances.
Most candidates are nervous during an interview, and they are likely to be more nervous with a video conference. Be sure to take that into consideration if their speech and body-language aren't what you would normally expect in an interview.

•
Picture-in-picture.
Most of the Internet video-chat tools have a picture-in-picture capability so that you can see how you look on camera while you're seeing the other person. It is a good idea to use the feature to help ensure you're seen the way you want to be seen.

•
Traditional interview practices.
Just because you're interviewing on video-over-the-Web, don't forget standard interview best practices: careful listening, asking good questions, giving the employee an opportunity to talk and ask questions, etc.

•
Wrapping up.
As you wrap up the interview, ask the candidate what he thought of interviewing this way. You may get some good feedback that you can use to improve the use of the tool in the future.

•
Being sure to exit the call.
When the interview is over, be sure to exit and close the software. Otherwise, you risk the session being open and the candidate seeing and hearing what you do and say next.

A video conference over the Web is no substitute for a face-to-face interview. However, for candidates that are distant from your location, it can be an effective tool for the initial interviews and screening of candidates before going through the effort and expense of bringing them into the office.