7 ms·

Some of the items on this list are pretty bad IMO if you put yourself in the shoes of the candidate. Some of the ones I think are Not Good Questions: > 3. For

Some of the items on this list are pretty bad IMO if you put yourself in the shoes of the candidate. Some of the ones I think are Not Good Questions: > 3. For the last few companies you've been at, take me through: (i) When you left, why did you leave? (ii) When you joined the next one, why did you choose it? (The (ii) is the only non-yikes part) > 18. What's one part of your previous company's culture that you hope to bring to your next one? What one part do you hope to not find? > 26. If I were to go and speak to people who don't think very highly of you, what would they say? What they share in common is they're inviting the candidate into a negative position, where they must think negative thoughts about their past employers (who may also be their _current_ employer). Then, on the spot and extemporaneously, the candidate has to negotiate those negative feelings that were prompted by the interviewer to come up with an answer that translates those negative feelings into some kind of positive learning experience that the manager will be able to understand. The candidate also has to deal with the stress from having to do that negotiation, then diffuse that stress provoked by the question in a positive, open way so that it doesn't impact the rest of the interview. edit: What's really wild about #26 is the person who explained why they like the question made it about empathy. > "When I pose this question to candidates, I’m always looking to see how much empathy they have for the people who don’t like them,” says Otte... How is a candidate supposed to tap into their empathy when this question seems deliberately engineered to put candidates on the defensive? "Why don't people like you?" is, in my opinion, a really terrible interview question that shows a lack of empathy from the interviewer.

