Interviewer vs. Interviewee

Last Thursday I had my first chance to actually be on the other side of the table.  I must admit, when my boss first asked me to be a part of it, I was taken aback; I had never interviewed anyone, and since the interviewee had a PhD in Chemistry, with my Masters in Chemical Engineering I would be the most competent in asking and evaluating her answers to technical questions.

With only one day to prepare, I set off to review the resume and put together a list of questions.  I suppose in my case it was a little different as the interview was for someone with a lot of experience, but it took a considerable amount of time to put together thought-provoking questions that capture the generalities of her experiences to see how they would fit working in a Government setting.  This is also compounded by the fact I am 27 and she had almost the same amount of years in job experience alone.

I was a little nervous at the beginning, but 10-15 seconds I felt much more comfortable.  I only relied on my prepared list occasionally, being able to just ask questions based on where the flow of the conversation was going.  She was a very good interviewee, I am sure it would be more difficult when the person you are interviewing does not elaborate or explain much in their answers.

Overall though, it gave me a different perception of interviewers.  It takes more work than I realized to review a resume and develop relevant questions for the interviewee.  Compound that by getting dozens of resume per week and it can get hectic.  However, I enjoyed it and look forward to the next interview I can participate in. 🙂

UPDATE: Safe to say the interviewee was none of these.