Lisp Propulsion Laboratory log

Paolo Amoroso's weblog. Main interests: Lisp, astronomy (Moon), space exploration (Apollo and early manned programs)

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A job interviewing tip

Sunday, May 14, 2006

You send email to someone, say a coworker, in which you ask some specific questions or request information you are positive the receiver can provide. Yet the receiver answers only part -- if any -- of the questions, and doesn't give the slightest clue as to whether he/she is able to answer the missing ones, knows the answers but can't provide them for some reason, or even whether he considered the questions in the first place. You are then forced to ask the unanswered questions again by email or phone -- repeat as many times as necessary.

Sounds familiar? Why can't people just address all the issues the first time? Why do they waste so much of their and someone else's time?

The bottom line is that this is a useful job interviewing test for quickly checking how focused a candidate is. In the process of evaluating the candidate, send him/her email in which you ask:

• at least two explicit questions, i.e. sentences ending with a question mark, such as "Have you read Paul Graham's book ANSI Common Lisp?"
• at least one implicit question, e.g. "I wonder whether you were exposed to Lisp in college"
• at least one explicit or implicit question you are reasonably sure the candidate can answer, e.g. "How old are you?"