Lee asks

I’ve been asked to sit in on interviews for a new Systems Administrator. I’ve done many job interviews before, but I am not from the IT division so I am not sure I will understand all the questions and answers. I would also like to ask some good questions myself. Can you help me with any good primers on what the job is and what candidates should know as well as giving me some good things I can ask?

Are You Keeping Up with IT Trends in the Marketplace?

According to a survey released last week by Robert Half Technology, seven out of ten Chief Information Officers (CIOs) said their companies will invest in information technology initiatives in the next twelve months.  Atop the list of projects they expected to invest in were:

43% in information security

28% in virtualization

27% in data center efficiency

26% Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP)

26% software as a service (SaaS)

The survey involved 1,400 CIOs from companies across the United States with 100 or more employees. (Multiple answers were permitted — which is why the total adds up to more than 100%.)

A survey like this is good to know, for a number of reasons.  Among them: it gives you something to benchmark your organization against.

Ask yourself:  is your company staying abreast of what’s possible with newer IT solutions?  Even 24 months can change the IT landscape considerably.