braythwayt 7y ago
I agree. This kind of question ("Tell me about your weaknesses," "Tell me one thing you think your (current|ex) manager could do better to manage you," &c.) often test for one of two behaviours: 1. Diplomacy and tact, and/or; 2. Ability to regurgitate a template answer you can find in any rudimentary book on handling behavioural interviews. It takes extreme skill to get a candid answer out of everyone, so it is easy to get gamed by the tactful people at the expense of people who don't read a book about how to ace the interview. But people who don't read books about interviews can be very competent at their actual jobs.
- bryanrasmussen 7y ago
  maybe it tests for how important the job is to you - is the job important enough that you will do this demeaning exercise in order to get hired?
  - gdy 7y ago
    If that job starts with a demeaning exercise, how many more of them are ahead?
  - BigBlueBanjo 7y ago
    If you use these questions in your interviews, you are selecting for skilled liars.
  - jaredklewis 7y ago
    Won’t that select for desperate candidates that don’t have many options? Wouldn’t a company prefer candidates that are so desired they don’t feel the need to do do the limbo?
    - dzamie 7y ago
      On the face, maybe, but if they qualify and they're desperate, they'll agree to a lower salary and be less likely to seek out a competitor to work at. In contrast, someone who doesn't feel pressured to take this job or else will seek a more competitive pay, and maybe leave for another job if they're dissatisfied.
      - kortilla 7y ago
        The desperate candidate that you underpay will lose the desperation after getting the job, realize they are getting ripped off, and leave much quicker than someone compensated at the market rate.
  - wpietri 7y ago
    Testing for desperation is an abuser behavior. They're looking for ability to control, ability to get away with things. I strongly encourage people to stay far away from companies that hire like that.
brandonb 7y ago
Would you consider this a reasonable interview question for a management role? One major communication skill for people managers is to "turn around" a conversation that would naturally put people on the defensive into something that can be a learning and growth opportunity. Two core ingredients for that skill are self-awareness and the ability to empathize with people with whom you disagree (or who may even dislike you).
- modwest 7y ago
  Being asked those questions in an interview is a highly synthetic situation with, in my opinion, very little diagnostic value. But my personal experience with hiring of managers, or indeed being a manager, is nil. So let's say it's a strong opinion weakly held.
- Benjammer 7y ago
  If you want to test for their ability to "turn around" a conversation, then why not propose a hypothetical situation and ask how they might respond. Maybe: "How would you handle it if X came to you and said Y..." Or, if they already have past management experience, ask for an example of a time when something like this happened, and how they handled it, and what they learned. Or maybe start with this and then propose a hypothetical as a backup if the candidate doesn't have anything off the top of their head? I don't know, just doesn't seem necessary to jump up to that level of negative self-generalization with the candidate just to "test a management skill." I mean, come on, "people who don't think very highly of you"??? Who is "people"? Why are you generalizing like that? "Hey, so, everything bad that's ever happened to you at work, so, like, what did you learn from that??"
- aspaceman 7y ago
  I'm personally not a fan of such games and tests. I would instead present them a situation which tests the same skill, that way it's clear I'm testing them.
- bryanrasmussen 7y ago
  well I've only experienced these questions in regards to a developer role - generally ones like "tell me why you're the best person for this job" or "why should we hire you instead of someone else with the same skills who is willing to work for less" to which my answers were - "there's thousands of people who can do this particular job you're asking be done, the guy I came down with here who's sitting in the lobby to also interview is one of them, I'm another" and "obviously if they have the same skills and are willing to work for less you should hire them and not me" I didn't get either one of those jobs, now that I think of it.
jfarmer 7y ago
This is a great comment. People too often think of interview questions as purely factual, existing outside the process itself, but the reality is that the questions (once asked) have a psychological impact that influences what comes next.
- dmoy 7y ago
  > but the reality is that the questions (once asked) have a psychological impact that influences what comes next. This is a hard thing to get used to as an interview. And it affects not just your interview, but if the candidate has other interviewers after you, and you shake them thoroughly, you ruin any signal for subsequent interviews. This extends to technical questions as well - if a candidate gets super flustered because they can't figure out your coding question, for the next interview they're already gonna be worried about how bad they bombed the last question.
mlthoughts2018 7y ago
I usually respond to these types of questions by asking what is the goal the interviewer has. What are they looking to learn about me? Help me to know what your evaluative goal is by acquiring this knowledge, and then I can structure my answer to be helpful to you. If after that the interviewer still tries to press me for very generic stream of consciousness responses about why I left a job or what someone who doesn’t like me thinks, I’ll just give some vague generic and brief response. If they aren’t happy with that, I’ll invite them again to answer my questions about their specific evaluative goal.
- modwest 7y ago
  In an ideal situation this is a great strategy. But in my opinion there is already an incredible poverty of empathy in the construction of the interview questions. I would not expect the average interviewer to be detached enough from their pet questions to not only tolerate this kind of "dissent"[1] but actually reflect and deliver a useful response. And since _my_ interviewer is almost certainly an average interviewer, asking that question seems like an exercise in futility. I don't feel as warmly rational about my answer here as I do about the one you responded to. Maybe I'm being overly cynical here, but it's informed by experience. [1] Hyperbole to illustrate why I used the word dissent: "Who are you to ask me what I'm trying to learn? Shut up and answer the question!"
  - mlthoughts2018 7y ago
