Re: Interview questions (maybe gettin' off topic?)

[Barry Kieffer <barry -dot- kieffer -at- EXGATE -dot- TEK -dot- COM>]

> Jane Bergen [janeber -at- CYBERRAMP -dot- NET] asked, among other things:
>
> >But what ARE some good questions to ask during a Technical
> >Communicator interview?
>
And Bob Johnson replied:

> One thing he told me... is that biggest trend in interviewing is
> "behavior-based interviewing."
> Some examples might be  "Tell me about a time when you had to complete a
> project, but
> were not getting cooperation from a SME."
>
Barry replies:

These behavior-based questions do a few quick and dirty things:

When asked a question, always an open-ended question, there is involuntary
eye movement that is truly involuntary; that is, even people born blind
exhibit this involuntary eye movement.

When people are "remembering" a Scenario in the past they will briefly look
up and to the right.

When people are "creating" a scenario they look down and to the left or
right.

Test it on someone you know well; ask them to make up a small lie when
answering your question: and watch the eyes.

Also behavior-based questions are searching for the so-called "blip". When
you ask a question like Bob listed above, look for a "blip" in eye contact.
It is hard to explain (even for this experienced tech writer) but easy to
see.

When you see the blip, follow up that question with a question that may
drill down deeper. For example, the person "blips" when they talk about how
the SME "Blew them off". OK, now ask them: "How do you react to people who
are not accessible?"

Please scold, admonish, and flame me off-line so Eric does not cyber-smack
me - I will print a retraction if one is warranted (but that rarely ever
happens!)

IMNSHO!

Barry Kieffer

Opinions?! - Oh! I got a few...


 From ??? -at- ??? Sun Jan 00 00:00:00 0000=