Shameless plug - Java- / web-developer internships

Paul Hjul said:
On a side note had a look at BoB earlier today - its been a while since I even looked at the site - kudos she is looking good and by all sights it is a great company, you aren't looking for any "lawyer types" though (bright people being the exclusionary term)
Click to expand...

Thanks for the kudos. Erm - no, those "lawyer types" have been way too frequent in my recent months - trying to cut down on those (I think in addition to the term "bright" I can also think of "expensive").

And we all know, that real men develop in COBOL (and no, you are not a real Cobol programmer if you right now do not wear cowboy boots and came to work in a Stetson - so there :))
 
unfortunately the expensive is the rule, bright is the exception and bright can mean very expensive

lol on COBOL
I take it you don't see many Stetsons in Gauteng ...
 
Out of interest, did you manage to find anyone and do you know if you found them through the forum?
 
phiber said:
Out of interest, did you manage to find anyone and do you know if you found them through the forum?
Click to expand...

We received over 50 CV's of which about 20 originated via MyBB. Shortlisted 8 for interviews and of which 2 are viable candidates (a pickle since I can only place one intern right now but probably another one in a few months). When I say viable, I mean those are candidates which showed enthusiasm, familiarised themselves at least on a high-level with Java/webdevelopment (was not a requirement, but shows that someone actually is trying), but most importantly actually took the effort to understand what our business does (this is for me the most puzzling part - if you go for an interview, at least educate yourself about the company, it's business etc - most candidates had no idea).

Sadly most of the candidates we pre-screened "just wanted a job" which is at least for me not the right attitude to have. Makes me wonder if anyone else has similar experiences? (I honestly don't treat an internship just as a job, as a substantial amount of effort and resources are poured into such initiative - in essence bootstrapping someone from zero to hero)
 
MagicDude4Eva said:
We received over 50 CV's of which about 20 originated via MyBB. Shortlisted 8 for interviews and of which 2 are viable candidates (a pickle since I can only place one intern right now but probably another one in a few months). When I say viable, I mean those are candidates which showed enthusiasm, familiarised themselves at least on a high-level with Java/webdevelopment (was not a requirement, but shows that someone actually is trying), but most importantly actually took the effort to understand what our business does (this is for me the most puzzling part - if you go for an interview, at least educate yourself about the company, it's business etc - most candidates had no idea).

Sadly most of the candidates we pre-screened "just wanted a job" which is at least for me not the right attitude to have. Makes me wonder if anyone else has similar experiences? (I honestly don't treat an internship just as a job, as a substantial amount of effort and resources are poured into such initiative - in essence bootstrapping someone from zero to hero)
Click to expand...

That's probably because of the unheard of generosity you're giving the beginners in saying "hey you're new, you hardly know any real-world ****, come let me guide you".

"Just wanting the job" is what most okes want simply because those elusive entry-level jobs are so hard to get.
 
MagicDude4Eva said:
... Makes me wonder if anyone else has similar experiences? ...
Click to expand...

Today I marked one of the pre-interview coding tests we hand out and which the candidate can complete at their leisure, to see if they at least know a for loop, where the candidate submitted a program that reads the input text file, then have a huge blank area in the code file and then print something random. I do not understand why somebody would bother to do that, since there is no way on earth to get an interview with that.
 
noob_saibot said:
That's probably because of the unheard of generosity you're giving the beginners in saying "hey you're new, you hardly know any real-world ****, come let me guide you".

"Just wanting the job" is what most okes want simply because those elusive entry-level jobs are so hard to get.
Click to expand...

Maybe I am expecting it to be "too much old school", but I do think that putting in some effort will always go a long way and eventually lead to success. Some of the interns we took on over the last 18 months came from all walks of life, had no prior knowledge or skills for the job required, but damn, did they put in a lot of effort to make it work and it is paying off for them. I typically try to overlook technical skill and focus on personality and aptitude - everything else will then just happen naturally.
 
MagicDude4Eva said:
Maybe I am expecting it to be "too much old school", but I do think that putting in some effort will always go a long way and eventually lead to success. Some of the interns we took on over the last 18 months came from all walks of life, had no prior knowledge or skills for the job required, but damn, did they put in a lot of effort to make it work and it is paying off for them. I typically try to overlook technical skill and focus on personality and aptitude - everything else will then just happen naturally.
Click to expand...

"all walks of life" - How many of them had no CS/IT/CompEng degree?
 
noob_saibot said:
"all walks of life" - How many of them had no CS/IT/CompEng degree?
Click to expand...

I know developers who are much smarter than thous with degrees. I've given both types chance in the past and its usually the hobbyist developers who shine.
 
Can't quote in tapatalk without crashing - none of the interns had any formal IT qualifications. Most where self-taught.
 
MagicDude4Eva said:
Maybe I am expecting it to be "too much old school", but I do think that putting in some effort will always go a long way and eventually lead to success. Some of the interns we took on over the last 18 months came from all walks of life, had no prior knowledge or skills for the job required, but damn, did they put in a lot of effort to make it work and it is paying off for them. I typically try to overlook technical skill and focus on personality and aptitude - everything else will then just happen naturally.
Click to expand...

You're right to expect someone to put in an effort. Most of the guys 'just looking for a job' will ditch you as soon as something better comes along. The guys who are interested in what you do, willing to put in an effort to learn about your company, and feel excited about learning your technologies (as you seem to be hiring newbies here) are the ones you want.

I have done a lot of interviews over the past few years, the worst is when someone claims to have a skill or interest and then can't seem to back it up at all.
 
phiber said:
I have done a lot of interviews over the past few years, the worst is when someone claims to have a skill or interest and then can't seem to back it up at all.
Click to expand...

I've had my fair share of those.
 
phiber said:
I have done a lot of interviews over the past few years, the worst is when someone claims to have a skill or interest and then can't seem to back it up at all.
Click to expand...

As brutal as it might be, when I come across those candidates, I do try and give them a reality check if they lack skills and try to give them advice on how to improve - some are grateful and others give you the "dont-ever-cross-me-in-a-dark-alley"-look. In some instances (especially when agencies are involved), the recruiter "massages" the CV to make the candidate fit which is equally embarrassing for all.
 
I am often wondering what agencies think they achieve by modifying a candidate's CV (beyond fixing some spelling and grammar). I have had many cases where I ask a candidate "So tell me about the project where you did xyz" and the candidate says "I have never done xyz". Then showing them their CV, the candidate says, "I never wrote that". After a couple of times that happens, one simply does not look at CV's from the agency any more.
 
gkm said:
I am often wondering what agencies think they achieve by modifying a candidate's CV (beyond fixing some spelling and grammar). I have had many cases where I ask a candidate "So tell me about the project where you did xyz" and the candidate says "I have never done xyz". Then showing them their CV, the candidate says, "I never wrote that". After a couple of times that happens, one simply does not look at CV's from the agency any more.
Click to expand...

Yea, agencies are shameless.
 
gkm said:
I am often wondering what agencies think they achieve by modifying a candidate's CV (beyond fixing some spelling and grammar). I have had many cases where I ask a candidate "So tell me about the project where you did xyz" and the candidate says "I have never done xyz". Then showing them their CV, the candidate says, "I never wrote that". After a couple of times that happens, one simply does not look at CV's from the agency any more.
Click to expand...

Another point to add to how recruiters are messing the industry up.

On that point, I've recently spotted quite a few (abroad) companies that are trying to break the recruiting process through software/apps, but I suppose those ideas have long been attempted before (although it just might work in the coming decades).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X