    Any job where the interviewers would react badly to a counter response like mine is a job to _run_ away from. Being rejected by such an interviewer is a massive blessing.
abledon 7y ago
why is 3 bad? seems introspective to me, unless the answer is just 'most money'. maybe geared towards people who choose professions based more on interest/growth for happiness than getting fat stacks and buying happiness.
- jpitz 7y ago
  I'm trading a third of my life for money, but it can't be about the money?
  - ThrowawayR2 7y ago
    > I'm trading a third of my life for money, but it can't be about the money? There's a lot of things you or I could be doing for money; why this career path in particular?
    - mgkimsal 7y ago
      > There's a lot of things you or I could be doing for money Not for the amount this gig offers that aligns with my skills.
    - ninkendo 7y ago
      > There's a lot of things you or I could be doing for money; why this career path in particular? It pays... more money?
    - tjalfi 7y ago
      I prefer it to working in a warehouse, operating a microfilm machine, routing faxes, end user support, security consulting, and the other jobs I have had before this one.
    - scarface74 7y ago
      Easy answer - I go into how I was computer geek from the 6th grade programming in assembly on 8 but computers and how much I’ve enjoyed seeing the progression of technology, being a part of it, and evolving as technology has evolved. That answer does a few things and addresses some elephants in the room. - why am I in my mid 40s and wanting a job as “just a developer” - yes I am “old” but I’ve always kept up with $latesr_cool_kid tech. - No,I’m not going to try to take your job as a manager. - I’m okay with the amount you are paying which is slightly above market.
hibikir 7y ago
There's a secondary problem too: They are questions that have right and wrong answers, and they break down quickly if the candidate realizes that the truth is a liability. Having been in panels where we had to ask some of those specific questions (specifically for hiring managers), and then seeing how those managers acted later on the job, the very worst hires (manipulative people who have no interest in the company as a whole, but gaining power) always ace those questions. The best hires of the lot, in practice, tended to give worse answers with some red flags, and only double checking on said red flags showed that yes, the rough edges in the answers were absolutely justified by their experiences. So I'd not ask those questions myself when I can help it, as I'd rather not select for the best available manipulator.
- patthebunny 7y ago
  It's a shame because an honest answer to questions about why you left a job, what your problems with management were, etc... is actually really good info for a manager. It's a lousy hiring indicator.
- RodgerTheGreat 7y ago
  Sounds like if you alter your rubrics slightly you'd have a very effective approach for flushing out and discarding manipulative sociopaths early in the hiring process!
  - mgkimsal 7y ago
    was about to say a similar thing. ask the question, but simply choose the answers with the rough edges that might merit a bit more thought and discussion vs those that 'ace' the answers.
    - wpietri 7y ago
      Exactly. Too-honest people are exactly the ones I want to hire, because they're way less dangerous once hired. An important part of any interview for me is testing somebody's willingness to bluff or BS. A little's perfectly normal, but too much is an immediate no-hire for me. An employee who covers things up to look good can cause enormous problems in a high-trust environment.
AnimalMuppet 7y ago
I can tell exactly why I left all of my previous jobs without either being dishonest or looking bad.
- modwest 7y ago
  But can everyone else?
jaaron 7y ago
They're not great, but the data they questions are trying to gather can be useful: - What makes a team or a workplace a good one? - What motivates you to seek change? - Do you have self awareness of your own strengths and weeknesses? - How do you respond to constructive, but perhaps difficult, feedback? - Can you provide direct, actionable feedback to others? This is all still valuable information for a hiring decision. As a hiring manager of some time, I myself ask a similar question but in the form of: - Given this previous situation we've just been talking about, how would you improve it? Did you attempt to make those changes? Why or why not? I'm looking for someone who demonstrates: - The ability to think beyond the current situation and look for ways for improvement - Possible ability to affect change via influence rather than direct control - A great answer might reveal how they championed changes or dealt with push back from management - A great answer may also reveal an understanding of explicit and implicit power structures in an organization, i.e.- what changes are feasible versus unrealistic. This question is better asked to someone with more experience as I expect a more nuanced answer from a "senior" compared to someone with just a few years of experience. If I don't get a good answer from someone with a decade or more of experience, I will probe further to understand if they are an agent of change in an organization or just go with the flow. I'm totally open to feedback that I could be doing this all wrong, but one other thing to consider: My approach to interviewing is to first and foremost gather data. I need a fair bit of data to make a hiring decision. In the moment, I'm not trying to make deep value assessments on the answers. To do that, I need a more comprehensive view of the data in context. Maybe I'm fine with someone who goes with the flow given other aspects of this person's skillset or the composition of the team or the mentality of their manager. Maybe just an attitude would be setting the person up to fail. All of that assessment is made later by the hiring manager or committee using as much data as we can possibly and reasonably gather during the interview process.
- modwest 7y ago
  Unsubstantiated opinion: “gathering data” is a bad mindset to be in during an interview. That may contribute to the adoption of pathological questions like, “Why don’t people like you?"
scarface74 7y ago
I don’t think I’ve ever had an interview where one of the questions wasn’t “why are you looking to leave your current position”. Also, “what are you looking for in your next role?” Is an important question. They both tell you as an interviewer whether you think they will dislike your company for the same reason and can your company offer what they are looking for. I mostly tell the truth to both questions. I want to self select out of companies that don’t meet my requirements. 26 on the other hand is a dumb question. I wouldn’t have anyway of knowing who didn’t think highly of me besides my manager via performance reviews unless I solicited gossip.

