Important Applicant Skills, revisited

[franzh]

To add fuel to my previous post, I would like to toss in modern grammer, or the lack of it. Do you judge the applicant by their command of the spoken language?

Take a look at this:
"Me and her gone to the store." Followed by "Me and him done this."
ARGGGHHH!
When I listen to what I think is a skilled professional and this simple comment comes out, they lose all credibility with me. Am I alone? I am told I am too critical, that this is the way people talk today (sorry, not me).
Choose your language of choice, I am sure it is universal.
Franz

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[IRstuff]

While there is indeed a range of acceptability in different cultural circles, an applicant that is unable or unwilling to recognize that "What's up, dog?" is currently unacceptable when addressing his interviewer is in serious trouble.



TTFN

 

[BobPE]

IRSTUFF:

That is 'sup dawg...you are showing your age dare I say....LOL

BobPE

 

[IRstuff]

I just wanted to make sure that other old fart's could understand it ;-)

TTFN

 

[mshimko]

This thread made me think back not only to when I was fresh out of college, but all the way back to early high school.

I've always been technically inclined, and as typical with many of us, suffered from a combination of not caring about writing, and being "grammar challenged".

It was about a year after college that I got I finally got “IT” through my thick skull; “IT” being that the technical content of what I wrote wasn’t even read if it wasn’t written properly, with ZERO error!

I’m still not the world’s greatest writer, but even I will notice “minor” errors in reports, findings, and resumes. These matter to me. More importantly, they matter to my customers. I therefore always query hiring candidates on their writing aptitude, and find an excuse to require them to provide a writing sample (one that wasn’t prepared ahead of time by someone else).

 

[HgTX]

I could definitely see asking someone to bring an example of a report they've prepared, for example, because that would be relevant to the job they're interviewing for. Do many interviewers do this? I haven't heard of it, and it makes sense.

Do you really need them to do on-the-spot writing, though? Asking for a report that THEY have prepared should be the same as asking for a design that THEY have done, and the same suspicion or lack thereof about outside help should apply. What kind of assignments do you give? Do they actually have to sit & write longhand?

Hg

 

[mshimko]

Hg - My previous post is evidence I'm still not always clear when I write

I'll ask them to provide a sample of their writing, in a day or two by email. I will accept a previously written report as long as the candidate is the primary authore (knowing I have no way to verify this); but I prefer they write something short but new, such as a one page (MAX) description of a project that I (as an outsider) can understand.

If I get a well written summary in a day or two, I know the candidate can write. If I get a poorly written summary in a week or two, I don't hire.