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1. ta988+(OP)[view] [source] 2020-12-15 03:22:07
How do you test for those social skills?
replies(1): >>linuxh+Qd
2. linuxh+Qd[view] [source] 2020-12-15 05:55:18
>>ta988+(OP)
IMHO, part of the technical questions is to evaluate reactions. Perhaps I disagree with a solution. Or I do not give all the information needed to solve a problem so the person has to ask. Or I give hints on the way and see how receptive the person is. And so on.

After that it's just part of the conversation. Probing the resume. And asking some of these question flat out. I also discuss real practical problems/challenges we have at work, most of which require a team to work together.

We also (used to pre-covid) take the person for lunch and decidedly talk not about work at that time.

Of course it's different between an engineer fresh from college and a seasoned software engineer or architect.

In the end, I think interviewing is itself a skill one needs to train. Just having a person solve some brain-teasers doesn't cut it. I have _way_ more teams, co-founders, etc, fail due to social issue rather than technical skills.

And I am by no means presuming that I'm good at it, just that these are things I look for.

An important part I forgot to mention in the first post that the person is interviewing the company as much as we interview the person. So we leave a significant amount of time for asking questions about the company... and try to make a good impression.

(Sorry for the essay.)

replies(2): >>tensor+xf >>ta988+iR
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3. tensor+xf[view] [source] [discussion] 2020-12-15 06:17:21
>>linuxh+Qd
There are actually a fair amount of scientific studies on good interview practices. The book "Becoming the Evidence-Based Manager" gives a nice summary of many of them.

I'll spoil a bit of the book though. Free form "coffee interviews" or lunch interviews are the worst possible types. They introduce a ton of bias into the process that's not related to job performance.

replies(1): >>ta988+wR
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4. ta988+iR[view] [source] [discussion] 2020-12-15 13:06:52
>>linuxh+Qd
Dn't be sorry, I'm glad you explained that. I've been involved in some hiring and my workplace isn't equipped at all to deal with those questions properly...
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5. ta988+wR[view] [source] [discussion] 2020-12-15 13:08:20
>>tensor+xf
Thanks for the reference, added that to my Tsundoku.
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