Hi,

My company does exactly the same, but I found Riaan's stats a bit warped, I 
have found that about 1 in 10 applicants submits the project!!(honestly) We 
also interview only fresh java programmers as part of a new policy; we have 
enough skill and leadership inhouse already, we'd rather train new blood 
rather than get stuck with old hands that are stuck in their ways and that is 
not willing to adapt to new ideas and technologies. They just stuck.

O, and yes, we do the clique thing, we get the young guys to introduce their 
project partners(in tech) to us. We take them through the same tests and see 
if they are our type of employee.

What tests do we give them? We make them follow the instructions on 
www.gentoo.org and install a linux box, with various packages that they will 
use every day. Why do we do this? Some interviewers like to stress out a 
young guy with his superior java knowledge, this is wrong and pointless. In 
Technikon you are going to do 6 subjects at one time, you do not get to focus 
only on java, otherwise you will never pass! Some people with avg mark on all 
their subjects are more likely to get a job at my company then somebody with 
90 - 100% java year marks.

Finally, when they get the job, we do skill rotation and after only 1 year 
they will know all the facets of our product and they will have in my 
opionion about 2 years worth of experience.

We also pay well right from the start(so it is not that we are stingy), with 
regular salary increments.

Our situation is probably not ideal for all companies, but it is something 
that works VERY well for us.

Robert

On Wednesday 15 February 2006 08:37, Dr Heinz M. Kabutz wrote:
> Riaan that is a great policy!
>
> What type of project would you as an employer be
> impressed by?
>
> Kind regards from
>
> Heinz
> --
> Dr. Heinz M. Kabutz (Maximum Solutions)
> Sun Java Champion
> Author of "The Java(tm) Specialists' Newsletter"
> <http://www.javaspecialists.co.za/>
> Tel: +27 (83) 340-5633
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: [email protected]
> > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Riaan Koegelenberg
> > Sent: 15 February 2006 10:23
> > To: [email protected]
> > Subject: [CTJUG Forum] Re: Java Developer needed
> >
> >
> >
> > After 20 odd replies on my initial post, I have received
> > only 2 CV's.
> >
> > I wonder, do people really put in an effort to find a job
> > or do they want someone to just offer them a job that pays
> > well without having to do much?
> >
> > It is my company's policy to require any new applicant to
> > submit a project that allows us to asses his/her
> > capabilities.  Stats have shown that if you have 5
> > applicants, you are lucky if 2 actually submits the
> > project.
> > ___________________________________________________________________
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