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Aren't the high stakes the fact it is for a job? The problem with interviews is that you have to make a decision and the candidate may not be themselves regard
by kenjackson 13y ago
Aren't the high stakes the fact it is for a job?
The problem with interviews is that you have to make a decision and the candidate may not be themselves regardless of what you do. They may freeze up in a collab. Or collapse on a take home or be overly stiff doing a 2 month contract knowing the job is on the line.
I personally think technical questions are useful. Not hard ones, but softballs. It is never used to say someone is a hire, but is a requirement.
- tptacek 13y agoWho cares why the stakes are as high as they are? They're confounding the results of the interview process, which means they're the employer's problem, whether we like it or not, think it's fair or not, or whatever. The fact is that "we", as an industry, have a counterproductive habit of screening candidates for "ability to gracefully metabolize semihostile job interview experiences", which turns out to be not all that valuable an employee attribute down the road.
- kenjackson 13y agoThat's not an industry problem, it is a society problem where people need jobs to eat. Until you fix that problem, everything else is just dancing around the problem. I interviewed a guy at a movie theatre 20+ years ago when I asked if he liked movies. He started sweating... And eventually said he had to cover medical expenses for his son and he was running out of time. He needed to work and would do what it took. Until you fix the stakes, all you're doing is changing to another interview form that someone else will freeze up on.