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Subject:RE: First time interviewer! From:Richard Lippincott <richard -dot- lippincott -at- ae -dot- ge -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Wed, 12 Jun 2002 13:13:05 -0400
Radwa Darwish:
> I am about to go into the process of interviewing a peer writer that will
> join our company, currently I am the sole writer and actually this is the
> first time for me to interview someone. I would welcome your suggestions
> for
> interview quests or if there any of you already have an evaluation test
> for
> tech writers, that would be great.
>
A trick I've done while interviewing, it works if your company facilities
permit it. After a few minutes of the interview (and particularly if the
person has already sat through a similar interview with a couple of other
staff members, or managers, or HR) is to ask "Has anybody given you a tour
of our operation?" Usually they say no, and so the two of you get up and
stroll around.
If your company is nothing but a cubicle farm, this isn't as effective. But
if your company makes some form of hardware, a quick look into the
manufacturing or testing area can be useful to both of you. The candidates
get to see what the product actually looks like. You get to see how the
candidates literally "think on their feet." Also, you may be able to gage
some of the candidate's suitability based on their reactions to facing the
product. If they start commenting on your system configuration, you have a
clue regarding experience and knowledge. But if a candidate starts to cringe
and whimper, you might want to think about the next resume in the stack...
--Rick Lippincott
Saugus MA
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