Technical Interview Tips 

by Sabina Nawaz

Three Ways To Find A Twinkle In Their Eye

3 keys to interviewing and hiring a candidate to die for, who you can live with- in the cubicle next to you

I have seen so many of them. They all are well dressed and pleasant. I like many but none has totally hit the mark. I really hope that he is The One.

I had flown back to the East Coast to conduct on campus college interviews sessions as a technical hiring manager on behalf of my company. By 11am I had already seen five candidates. After talking to each person, I’d recommend whether or not we fly them back for a day long interview at our headquarters. Whether on campus or in your office,
if you’ve interviewed candidates, I’m sure you’ve been where I was at this point. While it’s great to see a variety of candidates with many options from which to choose, you also really want the candidate in front of you to succeed. So you can have someone on board as soon as possible, so you can free up your calendar to do the rest of your job, and so you can delegate with confidence that it will be done well.

To help with this, wouldn’t it be great if you could measure the brilliance of the twinkle in their eyes and know your perfect candidate? Unfortunately we are not there. And so each of us develops some techniques, questions, approaches to interviewing. In addition to the specific technical questions you might pose, the points below cover three key areas to consider in helping you identify not just someone who looks good today but someone who will continue to be attractive after you have dealt with the issue threatening your next milestone. A full time hire lasts beyond your current project and might even outlast you.

It’s not just his skill but also his will

Your project was in crisis. His coding skills were superlative and he could definitely hit the ground running. You hired him. It’s been three months since he started. Number of lines of code written to date: zero. One of my hiring mistakes was someone like this. I was so bowled over by his technical prowess that I didn’t pay attention to an uneasy feeling in my gut. My gut was asking me to pay attention to the fact that he had his sunglasses on the whole time we talked. That he never described his specific contributions to a project when I probed behaviorally about his past projects. And that he obliquely blamed many different circumstances for lack of traction. Especially when you are in high need of certain skills and find yourself really excited about someone who is great in that arena, take the time to ask behavioral questions _ aimed at finding out if they’re just smart or if they also get things done. _Many people’s hiring mistakes are not because of a lack of the employee’s skill but a lack of will. We often have a barrage of skill based questions. How often do you ask will based questions?

Example questions:
•Describe your specific role and what you did on a project from start to finish.
•How did you handle unexpected situations?
•What would your manager/co-worker say was your most significant contribution to that project?

Look for:
•Specific contributions vs. generalized words like synergized, facilitated, and teamed up with.

Are others better because of her?
The twinkle in her eye might be bright because of their high IQ. But what about her EQ? Today’s business needs require more and more horizontal integration
and reliance on people across the globe. I currently coach a talented executive who is considering leaving his job because he is miserable every time he has to interact with a peer of his who I’ll call Joe. And the success of their business depends on their ability to work well together. He is not the only one. All of Joe’s peers find him challenging at best. They range from those who tolerate him and limit their interactions as much as possible to my client whose day job requires a heavy dose of Joe’s presence. The company might suffer both a business and talent casualty as a result of this non team player. Do you ask questions aimed at determining whether the candidate will be able to play well with others instead of someone who leaves a wake collateral damage?

Example questions:
•Describe a time when someone else wasn’t pulling their weight on a project that you were both on. What did you do?
•How did you handle a challenging situation with a co-worker?
•If you were to do this again, what would you do differently?

Look for:
•How accountable they are about their own actions and reactions vs. blaming others
•What they have learned through each experience
•How capable they are of challenging and changing their own assumptions and behaviors

Maybe is not an option
I loved the red in that dress. I adored the cute little piping in that jacket. And I absolutely had to have those shoes with the oversized buckles. I bought these three years ago. They still have their tags. Either because they didn’t fit just right or didn’t work with other things in my closet. When something has a spark of potential, I like to keep my options open. For as long as I can. Sometimes even longer than the expiration date for when I can return an unused and unsuitable purchase.

When interviewing candidates who are here to stay, I have to curb this desire. At the end of the interview process, if I don’t have a clear hire/no hire answer, if I’m still thinking of him as a ‘maybe’, then my answer converts to a ‘no hire’. Headcount is precious. And a bad hire will haunt you for several months if not years. If you find yourself hesitant, keep looking.

Sample questions (to ask yourself):

•What is it about this person that I concretely like?
•What is it about this person that I’m hesitant about?
•What did I not hear that I wished I’d heard during the interview?

Look for:
•Your gut reactions. What is it about the person that you may not yet have given voice to that’s making you uncertain?
•Others’ reactions – often they won’t have written it but talking to them could validate and clarify your own concerns

My day on the East Coast college campus ended at 5pm. I interviewed 14 candidates. It’s been five years since I left that company to start my own consulting practice. I’m happy to report that one of the people who I recommended as a ‘fly back’ that day still works there. She demonstrates will and not just skill, those around her love working with her, and she’s one of the first additions to new project teams.
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Sabina Nawaz is an executive coach and leadership development consultant with a global business of clients in 22 different countries and companies worth more than $100 billion. She has deep, hands-on experience having started her career in software development. Sabina brings a C-suite view into a variety of organizations around the world. To learn more about her work, or ask further questions about this article, visit http://www.sabinanawaz.com