I really wanted to interview this guy......

I've been looking to fill a SysAdmin position at my shop recently and received an interesting resume. I noticed that his resume stated he had 15+ years of expert-level experience in Windows Server/AD/Exchange/SAN/Oracle DBA/Cisco/Linux. I was pretty amazed to find someone with all of that in one package. I just had to interview this guy. I called him to schedule an interview, and we were set for today. Last night, I go through my routine of looking around for any info I can find and I check out his blog/website that was listed on his resume. It seems ok, I follow the links to his FB/Myspace. Besides his giant publicly shown political opinions (bears no influence on the job though), I noticed that he's in his early-mid 20's age-wise as stated on those sites, which is no problem, but at this point, I think the "experience" doesn't add up, unless he started as a Network Engineer/Server Administrator/DBA when he was 10-11 years old. This is why we should add in a notation by things we experiment with in our labs at home. He had me thinking he had all of this real-world experience, when in reality he doesn't. His listed previous work experience didn't make sense or mesh with the skills he was touting either. I was eager to interview this guy to see what his story really was and see what his skill level really was. His interview time rolls around. I hear nothing. No email, no phone call, nothing. He totally bailed. That's strike 3. Game over for him. Luckily I have a few other candidates that interviewed great, and were CLEAR on their skill level in their resume. I guess he really didn't want the job too much. Anyone else ever come across these types of people?

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Comments

Essendon

That's classic. Wonder how long he would have lasted in his previous jobs, that's if he had any!

And even if he did manage to squeeze past the interview somehow, he wouldnt have lasted more than a few days. Just like my former company hired an MCSE, he lasted only 2 days, got fired for "fixing" a user's permissions issue on a folder by setting permissions at the root of the drive!!

earweed

Sounds like the guy really exagerated on his resume and then decided not to get pounced on in an interview. I don't even mention stuff on the resume I only lab at home. I do put it in the cover letter though just to show that I'm trying to learn new stuff.
I got flounced on an interview question recently with Dell on a simple question about upgrading Laptop RAM (I didn't know Dell laptops have it under the keyboard) but I did have laptop repair/upgrades on my resume but I've never touched a Dell laptop.

mikej412

cablegod wrote: »

Anyone else ever come across these types of people?

Only when talking to sales people, MBAs, and politicians.

I've seen lots of resumes like that but I toss them in the trash when the experience/skills isn't related to a job or education -- or doesn't match up or make sense. I'd rather spend my time interviewing job candidates who aren't trying to game the system or play buzz word bingo.

cablegod

earweed wrote: »

Sounds like the guy really exagerated on his resume and then decided not to get pounced on in an interview. I don't even mention stuff on the resume I only lab at home. I do put it in the cover letter though just to show that I'm trying to learn new stuff.
I got flounced on an interview question recently with Dell on a simple question about upgrading Laptop RAM (I didn't know Dell laptops have it under the keyboard) but I did have laptop repair/upgrades on my resume but I've never touched a Dell laptop.

I didn't let on that I had any suspicions. I held it in and worked on my list of questions a bit to get to the bottom of said-expertness. I was really looking forward to it, but he just didn't materialize today, still haven't heard anything.

Mike-Mike

i guess he could have just been lying about his age on the social networking sites, but since he was a no show, clearly he sounds like he wasn't legit...

erpadmin

It is totally unprofessional to just "bail" on an interview. The interview is just a good first impression and just bailing leaves one with such a black eye.

However, this leads into a great reason why I don't have a Facebook, Myspace profile. I did have a Myspace, but I think it got deleted or something and I made it a point not to have my name on it. The only social media I use is LinkedIn.

We've all done stupid stuff in the past....no reason to memorialize them on the Internet. Especially when all one has to do is google your name.

Curiously, I just googled my name....my linkedin comes up in the first couple of links....and then a whole bunch of stuff that has nothing to do with me. I even put my name in quotes, and thankfully, nothing "damaging" pops up. Go me! When I put NJ, some more stuff comes up....even the fact that I ran a BBS (I'm on the national BBS list....

God memories.....my parents wanted to kill me for running up a $800 phone bill for me downloading warez @ 56k bps....)

Yeah, I "currently" have nothing to worry about (perpetually knocking on wood). I think I'm definitely turned off to having a facebook account though.

mikej412

erpadmin wrote: »

We've all done stupid stuff in the past....no reason to memorialize them on the Internet. Especially when all one has to do is google your name.

Or check the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine to find those "deleted" web pages.

eansdad

Not to justify him but I do remember an article a few years back. It was about a 10 year old who was his school districts tech/admin. It was a small district (maybe 300 students) but still. So anything is possible.

Mike-Mike

I have a very common name, first and last... so I googled it and I found about 20 websites based off my name... I have no FB or Myspace anymore, just a twitter.. I would think people would have a harder time finding info on me than someone with a unique name

Paul Boz

eansdad wrote: »

Not to justify him but I do remember an article a few years back. It was about a 10 year old who was his school districts tech/admin. It was a small district (maybe 300 students) but still. So anything is possible.

