Network Engineer and Senior Network Engineers needed, DC Metro Area

, 3 min read

So we are continuing to need people at work. Interviewing has been a curse and a treat. A networking fundamentals exam and an interview with myself or an associate (or both) are the next step up from a decent resume and a phone interview pre-screen.

The exam is very telling, although seemingly simple. Staffing agencies will rave up a candidate so under-qualified that I’ve had to apologize for wasting people’s time driving to our office. Some people phone interview well and bomb in person. Some ace the test and bomb in discussion. Some ace everything and then refuse the background-check (or fail it). Government contractors ace 1/3 of the exam and leave the rest blank (I kid, I kid.).

The hated “strength/weakness” question as well as the “where do you see yourself in a year… three years… five years?” actually aren’t as dumb and obviously answered as I thought. I still hate the questions, but some times a person is so hard to read or not forthcoming that it is the only hope of determining ego and goals respectively. Ditto “what are you into besides this field?” and “describe an achievement you are proud of.” :gonk: cliche alert.

If a candidate answers every one of these questions absolutely perfectly in discussion, cool as steel, and seems like a real winner that might need some technical ramp-up for how behind their test showed, there is a 95% likelyhood that they are a sociopath and will fail the background check. Red flags should go off.

I pepper the cliches with resume buzzword skeet shooting. “Uh, you have VOIP listed here… tell me about it?” “Linux?” “VPN?”

If someone is obviously nervous at first but lightens up when hobbies or interests are discussed, they are likely human beings with real interests. This is a win.

What’s the dumbest thing you ever did in an interview? What’s the dumbest thing an interviewer has asked you or done?

  1. I filled out a questionnaire for a used record store clerk position with an honest answer to the “Have you ever stolen anything from your employer?” question: Sure, food sometimes from McDonald’s when I was in the grill section, everyone did." thinking I was being honest. :downs:

  2. Employer hiring me after arriving over an hour late to the interview (I got lost, had no cell phone, didn’t anticipate traffic well, blah blah)