As a recruiter, finding the right person is not a piece of cake. Mainly if you don't master the product you are hiring for. In SharePoint, getting a so-called expert is simple but getting a good one, knowing deeply the product and working daily with it, is a mess. Here are some key points which indicated that the guy in front of you is not the one you expect...
1. He is always talking about other products
If the candidate tries to flee your questions and talks about products he better knows, it could indicate a lack of knowledge. Then, you have more chances of hearing about Exchange, Active Directory or Lync instead of SharePoint. If you try to refocus the discussion, the guy will ignore your comment and will dive deeper in his explanation. To avoid this situation, you have to ask him a precise question only related to SharePoint. For example:
"How to investigate a SharePoint problem?"
Difficult to switch to something else with such a question.
2. He doesn't know common terms in SharePoint
You can ask to every SharePoint system engineer and developers what is a Web Application or a Site Collection. They all know what you are talking about and they can explain how it works and why you need it. If the candidate fails to this part, it's not good, not good at all. Here are some common terms you can ask during a job interview related to SharePoint:
- Web Application
- Site Collection
- HIVE
- ULS
- Feature
3. Your questions made him uncomfortable
An interview can be stressful, you can have a guy sweating from beginning to the end of the discussion. This is not a proof of lying or concealment, maybe this is just your fault, maybe you are too intimidating for your interlocutor. You cannot learn a lot from this situation.
But sometimes, you can have a relax candidate, showing nothing else than his beautiful smile. And when the questions time arrived, he starts sweating with a shaky voice and finding the right word become as complex as landing a 747 Boeing on an aircraft carrier. Guess why?
If you experience such a situation, you are in position to propose a fake answer to your question to see if the candidate uses it as a buoy or not. I'm Machiavellian...
4. He is always replying with short answers
To validate his knowledge, you ask your candidate how to restore a SharePoint site after a crash. A normal question for an interview, isn't it? After thinking about 2 minutes on this, the guy replies you with:
"You open SQL, you restore the database and that it. Easy, huh?"
Yes, sure, easy. But no, this is not enough. If we take time to ask such a question, it's because we are waiting for a more complete answer. Such a reply is just a mere sham to hide ignorance.
5. SharePoint is like a heavy fog for him
A candidate who doesn't know the product will have some difficulties to explain how SharePoint works. If you ask about a precise feature, he will tell you that he knows what you are talking about and he already works with it, but he doesn't remember exactly what it does (I love this one).
"You know, I did it a very long time ago ;) "
It looks like he flushed his memory just before the interview, and his resume suddenly seems to come from someone else. It's now time for you to scan all his resume to validate each steps and filter the truth from myth. Boring...
6. He never used something else than wizard in SharePoint
Doing something is one point, but how you did it is more important. In SharePoint, people think they know a product just because one day, they run a wizard.
Sorry, I don't want to make you sad or angry, but the SharePoint wizard is not the only way to work with SharePoint (and not the best one). This kind of profile cannot be called a "SharePoint expert", but rather a "Wizard addict".
But don't get me wrong, using Wizard is not bad at all, it's just a limited way to work with SharePoint which doesn't make you an expert.
7. He's always using "we" instead of "I"
Don't think that using a "we" is always a kind of team spirit. No. Usually, using the "we" allows the candidate to be more confident by telling the truth. I explain:
"As this is someone of my team who did this and as I said 'we', I'm not lying, I am his manager"
Don't be fooled, always ask the candidate:
"Ok, but is it you who directly did this task?"
And then, I send you to the previous point "Your questions made him uncomfortable" to check his reaction.
And you ?
As you can see, there are different ways to spot a fake expert, and this method is not limited to the product we are talking here. I don't say that following these short rules will prevent you to hire a liar but it will reduce the risk.
Do you have other methods to detect these harmful profiles?