How do you interview a familar person?

[Paul Z. Wu]

My manager let three of us in the team interview a fellow who is applying for  a full-time position.    The fellow has been working as a contractor in the team for quite a few years.   I joined the team 9 months ago and I know him very well.  I don't feel I have any questions for him since I know he has very good technical skills and team skills. This interview  to me just makes it a mere formality as the department requires --  we still have to give a list of questions and take the notes for each question.  I wish we didn't need to waste the time....




 
 
Paul Z. Wu
 
http://www.elookinto.com

[Daniel Kirkdorffer]

I would think that observable on the job performance and internal recommendations would be review enough of technical skills. That leaves team compatibility I guess. Maybe your list of questions can be asking more general questions, or asking for observations of certain situations/issues the candidate has come across, or asking why the candidate has chosen to switch from contractor to FTE?

Dan

----- Original Message -----

From: "Paul Z. Wu" <zwu_net-/***@public.gmane.org>
To: seajug-***@public.gmane.org
Sent: Monday, February 3, 2014 10:06:16 AM
Subject: [seajug] How do you interview a familar person?




My manager let three of us in the team interview a fellow who is applying for a full-time position. The fellow has been working as a contractor in the team for quite a few years. I joined the team 9 months ago and I know him very well. I don't feel I have any questions for him since I know he has very good technical skills and team skills. This interview to me just makes it a mere formality as the department requires -- we still have to give a list of questions and take the notes for each question. I wish we didn't need to waste the time....



Paul Z. Wu
http://www.elookinto.com

[Robert Hall]

I was in a situation like this a few years ago with a company that I had
been contracting at for a while..when I hit the contracting time limit,
they wanted me to come aboard as an employee, which I did. They had me
help write the job description for my position and I knew the interview
questions as I had been an interviewer for other hires on my team
previously...was kind of a strange experience.

R

Post by Daniel Kirkdorffer
I would think that observable on the job performance and internal
recommendations would be review enough of technical skills. That leaves
team compatibility I guess. Maybe your list of questions can be asking
more general questions, or asking for observations of certain
situations/issues the candidate has come across, or asking why the
candidate has chosen to switch from contractor to FTE?
Dan
------------------------------
*Sent: *Monday, February 3, 2014 10:06:16 AM
*Subject: *[seajug] How do you interview a familar person?
My manager let three of us in the team interview a fellow who is applying
for a full-time position. The fellow has been working as a contractor
in the team for quite a few years. I joined the team 9 months ago and I
know him very well. I don't feel I have any questions for him since I know
he has very good technical skills and team skills. This interview to me
just makes it a mere formality as the department requires -- we still have
to give a list of questions and take the notes for each question. I wish
we didn't need to waste the time....
Paul Z. Wu
http://www.elookinto.com
._,___

[Daniel Kirkdorffer]

Maybe Goerge would like to chime in with his relatively recent similar
situation that had quite a different outcome? Still boggles the mind to
think of it, but I'll let him choose to relate it or not.

Dan


-----Original Message-----
From: seajug-***@public.gmane.org [mailto:seajug-***@public.gmane.org] On Behalf Of
Robert Hall
Sent: Monday, February 03, 2014 2:49 PM
To: seajug-***@public.gmane.org
Subject: Re: [seajug] How do you interview a familar person?






I was in a situation like this a few years ago with a company that I had
been contracting at for a while..when I hit the contracting time limit, they
wanted me to come aboard as an employee, which I did. They had me help
write the job description for my position and I knew the interview questions
as I had been an interviewer for other hires on my team previously...was
kind of a strange experience.

R



On 3 February 2014 12:15, Daniel Kirkdorffer <dankirkd-***@public.gmane.org> wrote:







I would think that observable on the job performance and internal
recommendations would be review enough of technical skills. That leaves
team compatibility I guess. Maybe your list of questions can be asking more
general questions, or asking for observations of certain situations/issues
the candidate has come across, or asking why the candidate has chosen to
switch from contractor to FTE?


Dan


_____

From: "Paul Z. Wu" <zwu_net-/***@public.gmane.org>
To: seajug-***@public.gmane.org
Sent: Monday, February 3, 2014 10:06:16 AM
Subject: [seajug] How do you interview a familar person?







My manager let three of us in the team interview a fellow who is applying
for a full-time position. The fellow has been working as a contractor in
the team for quite a few years. I joined the team 9 months ago and I know
him very well. I don't feel I have any questions for him since I know he
has very good technical skills and team skills. This interview to me just
makes it a mere formality as the department requires -- we still have to
give a list of questions and take the notes for each question. I wish we
didn't need to waste the time....







Paul Z. Wu

http://www.elookinto.com <http://www.elookinto.com/>

._,___

[Dan Paik]

I've been at some companies where even if the person has been working there
for awhile as a contractor (1 year, etc.), they still put the person
through a standard interview loop. This is at larger companies where the
person might switch to another team within the company at a later time so
they want to ensure that the person meets the full time hiring bar properly.

