Re: Work/skill testing-people skills too

["Ilena E. Ayala" <Ilena@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>Let's face it  - some managers need an RPG gnome that they can lock in a
>closet and gring out code. Others need someone to manage a project.  Most
>openings involve something in-between.

I think in most places the days when a programmer could be someone with
poor people skills that could work in isolation is gone.  Not since the
first job
I had after graduation have I been separated from end users.  If someone
from
your department is going to interface with end users, don't forget to look
at their
social skills.  

I'm not kidding.  I've seen people on IS staffs interfacing with
'customers' (people
in other departments) whose lack of social skills made for a very poor
impression
on the other departments.  In more than one case I thought it was downright

rude.  (In one example, an end  user who came in with an emergency  ad hoc
request
was made fun of and laughed at, and it wasn't good natured humor either. 
They
were NOT, in case you are wondering also given help with the request. 
After being
belittled they were turned away.)

You may want to ask such things as 'Do you ever have to deal with difficult
users?
If yes, how do you handle them?', which is an open ended question that lets
THEM
define what a 'difficult user' is to them.  A few other examples:

-Do you deal with end users as part of your job?
-Do you prefer to work with end users(or 'work with others') or to work on
your own?
-Do you ever train others (either end users or other IS people)?  What did
you like/
dislike about that?

-Ilena Ayala

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