A few good questions to ask a Senior IT Security Engineer?

Matt_Smi

I just got a new job in desktop support last week, and this week we will start interviews for an IT Security Engineer, the first candidate is CCISP. I have never interviewed anyone before and I don’t want to be the only one one my team who doesn’t ask any questions during the interview, so I was wondering if anyone in the security field has a few potential good questions I could ask? I can think of some basic stuff, but nothing really great.

nel

no disrespect - but if you are at desktop support level, why are you on the interview panel for a senior engineer? isnt that the job or your management team?

No offence intended there - just doesnt make much sense.

moss12

LOL to me either WTF ????

-prophet-

Firstly, i think you mean CISSP not CCISP (unless you mean the CCISP cert aimed at the critical-infrastructure sector). Don't screw this up in the interview
Secondly, It might be better that you don't ask anything not in your field, this will save you from getting drawn into a debate with someone who possibly knows more about the field then you do. Would be embarrassing in front of your peers.

Cheers,
-prophet-

BeaverC32

You could always ask non-technical questions if you really aren't comfortable -- things such as "What are your strengths/weaknesses?", "Tell me about your past work experience", etc. Go for these type of questions you would see in just about any interview.

Matt_Smi

Why am I interviewing, I have no idea, the director of IT at my company wants everyone on the IT team, which is only myself and three others to meet him and form a view on him.

bas13

Yeah that is a little weird. Usually its upper management that is doing the interviewing. Yeah I would keep my cool and just ask basic questions. After all the guy is probably going to be working above you and will soon realize that you are just a desktop rep ya know what I mean? I think you'll find that the right person for your company/environment will shine through. Discuss it with your other peers as well.

Good luck

nel

personally i would feel a little out of my depth - i think you should ask your manager about this?
personally i would not ask any technical questions at all because if he fires one back at you that needs a quick reply you will be donald ducked!

i would ask things more like his personal experiances in his past jobs roles etc then leave the technical questions that come of questions like this to the experts! because you dont want to look like a fool infront of your workmates. and personally speaking if i was going for an interview and a lower ranked employee was trying to quiz me - i would not be too impressed with that setup. it may look bad for your team and your company.

im not trying to put you down or anything as i too are only helpdesk lol!

Good Luck

Trailerisf

bas13 wrote:

Yeah that is a little weird. Usually its upper management that is doing the interviewing. Yeah I would keep my cool and just ask basic questions. After all the guy is probably going to be working above you and will soon realize that you are just a desktop rep ya know what I mean? I think you'll find that the right person for your company/environment will shine through. Discuss it with your other peers as well.

Good luck

Nope, I have a friend who is strictly a MS guru go for an interview at a national bank. The IT head brought in 3 CCIE's to see what he knew.

He left the meeting with them offering 20k a year more than what they orginally had on the table.

He could fill the voids that they were lacking and they wanted to make sure he fit personality wise. Geeks can be a crabby bunch.

bas13

Trailerisf wrote:

Nope, I have a friend who is strictly a MS guru go for an interview at a national bank. The IT head brought in 3 CCIE's to see what he knew.

He left the meeting with them offering 20k a year more than what they orginally had on the table.

He could fill the voids that they were lacking and they wanted to make sure he fit personality wise. Geeks can be a crabby bunch.

Nice. I think it would be kind of fun to talk with a bunch of CCIE's for an interview. When you combine all that geek power you can have some long unrelated job conversations about technology lol.

manic

or compare WoW accts...