Taking Interviews

Taking interviews is an experience in itself. Different companies place different requirements for recruiting candidates. We need to check out different things. The question is: How do we check those?

Here is my guide on how to check out different aspects of the prospective candidates:

Stability: Ask the candidate about his future plans. Whether they want to study further or not is enough for fresh candidates. For ex. if they say they would go for MBA after 2 years, then check your requirements whether two year is an enough interval for them to be helpful to the company. Past record can tell about experienced candidates.

Gets stuck: Keep on increasing the standard of the questions till the candidate gets stuck. For ex. Ask them what is 5 * 5. Then ask them what is 7*7. Then 11*11. Keep on increasing this level till they are unable to answer. Lets say they get stuck when you ask them 59*51. Does the candidate give up without thinking? Do they try something logically like 59*51 = 59*(50+1) = 2950 + 59 = 3009? If they do, then they are a Thumbs Up on this one. They got stuck and they managed to get their way out.

Seek Help and Move forward: Grill them on one of your favorites. For ex. take them out for a treasure hunt where each next stage depends on the answer of the previous. Check how many stages they are able to cross themselves! Once they get stuck, do they remain stuck forever or do they ask for your help? If they do, do they do it immediately without thinking. If yes, Thumbs Down. If not, then give them hints. Are they able to understand the hints and work logically forward. If yes, Thumbs Up.

Team Work: Tell them that they have to answer a question on How much is 11*Z. Z is an input that they require from a team member but the team member is a little slow and thats why your dates are getting slipped? How will they solve this problem?

Confidence: Try and test their skills on how sure they are about what they speak. For ex. Ask them how much is 5*5. If they answer 25, ask them Are you Sure? If they say it with confidence, ask them again. If they are again sure, they are one up. Then look out for a question where they are wrong. For ex. Ask them how much is 9*11. If they answer 98, ask them Are you Sure? If they say it with confidence, then they are Thumbs Down on this one. They would be putting bugs here and there without bothering to ask whats right or wrong. If they rethink, then they are a Thumbs Up on this one.

Communication Skills: Ask them to explain something which they are very comfortable but you are not. If you are able to understand, it means the candidate can explain what he knows well to a person who does not know it. Then ask them to explain a thing they do not know and maybe you know. For ex. Ask them to visualize how Alps look like? If they explain it well, they are a Thumbs Up when it comes to explaining both things they know and things they might not.