Question:
I'm a senior tech writer with a small gov't contractor. My company is
looking to hire for a jr-level tech writing position; the requirements are
either 2 yrs' experience in tech writing or a B.A with a major in English
with a tech-comm focus. We work in MS Word, but our requirements for this
position regarding Word knowledge are pretty meager. Basically, the person
has to know how to start Word and start typing. That's about it.
Given that the Word requirements are so minimal, I really hope that at the
very least we would hire someone with a solid command of English and
writing, and also with an eye for details (i.e. the ability to catch
mistakes). We do ask for writing samples, but I have been in a work
situation once where an interviewee passed off another's writing sample as
her own (this wasn't discovered until after she was hired, and she was
subsequently fired). As I'm one of three interviewers for each candidate
for this position, I came up with a fifteen-minute, five-sentence
editing/rewriting test to give during my portion of the interview. I'm
thinking this test will allow me to ascertain the interviewee's command of
basic English grammar/syntax. The applicant is not apprised of this test
until I actually give it to him or her.
Now, I wrote these sentences so that they contained a lot of mistakes --
some subtle, some not. If someone can tell that there should be a "that"
where there's a "which", I'd be ecstatic. Ditto for rewriting a sentence
that's in passive voice into active voice. But I'm not expecting that a
candidate would get 100%...or even 50%. What I *would* hope is that our
interviewee could at least spot the difference between "it's" and "its",
between "affects" and "effects", and detect that there's a semicolon where
a comma should be instead. There are about four such "glaring" errors in
the five sentences, and I'm really hoping an interviewee could at least
spot three out of the four. Anything else is bonus, IMHO.
Well, one of the other interviewers for the position got wind that I was
doing this, and complained. She feels it's unfair, off-putting, and
upsetting to the interviewee to give the person a surprise test.
Basically, she told me that she wants me to stop giving it. My boss didn't
like the idea at first either, but now seems to be in favor of it; at any
rate, he hasn't told me to stop doing it. Personally, I've had to take
unexpected tests several times during interviews for various positions
(bookstore cashier on up through technical writer), so I don't think it's
a horribly unfair thing to ask someone to do. The last surprise test I had
during a tech-writing interview was about an hour long, so mine is a
cakewalk by comparison. My friend the technical recruiter says it's
perfectly OK -- both ethical and legal -- as long as the test pertains
directly to skills required for the job. But my mom, who is also a tech
recruiter, thinks it's potentially unfair and could even be construed as
(*gulp*) discriminatory, especially if it's not a company-wide practice
(and it's not here).
So I'm wondering, what do those of you on this list think about springing
a surprise test on an interviewee? Is it terribly unfair and upsetting, or
is it a reasonable requirement?
Answer:
I recently was interviewed for a position. There was no advance notice
of testing. I expected, and got, reasonable questions about the ability
to do tech writing, from most of the interviewers. One of the
interviewers gave me, if you want to call it, an impromptu test. The way
it was done was subtle. He asked specific questions, or showed specific
examples, and wanted pointed answers. Now the position was for a
technical writer and some of the questions were direct
programming-related questions, so I didn't get the position.
Back to your question.
If the "unannounced test" is delivered as above, it doesn't come across
as a test. You would be asking specific, actual work-related, questions
and from this would be, hopefully, able to determine if the applicant is
suitable for the position. Deliver it as: "Given the following example,
(hand them the sentence/paragraph) then ask them what they see wrong?"
then produce the example, let them either mark it up or tell you
directly what is wrong, if they notice anything at all.
Here you are actually attempting "...to ascertain the interviewee's
command of basic English grammar/syntax".
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