Re: a question regarding resumes

[Steven Jenkins <sjenkins@ms.com>]

>I've noticed that a lot of these questions tend
>to test technical knowledge that the interviewer
>has.  Why would someone want to hire a clone of yourself?
>I try to hire someone that is better (and could replace me)
>or has a hunger for learning (and could replace me after
>some experience is gained)

I always ask a question or two that I don't know the complete answer to.  
For example, I have never used NIS+, and a candidate I interviewed had
NIS+ on his resume..so I asked him some basic questions about setting
up a tree (eg, can a slave have multiple masters? is there any kind of
failover mechanism? how does NIS+ compare with BIND using, say, the
Hesiod class? etc).

While I didn't know the answers beforehand, I was able to follow his
explanation and gauge (somewhat) his level of expertise.  I try to
always learn something from the people I interview -- and obscure
(to me) hardware or OS's almost always prompts a question from me.

I find asking those questions helps me see how a candidate might 
interact with others, as well as gauge technical level.

Steven L. Jenkins