Finding top talent can be a challenge, but these ten tips can help you get the most out of the interview process and choose the winners.
Image: Jovanmandic, Getty Images / iStockphoto
In the course of my career in IT as a system administrator, I interviewed dozens of potential colleagues. Some turned out to be stellar employees, others were average, and some turned out to be terrible recruitment errors. Unfortunately, I have occasionally met a “Dr. Jekyll / Mr. Hyde” candidate who performed well during the interview and then turned out to be an unmotivated or incompetent guy.
SEE: How to develop the capabilities of your IT team (free PDF) (TechRepublic)
This is a problem that companies should avoid as much as possible, because an inadequate employee who does not meet his deliverables and has a short list of achievements (or who is not even willing to do any work and on which they work seems never finished or properly finished) a drain. Poor employees run out of resources, morals and productivity.
Even worse, once someone is anchored in a position, it can be very difficult to remove them, at least without having to follow annoying documentation, to prepare a performance improvement plan (PIP) and to involve management and HR.
I have even seen first-hand examples in which management did not want to release a bad performer because “we could lose the position and someone who does half the job is better than no one in the role.” I was also told that a non-productive worker had a mythical medical condition and that their poor memory caused them to do as little work as possible. I have even seen situations where the employee in question had switched to management with just the right combination of manipulation to safeguard the position. Meanwhile, productive workers who are overweight are often annoyed and indignant about the employee not doing his part.
Correct the error before it happens with these ten ways to recognize good quality IT professionals during the interview process.
- They can give specific concrete examples of their performance
I played Mr. Nice Guy when interviewing candidates and just got an idea of their interests, what they had worked on and what applications and operating systems they worked with.
No more Mr. Nice guy. That easy character of mine made it possible for some filthy employees to fly under the radar. Now I ask them for very specific details about what they have designed or built, what they support and how they do it, what their daily tasks look like, and more.
It is not enough if someone says, “I have built some servers.” How did you build them? Which technology? How did you patch them up? Was configuration management software involved? How are they included in the environment? How were they documented? How did you transfer it to the user community? Details, details, details.
2. They know the conditions and language – and what they mean
I once asked an interviewee how he would solve problems with a printer connected to a Windows PC that didn’t work. After he made his way through the basics, he started discussing how to edit the Windows PC registry in a clear non-sequitur. It was embarrassing for both of us. This candidate knew exactly enough about the terminology to give an orphan greeting when answering the question, but not enough to present a coherent strategy.
Don’t fall for word salads, buzzwords or hasty recitation of acronyms such as, AWS, DNS, DHCP, SAN, NAS, etc. Make sure candidates know the technological terms and use them correctly in their descriptions of what they have been working on or are interested in .
3. They are passionate about technology
The real stars I worked with in IT don’t see it as a 9-to-5 task to sign a salary. They live and breathe it all day, all evening, seven days a week.
I’m certainly not saying that you have to find someone who wants to do his job 80 hours a week, but someone who sees IT as a hobby for which they happen to be paid is probably a desirable candidate.
I once interviewed a man who had designed and built a fantasy football website that brought him a little extra income from the advertisements involved. He told me that the money was nice, but it was nice to find out how to set up the website and get traffic to it. He wasn’t even interested or knowledgeable about football, but wanted to see if he could get it done. We hired him and he found all kinds of creative ways to help expand and improve our environment, because I could see his passion at work – and beyond.
4. Discover how they would fix technology errors
Ask candidates what they don’t like about technology – everyone has something; a pet or a problem with a known or frequently used operating system, service or device. Then ask what they would do to fix it.
The goal here is to determine whether a candidate has the drive and motivation to actually correct these problems or problems, rather than just complaining about them. And if you ask how they would remedy the situation, don’t take “not to let that happen” as an answer. See what they can think of for concrete solutions.
5. Assess their ability to work independently
Use hypothetical scenarios for a candidate to describe a subjective experience in which they could not identify or solve a particular problem. What would they do immediately?
