How Should You Interview Your Replacement?

legLess asks: "I've been the Alpha Geek at a 50-person firm for 4 years, and now I'm leaving. The firm didn't have a real IT person before me (they'd only had a network for 6 months), but they absolutely need to hire one now. I'm going to need to be present for the interview, and I'm going to have to ask the tough questions, because nobody else here can. But I've never interviewed anyone before, and I've done very little interviewing myself. What's the best approach?" I'm sure quite a few of you have been in this position before. What help can you offer for those folks who may soon find themselves in this position?

"It won't be too hard to tell if someone's a good fit, personality-wise, but what about skills? Decision-making? Reaction in a crisis? I dislike the aggressive, confrontational style, and I believe it's counter-productive. I don't want to skirt concrete technical issues because we must be sure the person's qualified. OTOH, I don't want to give someone a written examination or stage a bunch of fake system emergencies to see how he or she performs. Do you have a stock list of questions? (e.g. What is the last mistake you have made? How did you solve the problem and what did you learn?) What's been successful for you (on either side of the desk), and what's failed?"