SUMMARY - Lying Applicants

Subject: SUMMARY - Lying Applicants
From: Andrew Plato <aplato -at- EASYSTREET -dot- COM>
Date: Tue, 6 Oct 1998 12:29:01 -0700

Thank you everyone for your responses to my lying applicants post.
Generally the posts broke down into two categories:

People who had absolutely nothing constructive to say
People who had some interesting ideas.

<COUNTERPRODUCTIVE SUGGESTIONS>

Of the people who had nothing constructive, the comments were:

"Shut up. Everything you say is stupid."

"I am sick of you using this message board for your personal problems."

Maybe he meant personnel problems

"Fire all the liars."

Who would be left?

And my favorite...

"Well maybe if you respected people more, they wouldn't lie to you."

So I am to blame for people lying to me? Uhhh, that makes no sense.

<CONSTRUCTIVE SUGGESTIONS>

The useful suggestions were:

Test people.
Develop better interviewing methods.
Be more careful with who you hire (Duh!)


<MY PLAN>

Going forward I have decided to ask all applicants the same ten questions.
For your amusement, here are the questions.

1. What is SQL? How is it used? Write a simple SQL statement.

2. Describe your experience with Windows NT and UNIX systems (Linux
included). How long have you worked with these systems and how recently?

3. What is a router? A hub? A switch?

4. You have been asked to document a very complex PL/SQL package in a
very short amount of time. Describes the basic steps you would follow while
documenting this code.

5. When you first begin a project, do you focus on setting up the
document templates and style guides, or learning the technology involved
with the project.

6. Describe what polymorphism means and how it is used.

7. Do you consider style guides, templates, and document specifications
important to a project? Why?

8. You are responsible for writing a technical manual about a
transaction server. The management thinks the project is a waste of time
and money. How do you complete the project successfully?

9. What sort of programming and/or database administration skills do you
possess?

10. What is more important knowing the tools or knowing the technology?


In my initial use of these questions, I have found that they accurately test
an applicant's technical skill. Since my company specializes in very
technical documentation, it is important to know the technical skill of an
applicant.

<OTHER COMMENTS>

Another big comment was that agencies and consulting companies need to
interview people more thoroughly. This is another area where I completely
agree. Too often agencies are so eager to staff a position that they send
anyone out on the job without fully assessing their qualities. This is
definitely an area where I have been delinquent. I too fall victim to the
"must staff position NOW" thinking.

It is important to clearly define what it is the new writer is responsible
for. Moreover, it is important for applicants to know that their
responsibilities may change over time. A good interviewer/employer
communicates these issues up front.

Lastly, one thing that a lot of people commented on was how depressing the
technical writer market is these days. I completely agree with those that
said technical writing is rapidly becoming a waste dump for lazy,
ineffectual non-technical people. I can tell you that all of my clients are
so fed up with hiring technical writers that some of them are beginning to
ask their junior programmers and marketing staff to write documentation.
One of my clients has cycled through six writers this year. Each one of
them lied about their skills and when they got on-site did absolutely
nothing. One writer could not even use Word. It was truly pathetic.

<CONCLUSION>

Don't lying to people. Be nice. Eat more fruit.

Thanks for your comments. You may now return to the salt lick.

------------------------------------------------
Andrew Plato
President / Principal Lazy, Ineffectual Non-Technical Jerk
Anitian Consulting, Inc.

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