IT interview questions

[Jiser]

Why thankyou

[srochford]

1) Why that particular school
2) Strengths/Weakness
5) Where you see yourself in 5 years time
6) Tell me about yourself
7) Teamworking

Jiser> i think these questions are useless and insulting, and any interviewer who asks those questions shows themselves up as someone who doesn't know about the job they are interviewing for and have no great experience of interviewing.

An interviewer certainly shouldn't go over the top with questions like this, but they're often used as an introduction just to help the interviewee get settled. Lots of candidates are very nervous and when they get "easy" questions like some of these then it just gives them a chance to relax; from then on the interviewer can ask more "real" questions.

Finding out how a person communicates is often very important - they are probably going to have to deal with a wide range of users and you're probably looking for someone who has both reasonable technical skills and social skills (with the latter sometimes being more important; most tech people can learn new tech skills far more quickly than they learn social skills.)

Even the question about "where do you see yourself" isn't a bad question. I can't see anything wrong with saying "sitting at your desk" or similar - it shows ambition (which isn't a bad thing) and a sense of humour (which is also no bad thing). 5 years is a fairly long time; few managers would be upset if someone left after 5 years so if you say you want to be somewhere else that doesn't seem unreasonable.

[browolf]

ask em what interesting computer stuff they do at home. What people do when they're not being paid to do it, is quite illuminating.

[Gatt]

We will be interviewing candidates again shortly.

Only had a quick glance at the applicants - selecting my few, then SLT went through it and decided amongst themselves who would be interviewed - so no idea who they chose and if they are the same people I did..

Last time round we asked a few technical questions (printer troubleshooting, Prioritising, Using RIS/PXE, etc) along with the usual "why do you want the job, what can you bring to the school, dealing with kids.)

Interestingly, it was advertised (unbeknownst [sp?] to me) as a "fixed term contract pending BSF review" but failed to tell the applicants how long "fixed term" is.. 6 months? a year? a WEEK?

Tho to be fair, this was put in by the LEA - not the school..

[AyatollahPies]

The answers you wish you could give. (Male)

Why do you want to work here?

You offer more money than my present employer.

Why do you think you would be suitable for the job?

I'll be your lapdog and follow your orders blindly. (At least until I've figured the place out, then I'll tell you how you should be doing YOUR job)

Where do you see yourself in 5 years time?

Most likely at another company who are offering more than you will be paying in 5 years time.

Tell me about yourself.

I'm a bloke. I drink and talk about football and women. I play Golf from time to time, then drink. i was up until 1am this morning blasting Saren to pieces and saving the Universe from annihilation by the Reapers. Did i mention I like a drink?

What are your weaknesses?

Alcohol, Pickled Onion Monster Munch and a complete lack of respect for most middle managers within public sector organisations.

If You Were an Animal, Which One Would You Want to Be?

Chas Chandler, as he brought Jimi Hendrix over to the UK.