It is a little awkward if the person's co-workers now interview them but I
think this is standard for most large companies. They don't want
contracting to be a side door / back door into the company.

Post by Daniel Kirkdorffer
Maybe Goerge would like to chime in with his relatively recent similar
situation that had quite a different outcome? Still boggles the mind to
think of it, but I'll let him choose to relate it or not.
Dan
-----Original Message-----
Of *Robert Hall
*Sent:* Monday, February 03, 2014 2:49 PM
*Subject:* Re: [seajug] How do you interview a familar person?
I was in a situation like this a few years ago with a company that I had
been contracting at for a while..when I hit the contracting time limit,
they wanted me to come aboard as an employee, which I did. They had me
help write the job description for my position and I knew the interview
questions as I had been an interviewer for other hires on my team
previously...was kind of a strange experience.
R

Post by Daniel Kirkdorffer
I would think that observable on the job performance and internal
recommendations would be review enough of technical skills. That leaves
team compatibility I guess. Maybe your list of questions can be asking
more general questions, or asking for observations of certain
situations/issues the candidate has come across, or asking why the
candidate has chosen to switch from contractor to FTE?
Dan
------------------------------
*Sent: *Monday, February 3, 2014 10:06:16 AM
*Subject: *[seajug] How do you interview a familar person?
My manager let three of us in the team interview a fellow who is
applying for a full-time position. The fellow has been working as a
contractor in the team for quite a few years. I joined the team 9 months
ago and I know him very well. I don't feel I have any questions for him
since I know he has very good technical skills and team skills. This
interview to me just makes it a mere formality as the department requires
-- we still have to give a list of questions and take the notes for each
question. I wish we didn't need to waste the time....
Paul Z. Wu
http://www.elookinto.com
._,___

--
Robert Hall

[Daniel Kirkdorffer]

That doesn't make sense to me. I mean if you've been working at a place for
a significant period of time, not only do you have a body of work for them
to assess you by, but inside people they can talk to for input about it.

If you're doing a good job, but flunk an interview surely that should
suggest that the interview process might need reconsideration, not your
ability to do a good job.

I remember the first company I worked at, a large utility in Chicago,
established new candidate tests and asked existing employees to go through
the tests to evaluate the procedures. Turned out a significant number
flunked the new tests.


-----Original Message-----
From: seajug-***@public.gmane.org [mailto:seajug-***@public.gmane.org] On Behalf Of
Dan Paik
Sent: Monday, February 03, 2014 8:34 PM
To: seajug-***@public.gmane.org
Subject: Re: [seajug] How do you interview a familar person?






I've been at some companies where even if the person has been working there
for awhile as a contractor (1 year, etc.), they still put the person through
a standard interview loop. This is at larger companies where the person
might switch to another team within the company at a later time so they want
to ensure that the person meets the full time hiring bar properly.

It is a little awkward if the person's co-workers now interview them but I
think this is standard for most large companies. They don't want
contracting to be a side door / back door into the company.






On Mon, Feb 3, 2014 at 6:58 PM, Daniel Kirkdorffer <dankirkd-***@public.gmane.org>
wrote:







Maybe Goerge would like to chime in with his relatively recent similar
situation that had quite a different outcome? Still boggles the mind to
think of it, but I'll let him choose to relate it or not.

Dan


-----Original Message-----
From: seajug-***@public.gmane.org [mailto:seajug-***@public.gmane.org] On Behalf Of
Robert Hall
Sent: Monday, February 03, 2014 2:49 PM
To: seajug-***@public.gmane.org
Subject: Re: [seajug] How do you interview a familar person?






I was in a situation like this a few years ago with a company that I had
been contracting at for a while..when I hit the contracting time limit, they
wanted me to come aboard as an employee, which I did. They had me help
write the job description for my position and I knew the interview questions
as I had been an interviewer for other hires on my team previously...was
kind of a strange experience.

R



On 3 February 2014 12:15, Daniel Kirkdorffer <dankirkd-***@public.gmane.org> wrote:







I would think that observable on the job performance and internal
recommendations would be review enough of technical skills. That leaves
team compatibility I guess. Maybe your list of questions can be asking more
general questions, or asking for observations of certain situations/issues
the candidate has come across, or asking why the candidate has chosen to
switch from contractor to FTE?


Dan


_____

From: "Paul Z. Wu" <zwu_net-/***@public.gmane.org>
To: seajug-***@public.gmane.org
Sent: Monday, February 3, 2014 10:06:16 AM
Subject: [seajug] How do you interview a familar person?







My manager let three of us in the team interview a fellow who is applying
for a full-time position. The fellow has been working as

[Dan Paik]

I don't disagree actually.

But the logic that current employees should always be able to get hired
into the company that they work for is probably a little bit flawed.

When I went to school to get my MBA, one of the messages that the Dean
would always say (to get us to keep donating money after we graduate) was
to keep increasing the value of our degrees. He would say that the best
compliment is for us to say 10 years down the line "gee, I would never get
in if I had to apply now."

