From: Chris Larson (clarson52@comcast.net)
Date: Sat Apr 03 2004 - 03:40:51 GMT-3
Sorry. I don't think my point was very clear. So let me try again. If you
give a candidate a series of questions on skills only and the candidate
missed a couple basic items but also understood some advanced ones does it
really reveal anything other then that persons familiarity with the topic?
Does it reveal anything about an ability to perform? Without putting it into
perspective with a work history, successes over time, and references I do
not know what a skills assessment alone would say unless a candidate totally
flopped or answered everything. Even then? A technical grilling of every
skill listed on a resume without the perspective of a work history might
knock out the best performing candidates with great successes in favor of
those who may have just recently studied or someone who has a great memory
but no big picture ability, no ability to put it all together and no
experience. I don't think I need to remember all of those things. They are
skills like riding or owning a bicycle. I haven't ridden in awhile but I
can ride it. I can put the chain back on if it comes off. I can fix the
brake cable if it breaks. Can I recall what size my chain is? no. Do I
remember how many PSI my tires need? No. But I would certainly know it came
time to get on the bike, buy a new chain, fill the tires or whatever.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Chris Larson" <clarson52@comcast.net>
To: "J. Kata" <j@jkata.com>; <ccielab@groupstudy.com>
Sent: Friday, April 02, 2004 11:22 PM
Subject: Re: Bad Interview Experience
> I agree about the pressure part somewhat
>
> I know or assume you weren't making a reference to my specific situation
> but...Using my situation as an example
> ..
> I could not immedialty recall what mutlicast addy OSPF hellos and EIGRP
use.
> I mean I knew one was 224.0.0.5 and one was 224.0.0.10. I have not thought
> about it or been in front of a router in 6 months. I have done several
> succesfull design and implementation of both types of networks but
recently
> I have been doing security and project management. Does that mean I have
no
> clue or that I no longer have the skill to design and implement an OSPF
> network? Maybe it would lead you to believe I don't know what I am talking
> about and clueless..... I mean it is very basic. My resume shows a history
> of doing so successfully. Would I be lying because I suddenly couldn't
> recall? Or the invalid timer of rip. again, something I have not thought
> about in some time and escaped me in my interview. Embarrasing yes but
> relevant? Something the router gives up rather easily. Put me down in
front
> of it.
>
> Anyway...I understand the importance of the technical aspects of an
> interview but it should be balanced with history and other supporting
> information. And the interview, unless it is a stress intyerview should at
> least be cordial
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "J. Kata" <j@jkata.com>
> To: <ccielab@groupstudy.com>
> Sent: Friday, April 02, 2004 8:12 PM
> Subject: Re: Bad Interview Experience
>
>
> > It's both.
> >
> > Good for people who are honest.
> > Bad for people who are less than.
> >
> > Good for people who know what they are talking about.
> > Bad for people who don't have a clue.
> >
> > Good for people who perform well under pressure.
> > Bad for those who don't.
> >
> > etc.
> >
> >
> > - Jan
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Ian Stong" <istong@stong.org>
> >
> > > Note sure if you are suggesting it was a good thing or a bad thing
that
> > > he did that. I think it sounds like a great idea in that it would
give
> > > you insight into many aspects of the person. If they had all sorts of
> > > technical skills on their resume but couldn't answer questions about
> > > them then they may be prone to exaggeration, lying, etc. Also if you
> > > are looking for a technical person it's also a good way to weed out
> > > those who are not. I've found in interviewing people that often a
> > > resume can look great with lots of awesome looking jobs and skills but
> > > they turn out to have done little and know even less :)
> > >
> > >
> > > Ian
> > > www.ccie4u.com
> > > Cisco Lab Scenarios and Rack Rentals
> > >
> > >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: nobody@groupstudy.com [mailto:nobody@groupstudy.com] On Behalf
Of
> > > Jan K
> > > Sent: Friday, April 02, 2004 4:21 PM
> > > To: ccielab@groupstudy.com
> > > Subject: Re: Bad Interview Experience
> > >
> > > One interviewer I knew intentionally didn't read anything past the
> > > skills
> > > portion on the resume lest he become too impressed by the subject's
> > > experience (or underwhelmed).
> > >
> > > During the interview he would basically grill you on whatever you
dared
> > > to
> > > put down in your skills section, looking for weak spots and fibs. If
you
> > > passed, the interview process proceeded. If you failed, goodbye. It
was
> > > just
> > > a very efficient and meritocratic way of narrowing down the
candidates.
> > >
> > > This person, btw, had 10+ years of experience, starting out as a cable
> > > installer, and was a vp at the time working for a major bank/brokerage
> > > (csfb). He didn't have a single certification and found people who had
> > > the
> > > audacity to call themselves experts (the e in ccie) totally
unimpressive
> > > and
> > > somewhat pretentious after one of them couldn't tell him what the
> > > default
> > > enable password for Catalyst 6500's was.
> > >
> > > - Jan
> > >
> > >
> > > ----- Original Message -----
> > > From: "Chris Larson" <clarson52@comcast.net>
> > >
> > >
> > > > My VistaPrint Electronic Business CardI just thought I would throw
out
> > > an
> > > > experience I had yesterday. It was very unnerving and I wonder if
> > > others
> > > have
> > > > had similiar experiences. I have been in networking for better then
12
> > > years
> > > > but only got CCIE certified in the last year. I have had lots of
> > > interviews
> > > > throughout my carreer, most have had a technical aspect but I never
> > > felt
> > > > uncomfortable in any of them until yesterday.
> > > >
> > >
> > > <snip>
> > >
> > >
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.4 : Mon May 03 2004 - 19:48:43 GMT-3