[therealgimli]

there's an interviewing technique among senior execs to take on an aggressive, rude tone to interviewees to "see how they respond under pressure." One way to spot it is if they respond in a contrary way to everything and generally try to pick on you to find chinks in your armor.

the first time I experienced it I was pretty shaken up.

either that or the person you spoke with is just an asshole.

[notahacker]

If you were to compile a list of "bad ways to conduct an interview", this would be near the top of the list. Sure, exceptions can be made for a later stage of a sales interview process after first impressions have been made, especially if it's a role play. But if "copes well with rude managers" is a hiring criteria for software developers... well they probably have the option for working for a company that doesn't see that as an essential skill.

Senior execs that do this belong a long way from the interview process (and probably a long way from a senior exec role, because if they haven't figured out that interviews are a two-way process and unnecessary rudeness isn't a good first impression to leave they're not really management material)

[JoblessWonder]

When I was in my early-mid twenties and trying to make the internal jump from top-tier Help Desk to SysAdmin I had a Director who did this.

The earlier interviews were fine. I was fairly green, but I seemed to get the basics of the position, was very eager to learn, and had the recommendation of my (large) department's management up to VP. They asked me technical questions which I did pretty well on. Then the Director comes in and immediately starts blasting my resume, my lack of real-world experience, asked why I was wasting his time and literally questioned whether I was worthy of being on the Help Desk at all.

I was shaken to my core. I spent the next three days questioning my abilities and feeling like I was letting the company down somehow. On the fourth day someone told me that this was his "interview style" and he was doing it to "stress test" interviewees. At that point I was pretty thrilled I didn't get the job and left the company shortly after for an entry-level SysAdmin job. I couldn't believe he would lay into a coworker (even a very subordinate one in a different department) like that without at least telling them why at the end.

I'm still shaken up by that interview to this day. Technical interviews scare the shit out of me.

[caminante]

Staying calm and speaking during confrontations is a learnable skill. I humbly recommend reading the book Crucial Conversations, if you haven't read it, then practicing the techniques.

I tell my "underlings" to breathe (with their diaphragm), to take their time, and to carry their voice.

[1] http://www.amazon.com/Crucial-Conversations-Talking-Stakes-S...

[kriro]

Good book recommendation but my personal reaction if I ever encountered this during an interview would simply be standing up and excusing myself due to the lack of "cultural fit". Sure sometimes you need a job but compromising during job interviews is a pretty bad thing imo. You'll spend a good chunk of your time at a place, just walk if it smells funny.

[jazzyk]

Agreed, and that's why it pays to have some fuck-you money set aside, so that you can survive a few more weeks while looking for another job.

IT is so pervasive now, there is almost always another job.

[chris_wot]

Yeah, but another valuable skill is knowing that if you are treated this badly in an interview that even if you really want the job, sometimes it's best to walk away.

[Mendenhall]

I would probably politely ask the person if they were acting like a clown as an interview technique or if they were in fact an clown. No need to bother with disrespectful people.

[caminante]

Good point

...and that's in the book! ;-)

edit: I think the key is that there's a dominant technique, regardless of whether you're getting trolled.

[mathattack]

It seems pretty bad to do this on an internal transfer.

[JoblessWonder]

Yeah... that was what really got me. I could see doing it and then at the end being like, "Ok, here's what the deal is. I came at you like this because this job is high stress. When things go down, we lose millions of dollars. If you can't handle that type of pressure, you won't succeed here. [Insert meaningless compliment about having great potential or something if you really feel like not being an asshole, leave it out if you do.] However, it seems like you might not be a great fit for this position at this time."

Or... at least e-mail the internal candidates afterwards (there were 3 of us, none of us got the job) and let us know why. Or tell our managers and let them tell us. Something besides beating us down and letting us flap in the wind.

[dctoedt]

> there's an interviewing technique among senior execs to take on an aggressive, rude tone to interviewees to "see how they respond under pressure."

Sounds like wannabes trying to imitate Admiral Rickover's interview style for the Navy's nuclear-propulsion program [0]. Forty-plus years on I can still recite my interview with the Kindly Old Gentleman [sic] practically verbatim.

[0] E.g., http://the-military-guide.com/sea-story-the-admiral-rickover...

[doug1001]

i recall a chapter in Jimmy Carter's biography in which he summarises his interview with Admiral Rickover. According to President Carter (a Navy Lt at the time of the interview, i believe) during the interview, Adm Rickover asked him if, while he was a cadet at the Naval Academy, he had always done his best--that was literally the question. Carter's reply was something like "no sir, quite often but not always" In response, Rickover turns his chair around to signal the end of the interview.

[toomuchtodo]

Sidenote: Rickover is the reason we don't use Thorium reactors today. So sorry you had to interact with him.

[ThenAsNow]

What a character. His famous Columbia University speech from '82 (excerpts: http://govleaders.org/rickover.htm ) contains a quite a bit of wisdom that, whatever his flaws may be, is still quite poignant, valid, and something which people in program management and government circles should internalize.

The word "controversial" is used a lot with respect to Rickover, but that word is so clichéd today that virtually anyone that gets things done can be so labeled. However, Rickover truly seems to deserve that categorization. Beyond the Wikipedia article and "Rickover: Controversy and Genius", are there any other sources you and dctoedt would recommend to learn more about him?

Fanboyism toward Steve Jobs causes me to reflexively cringe because of the extent to which the ends were viewed as justifying the means in his management philosophy. Not to mention something approaching a sadistic streak. It would seem that a similar lens should apply toward Rickover.

[smt88]

They're an asshole either way.

[geofft]

This is how you end up with organizations where arguing loudly and making personal attacks are part of your culture.

[blakeyrat]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRtBvo9grLw

Did he call it "extreme negative feedback"?

[vacri]

This always threw me in interviews. I've worked in retail, as a medical tech with patient interaction, as phone support, as teaching assistants... and I'm able to get a reasonable level of rapport going. So to go to an interview where we build up some rapport and then the interviewer just turns suddenly hostile, that really throws me, because people just don't do that in the real world. I know better by now because I'm aware of this stupid 'trick'.

It has to be the worst way of detecting "how does this person deal with stress?". It's so artificial.

[mgkimsal]

> because people just don't do that in the real world

well, they do, but basically only in crappy interview situations.