Yeah, this is a confound - It's not unrealistic though - as working through a problem together is likely a part of your ongoing work relationship. This is wher

Yeah, this is a confound - It's not unrealistic though - as working through a problem together is likely a part of your ongoing work relationship. This is where you need to start injecting things like "Don't you think?..." or "I hadn't thought about it that way, tell me more...". That kind of interaction will be come critical day to day, it also helps test the depth of the candidate. I guess that's why I don't like puzzles - it feels too much like a trick (also, I'm terrible at them). What I usually look for are teammates - people I can work together with to crack problems. I guess it just comes down to picking something that draws that out - something realistic, but without too many preconceptions on the interviewer's part.