Second Impression
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Most people are concerned about putting in the best first impression. After all, you only get one chance at it. Not me, though. I'm more concerned about the second, or third, impression. My reason is simple: Once is luck. Twice is a coincidence. Three times is a definite pattern. If you want to really get to know a person, you should arrange to meet the person at least twice.
I saw an interview about a movie director choosing a voice actress. In the interview, he mentioned how he had to listen to the audition tapes over and over again until he arrived what he thinks a perfect voice. The fact that the actress is a famous actress is taken as coincidence. My instant reaction to that is that the director is probably ignorant about how actors work. The real worth of an actor is acting. An inexperienced actor is probably clueless about the realities of movie production. He has no frame of reference to based it on. So when he auditioned, he'd probably showcase his best talent, and that is probably different than what directors want. So he didn't get the job. Meanwhile, veteran actors know what directors want, so he puts out relevant materials and get the job.
Now, the situation may be that the inexperienced actor may have more range, and that he may be able to act that part just as well, may even do it with more skill than the experienced actor. But since the director never give the actor the second chance, the job goes to the more experienced actor. In movie business, that's standard practice. The experienced actor will get the part until he falls out of favor. Then, either he re-invent himself or just quietly retires.
When I go interviewing intern candidates, I usually do this in two steps. The first step is basically going through resumes and find out what kind of a person he is. Most people look for experience, or proven trait. I am not most people. I look for integrity and character. When I think a person is good, I'd put the resume into the interview pile. Then on the interview, I'd probe deeper on the skill set. Resume is actually bad as a skill measurement. I mean, people put all kinds of exagerration and, sometimes, outright lies, that it's become meaningless.
The interview process can then go two different ways:
If the person is skilled and experienced, I'd put the person into a stressful situation. The reason is that if you're busy trying to survive, you don't have time to put up a false face. The interview process is designed so that you have to actually struggle to finish the task, and quickly at that. This is designed to measure the experience more than it is a measure of skill. Of course, experience without skill is useless, but even a skillful person, if he has no experience, will fail this test. Of course, I'd do this only on experienced person, as indicated by the resume.
If the person is inexperienced, then I'd ask personal questions. Do the actions reflect genuine compassion in the field? A computer programmer who doesn't like chess, for example, has to have a good alternative that also involved problem solving. Go is a good alternative. Gomoku isn't. An graphic artist who don't sketch must have other artistic avenue as well, ones who support his interest. This process isn't easy to do properly and more of an indicator of personality and good job matches.
If the person is skilled and experienced, and he passes the test, then all is well. You'd be surprised at just how many of experienced professional would fail this test. Either that's because they lied at their resume, or just never bothered to advance their skill set is beyond me. On the second case, the process goes to the third step.
The step most people do not do, is this important third step. When the person failed the test, that doesn't mean that the person is worthless, or unsuitable. It could be entirely due to luck. What I'd do at this point is to list changes or improvements the person must undergo in order to successfully pass the test. Then, I'd give him my card, and wait for the person to do just that. Most never come back. That's fine. Only a few who did come back passes the second test, but at least I gave them a chance.
Of course, this is assuming the person doesn't lie on their resume. If they put something there that is not supposed to be there, then they're out, and out forever. For example, Dreamweaver or Frontpage skill is not the same as HTML or JavaScript skill. If you confuse the two, then you're out. Likewise, just because you have experience managing 200 people, doesn't mean you have experience managing 6 people. The skill set required is different. If you acknowledge that, then I can work with you. If you insist that they're exactly the same, then you're out.
This second impression technique isn't as fast as resume scanning, but the result is much better. Also, it gives inexperienced people the necessary entry point for launching their career. The old catch-22 is that if you need experience to work, but that you don't get to work because you lack experience. I believe that it is discrimination to do so, albeit indirectly.
If you need experience to work for somebody, and nobody hires you, then you can't get that experience and you can't work. The only way you can get experience then, is to work for yourself, and get your experience that way. That's expensive, and you'll need a greater skill set as a business person, than just a skilled technician. Therefore, by insisting on experience, there is an indirect discrimination against the poor.
Just because most 20 year old are stupid and arrogant, doesn't mean that all is like that. I'm lucky to know at least one extremely smart but inexperienced 20 year old who is better than 80% of experienced professionals out there. Without this second impression technique, there's no way to know he's that smart and valuable.
So give people a chance, and don't judge people by their first impression. Do it on the second and even third impression, where the accuracy of the judgement is much greater.