Translating an interview.........

I did an interview yesterday for an open position in our group. The girl that interviewed was super-smart despite only having 5 years of experience. The one problem that was evident was that she had a very heavy Indian accent which created some communication issues. We did manage to get through the whole interview and get a general feeling for her skills. A couple of notes from the interview...........

1. Folks, before you ever enter an interview, be prepared to cite a couple of weaknesses that you have in your skills. Everyone has them. The candidates that fail to cite a weakness (i.e. they claim to have never made a mistake) or cite a weakness that could also be considered a strength are usually candidates that you question whether they answered the other questions truthfully.

2. One word responses to questions are never a good idea. If an interviewer asks if you have, for instance, Java programming skills, do not respond by saying 'Yes'. While the answer may be accurate, the interviewer is likely to question your communication skills if you don't expound further on your answer.

I'm torn on hiring this individual. She has all the technical skills you could ever want, but her personal skills were terrible. Also, the communication gap makes you wonder if she fully understood the questions that were asked. Hopefully, a better candidate blows the socks off the group in the next interview.