At my current company, we more or less say the same thing. Each hire
should raise the bar meaning that every new hire should be better than our
average employee so as time goes on the bar goes up (does not stay still)
so our employees need to continue to grow and improve with the company.
Employees regularly say "I don't know if I'd get hired if I had to
interview again" and that's not necessarily a bad thing.

As for this situation, I think it's relatively common at most large
companies. I thought it was a little odd at first since the whole point of
a job interview is to try to predict how that candidate will do if he/she
worked here and if they actually worked here you already have those data
points. Contract-to-hire might be the most ideal situation for companies
if the employee would actually agree to do that but then again, companies
interview rather than simply give everyone a chance.

Dan.

Post by Daniel Kirkdorffer
That doesn't make sense to me. I mean if you've been working at a place
for a significant period of time, not only do you have a body of work for
them to assess you by, but inside people they can talk to for input about
it.
If you're doing a good job, but flunk an interview surely that should
suggest that the interview process might need reconsideration, not your
ability to do a good job.
I remember the first company I worked at, a large utility in Chicago,
established new candidate tests and asked existing employees to go through
the tests to evaluate the procedures. Turned out a significant number
flunked the new tests.
-----Original Message-----
Of *Dan Paik
*Sent:* Monday, February 03, 2014 8:34 PM
*Subject:* Re: [seajug] How do you interview a familar person?
I've been at some companies where even if the person has been working
there for awhile as a contractor (1 year, etc.), they still put the person
through a standard interview loop. This is at larger companies where the
person might switch to another team within the company at a later time so
they want to ensure that the person meets the full time hiring bar properly.
It is a little awkward if the person's co-workers now interview them but I
think this is standard for most large companies. They don't want
contracting to be a side door / back door into the company.

Post by Daniel Kirkdorffer
Maybe Goerge would like to chime in with his relatively recent similar
situation that had quite a different outcome? Still boggles the mind to
think of it, but I'll let him choose to relate it or not.
Dan
-----Original Message-----
Behalf Of *Robert Hall
*Sent:* Monday, February 03, 2014 2:49 PM
*Subject:* Re: [seajug] How do you interview a familar person?
I was in a situation like this a few years ago with a company that I had
been contracting at for a while..when I hit the contracting time limit,
they wanted me to come aboard as an employee, which I did. They had me
help write the job description for my position and I knew the interview
questions as I had been an interviewer for other hires on my team
previously...was kind of a strange experience.
R

Post by Daniel Kirkdorffer
I would think that observable on the job performance and internal
recommendations would be review enough of technical skills. That leaves
team compatibility I guess. Maybe your list of questions can be asking
more general questions, or asking for observations of certain
situations/issues the candidate has come across, or asking why the
candidate has chosen to switch from contractor to FTE?
Dan
------------------------------
*Sent: *Monday, February 3, 2014 10:06:16 AM
*Subject: *[seajug] How do you interview a familar person?
My manager let three of us in the team interview a fellow who is
applying for a full-time position. The fellow has been working as

[Dennis Sosnoski]

Post by Daniel Kirkdorffer
Message
...
I remember the first company I worked at, a large utility in Chicago,
established new candidate tests and asked existing employees to go
through the tests to evaluate the procedures. Turned out a
significant number flunked the new tests.

Which could indicate either that the tests were inappropriate or a
significant number of the existing employees were unsuited to the work.
I'm guessing you mean the former. :-)

- Dennis

[Eric Jain]

Post by Paul Z. Wu
I wish we didn't need to waste the time....

Definitely a waste of time. Unless the interview is supposed to be some
kind of hazing ritual, in which case it is both a waste of time and also
stupid :-)

[Aeden Jameson]

Sounds like you should hire the guy.

Post by Eric Jain

Post by Paul Z. Wu
I wish we didn't need to waste the time....

Definitely a waste of time. Unless the interview is supposed to be some
kind of hazing ritual, in which case it is both a waste of time and also
stupid :-)

[Konstantin Ignatyev]

Unless the purpose of formal interview is to reject full time application ;)

Post by Aeden Jameson
Sounds like you should hire the guy.

Post by Eric Jain

Post by Paul Z. Wu
I wish we didn't need to waste the time....

Definitely a waste of time. Unless the interview is supposed to be some
kind of hazing ritual, in which case it is both a waste of time and also
stupid :-)

--
Konstantin Ignatyev

PS: If this is a typical day on planet Earth, humans will add fifteen
million tons of carbon to the atmosphere, destroy 115 square miles of
tropical rainforest, create seventy-two miles of desert, eliminate between
forty to one hundred species, erode seventy-one million tons of topsoil,
add 2,700 tons of CFCs to the stratosphere, and increase their population
by 263,000

Bowers, C.A. The Culture of Denial: Why the Environmental Movement Needs a
Strategy for Reforming Universities and Public Schools. New York: State
University of New York Press, 1997: (4) (5) (p.206)