Interview question

[asterix]

[QUOTE 2995400, member: 1314"]If one is wanting to find out whether a person is a "people person" though they are being interviewed for a role that requires proof-reading skills, what should one ask?[/QUOTE]

Your question is meaningless. It should be:

If one wants to find out whether a person is a "people person" though they are being interviewed for a role that requires proof-reading skills, what should one ask?

Dummkopf!

(I get the job?)

 

[PK99]

This. It works reasonably well for softer skills, and gives you a chance to probe. The theory is that future behaviour is strongly influenced by past behaviour on the leopard-not-changing-its-spots principle.

If they can turn a description into a reasonable conversation with your help then they're human. I have seen highly competent HR people conduct an hour-and-a-half competency based interview without ever directly asking a "describe" question - but for us mere mortals it's a useful way of tackling a tricky task.

A big advantage is moving from the programmed "planned question... Answer .... Planned follow up question" to a more flowing conversation and permits assessment of suitability on interview content rather that against the restrictive set of predefined criteria another poster lamented earlier in the thread.

 

[sazzaa]

A big advantage is moving from the programmed "planned question... Answer .... Planned follow up question" to a more flowing conversation and permits assessment of suitability on interview content rather that against the restrictive set of predefined criteria another poster lamented earlier in the thread.

I can't say I've ever planned questions for interviewing people. All I do is getting them in for a coffee and a chat, the cv will tell you about their skills and experience so not much need to talk about that.

 

[vernon]

I can't say I've ever planned questions for interviewing people. All I do is getting them in for a coffee and a chat, the cv will tell you about their skills and experience so not much need to talk about that.

The CV will tell an interviewer about the claimed skills and experience.....

Not talking about Paul Flowers' CV got the Co-Operative bank into one hell of a mess.

 

[sazzaa]

The CV will tell an interviewer about the claimed skills and experience.....

Not talking about Paul Flowers' CV got the Co-Operative bank into one hell of a mess.

But there's no real way to know their skills unless you give them tasks, and I can't be bothered doing that in interview.

 

[vernon]

But there's no real way to know their skills unless you give them tasks, and I can't be bothered doing that in interview.

I suppose skill assessment is not mission critical if the post is for painting dots on double blanks in a domino factory.

 

[sazzaa]

I suppose skill assessment is not mission critical if the post is for painting dots on double blanks in a domino factory.

Easier to phone a few of their former employers if you want to check skills.

 

[vernon]

But there's no real way to know their skills unless you give them tasks, and I can't be bothered doing that in interview.

Easier to phone a few of their former employers if you want to check skills.

You seem to be contradicting yourself....

 

[sazzaa]

You seem to be contradicting yourself....

I don't usually phone employers, I'm just saying it's probably easier than setting tasks, which I can't be bothered to do at an interview. So really, I rely on instinct alone. It's served me well so far, haven't taken on a complete moron yet.

 

[sazzaa]

[QUOTE 2996535, member: 1314"]We’re going to put them under a bit of pressure. They’ll have to take a 30 min proof-reading / grammar test on arriving at the office. [/QUOTE]

30 mins for proof reading is a LONG time! I do a lot of it in my job, I lose concentration after about 20 mins so take a few minutes off every 20 mins or so, I'd imagine in interview that would become a nightmare test and the results may be slightly skewed due to pressure/test being too long!

 

[Fnaar]

[QUOTE 2996535, member: 1314"] They’ll have to take a 30 min proof-reading / grammar test [/QUOTE]
I'd be genuinely interested in finding out more about the grammar test... is it a 'find the mistake' type test? Or is it a 'define a present participle' type test. I hope to god it isn't a 'Is it OK to put a preposition at the end of a sentence' type test,as those are generally sh!te

 

[Fnaar]

[QUOTE 2996576, member: 1314"]Spot the 'mistake' test.[/QUOTE]
Any chance of a few examples? PM them if you like, I won't spread them round. I just have an interest in this sort of thing.

 

[vernon]

Any chance of a few examples? PM them if you like, I won't spread them round. I just have an interest in this sort of thing.

In interest in that sort of thing you have?

Useful you'll find them I hope.

 

[sazzaa]

30 minutes for an editing/proofing test isn't unusual. That's the difference between someone who's an editor/proof reader and someone who does a bit of proof reading as part of their job. The professionals can and should be able to do it all day long.

Health and safety would no doubt advise against it though, I'm sure I've read that you're not even meant to look at a screen for more then fifteen minutes at a time! And professional or not, if you're doing your job solidly for 8 hours a day then you're either autistic or in the wrong business, I don't know anyone who does more than a few hours a day of a desk job...

 

[ColinJ]

I don't know anyone who does more than a few hours a day of a desk job...

That's a wind-up, right?

I have done many 6 or 7 day weeks, 12 hours a day in the past.

I would say that a lot of the software jobs I have done averaged 10 hours a day in front of a computer, with maybe a couple more hours work back at home.