“Ask a colleague” should be far below the list. Take it from me, hiring people whose first reaction to a difficult situation is simply to drop everything and begging a colleague for help is a serious mistake. I’ve been there and I call it dragging the sleeves. After a while it becomes unbearable and people will actively avoid this person.
I am not saying that employees should not be trained to do their job well or that they should not look for a worrying problem from a new perspective. I say essential skills are the ability to sort things out for yourself as well as possible instead of passing the dollar.
What you want to hear is that someone will investigate the problem, view the documentation (both internal and external), look at the seller’s website, consult community IT forums, contact supplier support, maybe even contact with a colleague who they know is an expert and so on.
These kinds of independent initiatives are crucial to finding someone who will be a valuable and productive team member, rather than someone who is just trying to work out the tricky things for other people who are worried.
6. Ensure that they can add value to a team
It’s great to hire someone who can work alone, but you don’t want someone to be so isolated that he can’t help and help when needed, such as coverage during a call, crisis situations or other efforts where everyone has to row in same direction.
Ask some creative questions along the lines of “Name something you have done to help your team in a difficult situation” or “What do you think is a good team?” You want answers like: “I responded to a critical situation to brainstorm with my colleagues during a difficult outage”, along with how they got the job done, and “People with unique perspectives who can all bring different strengths to the table make the group stronger. “
It is also worth asking questions such as: “Describe the types of colleagues you are the best with.” If they are really together with their colleagues and have achieved results, you will see an interesting and diverse range of answers, but if they are only interested in searching for number one, this is a challenge to provide a detailed answer to.
7. Determine how they handle deadlines
Asking for specific details about how they have tackled difficult and challenging deadlines and what their perspective is on time management can produce abundant results. Look for candidates who have gone one step further and spend the necessary time to meet critical deadlines.
That is of course not always possible, so also determine how they dealt with the situation when they knew they could not meet the deadline. Have they engaged the stakeholder or customer? Inform management? Control the situation and come up with a reasonable alternative? Or did they blow it off or point it with their fingers?
Please note that this question, like all others, can be answered accurately or inaccurately, depending on the candidate’s ability to only tell people what they want to hear. However, time management is an important feature for an IT professional and this question can help ensure that they are aware of its criticism.
8. Determine their ideal working day
Ask a candidate what their ideal working day would mean. See if their response indicates that it would include an abundance of productive examples describing how they would earn their wages. You want specific details, not just “problem solving” or “helping users”.
The answer: “Getting through the day without breaking anything” is a bad sign; it indicates a passivity and a lack of curiosity about how to manage and improve the environment to which they are assigned.
You can also ask related questions such as: “What do you do when it is quiet?” and “Would you rather be overworked or underworked?” to get an idea of their work ethics and habits.
9. Discover what they would do if they were in charge
Instead of asking the tired old cliché, “Where will you see yourself in five years?” ask what they would do if they were in charge. Which technologies would they implement? Which processes would they implement? What kind of people would they hire? What would their quarterly and annual goals look like?
It’s not that they have to think like a manager, it’s that you want to get their insights about how they would operate as a leader. You want to see what kind of vision they have, what is written on their step-by-step plan and how they implement positive changes to help the organization.
Someone only focused on dragging themselves through the working day and going home will get a very different (and less impressive) set of responses than someone who cares about the role and what they can bring.
10. Let them pass a real technology test
Depending on the role you hire, you must ensure that the candidate can prove his skills in a hands-on scenario. Have them solve a problem with an application or operating system, configure a network switch, write a puppet module or any other element that they do every day. Have the spare software or hardware (or simulation software or virtual machine) handy and available so that they can demonstrate their skills.
Hopefully these tips will help you to remove the insufficient candidates and to find the most important employees who will make your company more efficient and successful.
One last tip – make sure you thoroughly check the candidate’s credentials: the more, the better. Their references must relate to people in management roles, not just peers or friends.
Of course, not every company may provide certain information about a current or former employee, but if possible determine how the candidate managed his workload, dealt with setbacks or disruptions, and dealt with customers. Make sure you get examples of their performance, skills and professionalism.
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