[jwestbury]

When I've been involved in entry-level hiring, I nearly always push to hire candidates who exhibit some fundamental, non-domain-specific skills.

A question I used to like was asking someone to help me troubleshoot an everyday object that isn't working. Help me figure out why my toaster isn't working. Help me take apart a ballpoint pen and put it back together.

If you can answer those questions well, and you have a pretty basic level of knowledge, a desire to learn, and good soft skills, I'd much prefer to hire you over someone who's got great tech knowledge but mediocre troubleshooting skills and soft skills.

[rnk]

That's an interesting point, I like the idea, but I don't see that it would apply to even well prepared English majors. I just don't expect them to understand how to troubleshoot a toaster. They probably think of plugging it in and seeing if the outlet is working. Did I check if the cord is frayed, if the button that starts it is out, and then is there something wrong inside? I just don't see an English major doing those next steps. And again, I have great respect for their skills. But everyone has a limit. But if I had a chance to hire a software engineer who had experience, let's say working in construction then I think they'd understand some things that would be more applicable.

[jwestbury]

Totally fair, some English majors aren't cut out to work entry-level IT jobs! But having been an English major myself, I definitely knew many who were more technically-inclined, or just troubleshooting-inclined. Your examples are pretty well in-line with what I'd have been looking for, too -- someone who can use the smallish amount of knowledge they have to extrapolate to other possible causes. Most people will know the electricity flows through the power cable, which should be enough to realize there could be a failing connection inside the toaster, for instance.

I wouldn't be looking for a deep understanding of the electromechanical design of a toaster, just the inclination to combine their existing knowledge in novel ways to come up with new theories of what might be wrong, because, in my experience, that's ultimately the core trait of a successful (engineer|sysadmin|mechanic|etc.).