More and more I find myself interviewing new staff for our company, with the remit being - find another you. I am currently overloaded justnow because i am multidicplinary, but i cannot seem to find anyone else who is - they are either, mechanics, programmers, electronic engineers or mechanical engineers.
What kind of questions can i ask to dig up the real interviewee? The boss wont let me base my decision to hire on the ’ do you own a raspberry pi? Or have you ever wanted to build a lifesize dalek? Questions, we get lots of people who can talk the talk because they have a degree in one thing or another, but how can i find the diamond in the rough? The guys or girls who solve problems because they want to, not because they have to. Im trying to find the people who enter challanges not to win, but because something inside them makes them NEED to know if they could do it.
Sorry its a bit of a ramble, just getting frustrated because all the interviewing with mediocre candidates eats up time that i already dont have. So in a nutshell, what formal, sensible question could i ask during an interview that could give clues that a candidate has the spark that makes them want to build,problem solve and teach others?
I like that, especially as I like that, especially as the topic can be chosen by the candidate, would let us see what they think is important. Thanks for the suggestion.
How about asking them to describe, in detail, how they would go about designing something. For example, a bomb disposal robot.
You could learn a lot about their abilities and enthusiasms from how they see the requirements, the potential difficulties, the implelentation and the proving of such a project. Leaving out something altogether (such as the means of control or power source considerations) could highlight areas of weakness.
Ask them about the design/robot experience which pleased them most, personally. It does not have to be complex, just what they did and why it pleased them.
Ask them about their worst design/robot experience. What went wrong? What did they do about that?
You will learn a lot from these questions, adaptable to almost any job type.
UK? Difficult to say, but what I will say is this.
If you are a UK based company, I own a raspberry pi, have fairly significant knowledge of computer vision system (I have worked professionally building facial recognition software), and simply love working with robots. I also have been informed today that the company I currently work for is closing business down and I have two months to find another job. I currently work in web design but tbh I am finding it quite boring and want to get back into what makes me tick, which is creating solutions that solve real world situations.
If you need a problem solver, you give me a shout.
Back when I was doing hiring for technical positions, I was flooded with un-qualified applicants that ate up a great deal of time. I made up a fairly simple basic 10-question quiz that I had them fill out 1st. If they passed the quiz, then and only then were they allowed to fill out an application. This saved a huge amount of time and I ended up only having to interview people that at least had a basic understanding of electronics.
