It's sad to see that high-profile cheaters end up on the internet and, hence, lose eveything. There's no hiding from Google ...

See the following link regarding Telstra and 1993.

http://www.caslon.com.au/idcrimeguide8.htm

Old news for some.

I my experience I find interviewing the candidate on technical matters is straight-forward if you don't ask yes/no questions - particularly if asked "how" they did something (eg deploy code) such as which perspective in the toolkit was used and which button was pressed, etc.

It's much easier to hire by "word of mouth" - but that luxury is not always there.

I would leave the interview if you asked me that. Same as asking someone, so what is the syntax of a for loop in Java 1.4.2? This is irrelevant now google is here.

We filter candidates with online tests. The ones we use have heuristics built in to spot cheating. Answers - even wrong ones - are correlated with other answers. So if you try and cheat your test will follow a pattern of scoring outside of the normal distribution and we will grill you appropriately. Nobody gets over 75%.

We ask them to think through several problems during the interview. You want good problem solvers, not API-men.

brownie, for loops are a very basic stable of programming, in just about every language that has ever, or is ever likely to exist. Therefore if your going to be going for a Java role something tells me you should know the basics without having to revert to Google.

I agree, how to Google things should be a part of any IT related course, however it is there to enhance your current skill set, not be the basis of your skill set.

Therefore if you simply walked out because I asked a basic question not only would I not give you the job. I'd also report that feedback to the recruiter, who would probably then not place you in any more positions (remember if you don't get placed they don't get paid), plus they move around and talk to others.

On that note I'd like to point out if anyone is looking for a brain surgeon I'm actually one. I have a computer armed with Google in the operating theater and I'm not afraid to use it...

if your going to be petty,

the question should not be "tell me the syntax of for loop in java". it should be, whats the difference between an iterator, an enumeration and a loop.

I apologise. Yes - about the comment regarding "which button did you press?". I didn't mean to press your buttons on that one ;)

Please let me explain.

There is no way in hell I would ask those kinds of questions *first*. Hell, if I was being interviewed and the first question I was asked was "What are your three strengths ..." etc. then I will see to it that the expectations are set correctly (ie a hell of a what-for is in order).

I had to resort to asking these very basic questions only a couple of times and only when I deem it's necessary - AND it has usually resulted in uncovering the (you guessed it!) a LIE on their resume.

I suppose I was being a bit too brief in my previous post, above, as I have already discussed this (in detail) in yet another post on how the interviewee responded with a "Yes!" or "Of course!" about his technical abilities - only to respond with "Ummm" and "Well ..." when going into the details, asking difficult, then general, then basic questions.

First: Reg. "I agree how to Google things should be a part of any IT related course".

Seriously!!! If that is the level of the AU IT education - that explains all the crap solutions I'm hired to fix....

If you would put that in a "real" IT course (i'm talking for civil engineering kind of people that could potentially be splitting atoms) they would just laugh at you and find a real university!

Second, reg. what questions recruiters should ask:

Recruiters typically have a very limited understanding of the subject area as such. So they are in no position to find out whether a technical person is suitable or not.

This is what they should do:

1. Let the interviewee do the talking. Just ask: describe your work in a previous project that is relevant for this position.

2. Contact the references and ask them to confirm their entry in the CV.

If you have confirmation that a person truly did develop all those fancy, smancy systems at all those firms - you can be pretty sure that they know what a for-loop is without even knowing what a for-loop is.

In short: don't try to pretend that you know anything about maters you don't understand when everyone knows that you are completely ignorant about them.

Just open the damn application letter (using a suitable tool - i'm sure you are at least qualified enough to make THAT kind of judgement [or Google it]) and either forward the damn CV to someone who is in position to make an assessment AND/OR ask the references.

This is the best way. Of course it means that the recruiter actually has to do some work and contact references, but perhaps you should do something for the money they earn?

Period!

So it is a naughty thing to lie about work history but never naughty to lie about using age as a selection criteria???