An impossible question
Alan Wanwierd
Ranch Hand
Posts: 624
posted 10 years ago
I once gave this as a question when interviewing someone for a developer job.. they were completely stumped...
The guy was nervous as all hell and I just wanted to try and find SOMETHING he could talk about without shitting himself and where there was obviously no correct answer so he wouldnt worry about being wrong...
It didnt work - he clammed up and nervously sugested "Hawaian?" but refused to follow it up with any justification... :roll: ...
Needless to say he didnt get the job.. (He should've said BBQ Chicken!
)
The guy was nervous as all hell and I just wanted to try and find SOMETHING he could talk about without shitting himself and where there was obviously no correct answer so he wouldnt worry about being wrong...
It didnt work - he clammed up and nervously sugested "Hawaian?" but refused to follow it up with any justification... :roll: ...
Needless to say he didnt get the job.. (He should've said BBQ Chicken!
)
Jeroen T Wenting
Ranch Hand
Posts: 1847
Dinesh Agarwal
Greenhorn
Posts: 18
posted 10 years ago
Adrian,
If this was the sole reason to reject a person then it is really too bad...Please refrain from asking such crappy questions in the future
..Dont think just because you are in a interviewer's position you can ask whatever you like....It makes no sense to ask such questions to a software developer..There is a good possibility that he my think you are a moron... ..Also it is a very bad publicity for your company...
[ December 09, 2006: Message edited by: Dinesh Agarwal ]
I once gave this as a question when interviewing someone for a developer job.. they were completely stumped...
The guy was nervous as all hell and I just wanted to try and find SOMETHING he could talk about without shitting himself and where there was obviously no correct answer so he wouldnt worry about being wrong...
It didnt work - he clammed up and nervously sugested "Hawaian?" but refused to follow it up with any justification... ...
Adrian,
If this was the sole reason to reject a person then it is really too bad...Please refrain from asking such crappy questions in the future
..Dont think just because you are in a interviewer's position you can ask whatever you like....It makes no sense to ask such questions to a software developer..There is a good possibility that he my think you are a moron... ..Also it is a very bad publicity for your company...[ December 09, 2006: Message edited by: Dinesh Agarwal ]
Jeroen T Wenting
Ranch Hand
Posts: 1847
posted 10 years ago
in fact you likely made him more nervous. "what if he doesn't like my favourite, it will reflect poorly on me" is a valid line of reasoning (and with the most common reason for rejection being "we don't think you would fit in our team" that's not such a poor way to reason).
As an interviewer you are in a position of considerable power. With a single word or gesture you can make or break the candidate's chances of a career in your organisation.
Anything the candidate does or says can cause you to dislike him just enough to reject him.
And he knows full well he's not the only candidate, that he's just one of many (and often he'll be told just that, to put him even more on edge).
You hold almost all the cards, he's dealt only a very small hand. And often he isn't told in advance what to expect, or even what the job will be (I've been to job interviews where I didn't even know the name of the company I'd be talking with, let alone what the work would be. It's rare but it does happen).
As an interviewer you are in a position of considerable power. With a single word or gesture you can make or break the candidate's chances of a career in your organisation.
Anything the candidate does or says can cause you to dislike him just enough to reject him.
And he knows full well he's not the only candidate, that he's just one of many (and often he'll be told just that, to put him even more on edge).
You hold almost all the cards, he's dealt only a very small hand. And often he isn't told in advance what to expect, or even what the job will be (I've been to job interviews where I didn't even know the name of the company I'd be talking with, let alone what the work would be. It's rare but it does happen).
42
Iris Hoekstra
Greenhorn
Posts: 29
posted 10 years ago
I recently went to a job interview that went very badly. I couldn't say anything sensible about any of the topics they asked me about and wondered why they'd invited me in the first place. I wish someone would have asked me about my favourite pizza (which is marinara, by the way).
I'm sure I still would not have gotten the job, but it would at least have given me something to laugh about while I was feeling badly. I'm not denying that the interviewer has a lot of power but that doesn't mean he can't lighten up the mood to cheer up the interviewee.
I'm sure I still would not have gotten the job, but it would at least have given me something to laugh about while I was feeling badly. I'm not denying that the interviewer has a lot of power but that doesn't mean he can't lighten up the mood to cheer up the interviewee.
Scott Johnson
Ranch Hand
Posts: 518
Never contaminate perfectly good pizza with that vile weed!
posted 10 years ago
I general go for either a plain cheese or a pepperoni...
