Posts under ‘HR’

Stephen Wynkoop blogged about social networking as a part of the hiring process.  I’ll sum it up in a line: like it or not, you are being Googled when you submit your resume.  Get over it.
Would you buy a car without searching for an online review?  Sure, some people do - otherwise the dismal Chrysler [...]

In today’s hiring market, DBAs get a lot of emails from recruiters that say things like:
“I am curious to know if you would be interested in (or know someone who is interested in) relocating to Big Falls East for the position discussed below….”
The job description never includes the salary range, and it rarely includes information [...]

I got a question from Ron G asking how to go about changing positions from help desk to DBA.  Here’s my thoughts:
Build on what you know. If you’re used to working on IBM AIX systems, for example, you’ll want to utilize some of that skillset by working with databases that run on AIX.  If you’re [...]

When interviewing for a database administrator position, ask the manager for a list of database servers, the applications that rely on them, and who to contact when the server goes down.
(The manager may express concern about the secure nature of the list, and that’s fair - I would say the same thing.  If they don’t [...]

A good database administrator projects confidence - without being a jerk.
This positive yet firm attitude helps the DBA accomplish their job in tough situations:

A programmer insists their code is fine, and it’s a database problem that the DBA needs to fix
A manager asks the DBA how much to budget for server hardware next year
A project [...]

When interviewing a database administrator, it’s not enough to check their knowledge of technical skills: we have to check their ability to make sound business decisions. DBAs are in a position to make a lot of architectural decisions with long-term ramifications, and in smaller shops with just one or two DBAs, these decisions won’t come [...]

When hiring a production DBA, I start by asking them, “In terms of file size, what’s the largest database you’ve worked with?”
In a perfect world, we’d only hire very experienced candidates, people who’ve worked with larger databases than we’re dealing with. In reality, though, we can’t always afford those candidates - if they’re even [...]

Last week I wrote a series of postings for employers, and this week I’ll touch base on things candidates should know.
Candidates: you are a product, and your web site is your brochure.
Managers: read the brochure just as you would a new product.
These days, we buy everything online.  We read the product’s web site, get excited [...]

A few more collected notes from my recent interviews:
In your company’s reception area, have a few pieces of relatively up-to-date reading material about your industry, or even better, about your company in specific. Sungard Investran, the company I ended up choosing, had a great marketing booklet describing the relationships between various branches of the [...]

When hiring a new IT worker, take a few minutes to give them a tour of the group’s work environment. You don’t have to go so far as to point out, “Here’s the cube where you’d be sitting,” but try to give them a general idea of what the typical work area looks like. [...]