braythwayt 7y ago

I agree. This kind of question ("Tell me about your weaknesses," "Tell me one thing you think your (current|ex) manager could do better to manage you," &c.) often test for one of two behaviours: 1. Diplomacy and tact, and/or; 2. Ability to regurgitate a template answer you can find in any rudimentary book on handling behavioural interviews. It takes extreme skill to get a candid answer out of everyone, so it is easy to get gamed by the tactful people at the expense of people who don't read a book about how to ace the interview. But people who don't read books about interviews can be very competent at their actual jobs.

bryanrasmussen 7y ago
maybe it tests for how important the job is to you - is the job important enough that you will do this demeaning exercise in order to get hired?
- gdy 7y ago
  If that job starts with a demeaning exercise, how many more of them are ahead?
- BigBlueBanjo 7y ago
  If you use these questions in your interviews, you are selecting for skilled liars.
- jaredklewis 7y ago
  Won’t that select for desperate candidates that don’t have many options? Wouldn’t a company prefer candidates that are so desired they don’t feel the need to do do the limbo?
  - dzamie 7y ago
    On the face, maybe, but if they qualify and they're desperate, they'll agree to a lower salary and be less likely to seek out a competitor to work at. In contrast, someone who doesn't feel pressured to take this job or else will seek a more competitive pay, and maybe leave for another job if they're dissatisfied.
    - kortilla 7y ago
      The desperate candidate that you underpay will lose the desperation after getting the job, realize they are getting ripped off, and leave much quicker than someone compensated at the market rate.
- wpietri 7y ago
  Testing for desperation is an abuser behavior. They're looking for ability to control, ability to get away with things. I strongly encourage people to stay far away from companies that hire like that.

brandonb 7y ago

Would you consider this a reasonable interview question for a management role? One major communication skill for people managers is to "turn around" a conversation that would naturally put people on the defensive into something that can be a learning and growth opportunity. Two core ingredients for that skill are self-awareness and the ability to empathize with people with whom you disagree (or who may even dislike you).

modwest 7y ago
Being asked those questions in an interview is a highly synthetic situation with, in my opinion, very little diagnostic value. But my personal experience with hiring of managers, or indeed being a manager, is nil. So let's say it's a strong opinion weakly held.
Benjammer 7y ago
If you want to test for their ability to "turn around" a conversation, then why not propose a hypothetical situation and ask how they might respond. Maybe: "How would you handle it if X came to you and said Y..." Or, if they already have past management experience, ask for an example of a time when something like this happened, and how they handled it, and what they learned. Or maybe start with this and then propose a hypothetical as a backup if the candidate doesn't have anything off the top of their head? I don't know, just doesn't seem necessary to jump up to that level of negative self-generalization with the candidate just to "test a management skill." I mean, come on, "people who don't think very highly of you"??? Who is "people"? Why are you generalizing like that? "Hey, so, everything bad that's ever happened to you at work, so, like, what did you learn from that??"
aspaceman 7y ago
I'm personally not a fan of such games and tests. I would instead present them a situation which tests the same skill, that way it's clear I'm testing them.
bryanrasmussen 7y ago
well I've only experienced these questions in regards to a developer role - generally ones like "tell me why you're the best person for this job" or "why should we hire you instead of someone else with the same skills who is willing to work for less" to which my answers were - "there's thousands of people who can do this particular job you're asking be done, the guy I came down with here who's sitting in the lobby to also interview is one of them, I'm another" and "obviously if they have the same skills and are willing to work for less you should hire them and not me" I didn't get either one of those jobs, now that I think of it.