In a case like that, the person would be able to competently display their experience and their timelines would work out. I would also assume the person would qualify that they were ten when they started just to make sure that the potential employer didn't think the numbers didn't line up. I'm only 25 and I've been called out for having 7 years of IT experience but I started at the phone company when I was 17.

cablegod

I am sure it was the right guy. As I said, his resume had a link to his blog, which had links to his FB/MySpace pages. His stated age there matched up with his pictures. It is standard practice today during the pre-screen process to see what info can be gleaned by simple searches on the internet. I always expect it when I send out my own resume. That's exactly why my FB is private, and I only add people that I *know*, and another reason that I do not post anything that could be questionable there.

RobertKaucher

erpadmin wrote: »

It is totally unprofessional to just "bail" on an interview. The interview is just a good first impression and just bailing leaves one with such a black eye.

If he actually bailed. You guys are making a lot of assumptions about the dude. He might be a DB, but he might also be a DB who was struck by a car or whose grand father died. Depending on what is happening an interview for a job might be the last thing on his mind.

erpadmin

RobertKaucher wrote: »

If he actually bailed. You guys are making a lot of assumptions about the dude. He might be a DB, but he might also be a DB who was struck by a car or whose grand father died. Depending on what is happening an interview for a job might be the last thing on his mind.

Robert, let's review the facts as was presented by cablegod:

cablegod wrote: »

...I called him to schedule an interview, and we were set for today...I was eager to interview this guy to see what his story really was and see what his skill level really was. His interview time rolls around. I hear nothing. No email, no phone call, nothing. He totally bailed.

Not assuming anything, just commented on the fact that cablegod had scheduled the interview, candidate accepted, as cablegod took a block of his own time to perform the interview, and the candidate didn't even give cablegod the courtesy of so much as an e-mail to let him know he couldn't make it and to ask if he could reschedule.

Now maybe he did experience a family death, and at that point, he's just perhaps overtaken with grief....but after the initial shock, you should still try to contact the interviewer and explain the situation sometime after the fact instead of just being unprofessional about it. Even if it's for the most junior of positions, I would still extend that courtesy. It's just plain out rude (at the very least) to not contact the interviewer.

Also, cablegod's position allows him the freedom to NOT give this guy the benefit of the doubt, especially when he has other candidates that he seemed happy with. Maybe we could, but he doesn't need or have to.

cablegod

I'm just calling a spade a spade. If he calls me and provides a valid reason for it, then it may be overlooked. However, I forgot to mention that he reconfirmed a few hours prior to the interview time. I noticed it again when going through my email this morning, and also noticed he was using a smartphone to send the email. That is what made it look bad to me. I know life just happens. I'm human too, contrary to my avatar. Like I said, if he contacts me soon, and provides a valid reason, it may not be such a deal killer then.

erpadmin

cablegod wrote: »

However, I forgot to mention that he reconfirmed a few hours prior to the interview time.

So, not only did he bail, but he confirmed again the time of the interview a few hours before??

Oh yeah man, he did pull the DB move....and I don't mean database.....lol.

wastedtime

erpadmin wrote: »

Oh yeah man, he did pull the DB move....and I don't mean database.....lol.

Hah, that was the first thing I thought of.

erpadmin

wastedtime wrote: »

Hah, that was the first thing I thought of.

Cablegod, myself and RK are database guys.....figured I'd specify that.

cablegod

erpadmin wrote: »

So, not only did he bail, but he confirmed again the time of the interview a few hours before??

Oh yeah man, he did pull the DB move....and I don't mean database.....lol.

Yea, I've been so overworked, and tired lately, it didn't cross my mind to include it into the original post. I figured out the DB part before you defined what it wasn't

However, he can still save face and give me a good reason. I'm all ears.

thenjduke

erpadmin wrote: »

Robert, let's review the facts as was presented by cablegod:

Not assuming anything, just commented on the fact that cablegod had scheduled the interview, candidate accepted, as cablegod took a block of his own time to perform the interview, and the candidate didn't even give cablegod the courtesy of so much as an e-mail to let him know he couldn't make it and to ask if he could reschedule.

Now maybe he did experience a family death, and at that point, he's just perhaps overtaken with grief....but after the initial shock, you should still try to contact the interviewer and explain the situation sometime after the fact instead of just being unprofessional about it. Even if it's for the most junior of positions, I would still extend that courtesy. It's just plain out rude (at the very least) to not contact the interviewer.

Also, cablegod's position allows him the freedom to NOT give this guy the benefit of the doubt, especially when he has other candidates that he seemed happy with. Maybe we could, but he doesn't need or have to.

I could not agree with you more. If I had to go through this I would always give them a call just to let them know.

brad-

I founded Microsoft. Job please!!