As for the best (if not the most interesting) pizza that I had, was probably at the Pizza Hut in Curacao. It was an antillean pizza, which used gouda cheese instead of mozzarella, and included (if I remember correctly) sausage, ground beef, ham, black olives, onions, peppers, raisins, and tunafish.
Henry
As for the best (if not the most interesting) pizza that I had, was probably at the Pizza Hut in Curacao. It was an antillean pizza, which used gouda cheese instead of mozzarella, and included (if I remember correctly) sausage, ground beef, ham, black olives, onions, peppers, raisins, and tunafish.
Henry
Alan Wanwierd
Ranch Hand
Posts: 624
posted 10 years ago
Of course it wasnt the sole reason. The fact is that by this stage the candidate was so clammed up and uncommunicative that we were trying ANYTHING to see if he could relax and show himself to be human.
You can argue that Pizza has nothing to do with Software development and of course you'd be right - BUT the ability to talk confidently about subjects that you may or may not care deeply or know much about IS an important part of a consultants role. My instructions as an interviewer from our Managing Director were:
"Adrian, this guy seems technically like he might be ok - but I cant get him to talk or relax at all, may be he's intimidated by being interviewed by the MD? - Can you go in and talk to him and see if you can get him to communicate?"..
As such I stand by my interviewing technique - if he cant answer a gift question like that confidently then what hope does he have of impressing clients? EVERY job interview I've had has at some stage moved away from technical questions and moved into topics which are clearly just a platform to display how confidently I can express myself:
"Where was your last holiday?",
"How long have you lived in Australia?",
"What are the chances of England doing well in the next world cup?" ..
I've had all these questions and they are NOTHING to do with software development. They are however, important indicators of my oration skills and help display aspects of my personality which are important in establishing whether or not I fit into a team and would be a succesful consultant.
any candidate I interview will ALWAYS get a number of questions where I dont care what the response content is - I'm interested in presentation. If the candidate in questions believes I'm a moron for asking these questions then perhaps they dont understand the interview process all that well!
If this was the sole reason to reject a person then it is really too bad...
Of course it wasnt the sole reason. The fact is that by this stage the candidate was so clammed up and uncommunicative that we were trying ANYTHING to see if he could relax and show himself to be human.
You can argue that Pizza has nothing to do with Software development and of course you'd be right - BUT the ability to talk confidently about subjects that you may or may not care deeply or know much about IS an important part of a consultants role. My instructions as an interviewer from our Managing Director were:
"Adrian, this guy seems technically like he might be ok - but I cant get him to talk or relax at all, may be he's intimidated by being interviewed by the MD? - Can you go in and talk to him and see if you can get him to communicate?"..
As such I stand by my interviewing technique - if he cant answer a gift question like that confidently then what hope does he have of impressing clients? EVERY job interview I've had has at some stage moved away from technical questions and moved into topics which are clearly just a platform to display how confidently I can express myself:
"Where was your last holiday?",
"How long have you lived in Australia?",
"What are the chances of England doing well in the next world cup?" ..
I've had all these questions and they are NOTHING to do with software development. They are however, important indicators of my oration skills and help display aspects of my personality which are important in establishing whether or not I fit into a team and would be a succesful consultant.
any candidate I interview will ALWAYS get a number of questions where I dont care what the response content is - I'm interested in presentation. If the candidate in questions believes I'm a moron for asking these questions then perhaps they dont understand the interview process all that well!
posted 10 years ago
Perfecto adrian....
I personally have been told by candidates that I did not ask them any of the questions either technical or regarding soft skills... which they could find on the net and hence they found the whole process of being interviewed a good experience...
I also was once interviewing a person regarding OOAD and Design patterns, and could see he was a bit tensed, so asked him to draw me a class diagram of a Hen and an Egg, he had an expression on his face which was like "Duh, what an a**" but when he realized that, I expected an enswer, he got down to drawing it and in the process lightened up and we had a very valuable addition to our company.
And I am a firm beliver in the line I put in my signature......
Originally posted by Adrian Wallace:
If the candidate in questions believes I'm a moron for asking these questions then perhaps they dont understand the interview process all that well!
Perfecto adrian....
I personally have been told by candidates that I did not ask them any of the questions either technical or regarding soft skills... which they could find on the net and hence they found the whole process of being interviewed a good experience...
I also was once interviewing a person regarding OOAD and Design patterns, and could see he was a bit tensed, so asked him to draw me a class diagram of a Hen and an Egg, he had an expression on his face which was like "Duh, what an a**" but when he realized that, I expected an enswer, he got down to drawing it and in the process lightened up and we had a very valuable addition to our company.
And I am a firm beliver in the line I put in my signature......
Burkhard Hassel
Ranch Hand
Posts: 1274
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