jfarmer 7y ago

This is a great comment. People too often think of interview questions as purely factual, existing outside the process itself, but the reality is that the questions (once asked) have a psychological impact that influences what comes next.

dmoy 7y ago
> but the reality is that the questions (once asked) have a psychological impact that influences what comes next. This is a hard thing to get used to as an interview. And it affects not just your interview, but if the candidate has other interviewers after you, and you shake them thoroughly, you ruin any signal for subsequent interviews. This extends to technical questions as well - if a candidate gets super flustered because they can't figure out your coding question, for the next interview they're already gonna be worried about how bad they bombed the last question.

mlthoughts2018 7y ago

I usually respond to these types of questions by asking what is the goal the interviewer has. What are they looking to learn about me? Help me to know what your evaluative goal is by acquiring this knowledge, and then I can structure my answer to be helpful to you. If after that the interviewer still tries to press me for very generic stream of consciousness responses about why I left a job or what someone who doesn’t like me thinks, I’ll just give some vague generic and brief response. If they aren’t happy with that, I’ll invite them again to answer my questions about their specific evaluative goal.

modwest 7y ago
In an ideal situation this is a great strategy. But in my opinion there is already an incredible poverty of empathy in the construction of the interview questions. I would not expect the average interviewer to be detached enough from their pet questions to not only tolerate this kind of "dissent"[1] but actually reflect and deliver a useful response. And since _my_ interviewer is almost certainly an average interviewer, asking that question seems like an exercise in futility. I don't feel as warmly rational about my answer here as I do about the one you responded to. Maybe I'm being overly cynical here, but it's informed by experience. [1] Hyperbole to illustrate why I used the word dissent: "Who are you to ask me what I'm trying to learn? Shut up and answer the question!"
- mlthoughts2018 7y ago
  Any job where the interviewers would react badly to a counter response like mine is a job to _run_ away from. Being rejected by such an interviewer is a massive blessing.

abledon 7y ago

why is 3 bad? seems introspective to me, unless the answer is just 'most money'. maybe geared towards people who choose professions based more on interest/growth for happiness than getting fat stacks and buying happiness.

jpitz 7y ago
I'm trading a third of my life for money, but it can't be about the money?
- ThrowawayR2 7y ago
  > I'm trading a third of my life for money, but it can't be about the money? There's a lot of things you or I could be doing for money; why this career path in particular?
  - mgkimsal 7y ago
    > There's a lot of things you or I could be doing for money Not for the amount this gig offers that aligns with my skills.
  - ninkendo 7y ago
    > There's a lot of things you or I could be doing for money; why this career path in particular? It pays... more money?
  - tjalfi 7y ago
    I prefer it to working in a warehouse, operating a microfilm machine, routing faxes, end user support, security consulting, and the other jobs I have had before this one.
  - scarface74 7y ago
    Easy answer - I go into how I was computer geek from the 6th grade programming in assembly on 8 but computers and how much I’ve enjoyed seeing the progression of technology, being a part of it, and evolving as technology has evolved. That answer does a few things and addresses some elephants in the room. - why am I in my mid 40s and wanting a job as “just a developer” - yes I am “old” but I’ve always kept up with $latesr_cool_kid tech. - No,I’m not going to try to take your job as a manager. - I’m okay with the amount you are paying which is slightly above market.

