Comment:     by Nilanjan Bhattacharya 3/21/2005 Very nice article. In this you mention "I want to verify a candidate understands a variety of testing techniques and can quickly develop a variety of small tests." Can you point me to a description of the "testing techniques" that you would expect a candidate to know? Author's Response: 3/22/2005     Nilanjan, of course, the only right answer is "it depends," because the testing techniques you want to know if a candidate knows how to use depends on your product. That said, I almost always want to know that a candidate knows about equivalence class partitioning, boundary value anaylsis, and combinatorial testing at a minimum.
	Comment:     by Negel Walker 9/16/2004 Excellent article. Picked up some pointers myself. I'm interested in the writer mentoring me as I am a rookie test manager in a totally new environment and industry and the people I manage as well as Sr. Executives I report to lack initiative and sense of urgency. Need some helpful tips Author's Response: 9/20/2004     Negel, I'm glad you found something useful. If you have other questions, send me email.
	Comment:     by David Ball 9/14/2004 During our auditions, we purposefully leave huge gaps in the information delivered to the candidate to test how well they can extract information from the program managers. Often the specifications are reviewed by testing to determine how complete they are. Testers must be able to perform the interrogation necessary to extract critical testing points, in addition to creating appropriate test cases. Some of the best candidates will actually "lock up" because they think of so many questions. I watch out for candidates who make giant assumptions and begin creating test cases immediately. Author's Response: 9/20/2004     David, that sounds like a good technique because it mirrors the real world.
	Comment:     by neill mccarthy 9/9/2004 I like and have used, as well as gone through the "audition" approach in interview. I find these effective as another part of the selection process. I agree the aim of focusing on the behaviours and thought processes is the most valuable part. Some candidates I have hired in the past came up with solutions that we had not envisaged and had very effective ways of getting to an end result that was viable that we had not imagined. They were hired as the behaviour though it did not fit my concept definately added value to the group. I also find it is useful to get a few people in the test group up to speed to do the auditions, so that we do...Read On Author's Response: 9/9/2004     Neill, it sounds as if you've used auditions to good effect. I liked your comment about a behavior not fitting your original idea -- but adding value anyway. People who aren't just like (or think just like) the rest of the group can add substantial diversity.
	Comment:     by Vish Bhinge 9/9/2004 This is a nice article. In our company, to recruit testers, we have developed an objective type test, and in the personal interview, we give small scenarios to write test cases/scenarios. The scenarios for test cases are very simple one - like checking Hotel telephone system, Bank withdrawal, electricity meter reading and calculation etc. We have found that many people are able to answer questions related to theory or concepts of testing, but when they are asked to write test cases in the personal interview, their real potential as thinker and effectiveness in testing comes out. Vish Bhinge Author's Response: 9/9/2004     Vish, yes -- asking people to do something relevant to the job separates the talkers from the doers.
	Comment:     by Brian Colcord 9/8/2004 Auditions are a great tool that I have used for years. Lately though I have had to change the process slightly. If working with vendors, you have to have several scenarios ready. Often when a candidate completes an interview, vendors like to know the questions so they can share them with the next candidate. Not only is that unfair to the candidates, it makes our job difficult to choose the right candidate. Author's Response: 9/9/2004     Brian, having several questions and auditions is useful - whether you're interviewing from one vendor or a bunch of independents.
	Comment:     by Jonathan Bach 9/7/2004 Right on target, Johanna! As a hiring manager, I use auditions exclusively and find that they give me the best idea of what a tester can do. But despite the success of this technique, I worry that I may be placing too much pressure on introverted candidates. If someone is quiet in the interview, can't think out loud or articulate well, I begin to doubt their abilities and lean toward a no-hire decision. I've heard you caution managers against hiring clones of themselves, and I know the value of diverse perspectives on a team, but how can I tailor my extroverted interviewing style to make the quiet ones feel more comfortable without...Read On Author's Response: 9/8/2004     Jon, what a great question. For auditions this is easy. First, look at your work context. Do people tend to work alone, or do they work together in pairs? Even people who work on teams may work alone. If your staff work in pairs, then make the audition a pair-kind of work. If your staff each works alone and then reports their findings to the rest of the team or a project manager, set up the audition so the candidate works alone and reports the results to you. If your staff work in combination, make the audition two parts -- and I'd put the work alone part first, just to put people at ease. Even introverts know they have to talk during interviews. But you're right, some people don't think while they talk -- they need to think before they talk. If you ask people how they prefer to do the audition, "Would you like some time to think and then tell me what you found, or would you prefer to walk me through your thinking as you go?" you'll have a good chance of a great audition -- seeing people work according to their preferences on your product.
	Comment:     by Richard Whitehead 9/7/2004 With all sorts of technical interviews, it is best to come up with a set of questions that you pose to all candidates, to standardize the interview when it might be executed by different interviewers. You incorporate this audition principle by making one or two of the questions somewhat open-ended. This is very useful when interviewing developers, but for testers, it's really quite the best way to sort the sheep from the goats. You can very easily see who's learned the buzzwords and who's actually been doing the work. Author's Response: 9/8/2004     Richard, when I first started managing groups and hiring people, I used to think we needed all the same questions so we could scientifically compare each candidate. I stopped that when it became clear to me that in the hands of each interviewer, each question sounded a little different. I deal with the differences in interviewer style with the follow-up interview team meeting after the interview. I agree, that behavior-description open-ended questions plus auditions are the best technique to determine what people really know -- versus what they know about.
	Comment:     by Gene Fellner 9/7/2004 You can apply the audition principle to applicants for jobs of any sort. I was blind-sided by one twenty years ago when applying for a management position. The scenario was: You have two equally qualifed candidates for a promotion. The man has a year or two more tenure with the company, but H.R. says you have to give the woman the job to meet the Affirmative Action quota. (I said this was a while back. ^_^ ) The woman is single and the man has a family to support. You know he's going to ask you, "How am I supposed to explain this to my wife?" I came up with the answer on the spot by plugging my own wife into the story: "Tell her, 'Honey, you...Read On Author's Response: 9/7/2004     Gene, what a great answer! Yes, auditions are for every position. I would describe your situation as more of a hypothetical question rather than an audition. Hypotethetical questions have their place, but they don't show you an applicant working. Although in this case, maybe the ability of the manager to think quickly *was* part of the requirements for a job and therefore an audition.
	Comment:     by Lakshminarayan TV 9/7/2004 It was a very relevant article. I think audition is one of the very good ways to understand the candidate better so that it will help in better decision making abt his candidature. Even i have conducted many interviews,although i havent used audition the way it is described,i used to devise interesting scenarios and questions and ask the candidates to understand their depth and knowledge. this will also help in making the requiremnets clear since we would be requiring finer details abt how each candidtae will be utilized if he is selected,many a times requirements are not very clear. Author's Response: 9/7/2004     Lakshminarayan, I agree with you. Many times the job description is vague or unclear. Auditions will help you differentiate among candidates -- always a useful technique.

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