hibikir 7y ago

There's a secondary problem too: They are questions that have right and wrong answers, and they break down quickly if the candidate realizes that the truth is a liability. Having been in panels where we had to ask some of those specific questions (specifically for hiring managers), and then seeing how those managers acted later on the job, the very worst hires (manipulative people who have no interest in the company as a whole, but gaining power) always ace those questions. The best hires of the lot, in practice, tended to give worse answers with some red flags, and only double checking on said red flags showed that yes, the rough edges in the answers were absolutely justified by their experiences. So I'd not ask those questions myself when I can help it, as I'd rather not select for the best available manipulator.

patthebunny 7y ago
It's a shame because an honest answer to questions about why you left a job, what your problems with management were, etc... is actually really good info for a manager. It's a lousy hiring indicator.
RodgerTheGreat 7y ago
Sounds like if you alter your rubrics slightly you'd have a very effective approach for flushing out and discarding manipulative sociopaths early in the hiring process!
- mgkimsal 7y ago
  was about to say a similar thing. ask the question, but simply choose the answers with the rough edges that might merit a bit more thought and discussion vs those that 'ace' the answers.
  - wpietri 7y ago
    Exactly. Too-honest people are exactly the ones I want to hire, because they're way less dangerous once hired. An important part of any interview for me is testing somebody's willingness to bluff or BS. A little's perfectly normal, but too much is an immediate no-hire for me. An employee who covers things up to look good can cause enormous problems in a high-trust environment.

AnimalMuppet 7y ago

I can tell exactly why I left all of my previous jobs without either being dishonest or looking bad.

modwest 7y ago
But can everyone else?

jaaron 7y ago

They're not great, but the data they questions are trying to gather can be useful: - What makes a team or a workplace a good one? - What motivates you to seek change? - Do you have self awareness of your own strengths and weeknesses? - How do you respond to constructive, but perhaps difficult, feedback? - Can you provide direct, actionable feedback to others? This is all still valuable information for a hiring decision. As a hiring manager of some time, I myself ask a similar question but in the form of: - Given this previous situation we've just been talking about, how would you improve it? Did you attempt to make those changes? Why or why not? I'm looking for someone who demonstrates: - The ability to think beyond the current situation and look for ways for improvement - Possible ability to affect change via influence rather than direct control - A great answer might reveal how they championed changes or dealt with push back from management - A great answer may also reveal an understanding of explicit and implicit power structures in an organization, i.e.- what changes are feasible versus unrealistic. This question is better asked to someone with more experience as I expect a more nuanced answer from a "senior" compared to someone with just a few years of experience. If I don't get a good answer from someone with a decade or more of experience, I will probe further to understand if they are an agent of change in an organization or just go with the flow. I'm totally open to feedback that I could be doing this all wrong, but one other thing to consider: My approach to interviewing is to first and foremost gather data. I need a fair bit of data to make a hiring decision. In the moment, I'm not trying to make deep value assessments on the answers. To do that, I need a more comprehensive view of the data in context. Maybe I'm fine with someone who goes with the flow given other aspects of this person's skillset or the composition of the team or the mentality of their manager. Maybe just an attitude would be setting the person up to fail. All of that assessment is made later by the hiring manager or committee using as much data as we can possibly and reasonably gather during the interview process.

modwest 7y ago
Unsubstantiated opinion: “gathering data” is a bad mindset to be in during an interview. That may contribute to the adoption of pathological questions like, “Why don’t people like you?"

scarface74 7y ago

I don’t think I’ve ever had an interview where one of the questions wasn’t “why are you looking to leave your current position”. Also, “what are you looking for in your next role?” Is an important question. They both tell you as an interviewer whether you think they will dislike your company for the same reason and can your company offer what they are looking for. I mostly tell the truth to both questions. I want to self select out of companies that don’t meet my requirements. 26 on the other hand is a dumb question. I wouldn’t have anyway of knowing who didn’t think highly of me besides my manager via performance reviews unless I solicited gossip.