[cmh89]

>I want to see the first things that surface in their mind and what they enjoy talking about. I

How does that question get to that? I'd guess most of them are thinking 'why did I get asked such a vague question and how should I answer it. Do they want me to talk about my personal life, or maybe they have some weird confirmation bias. If they wanted me to talk about my work life, they'd probably ask right? What a weird question'.

>I don't agree with this at all. We don't have "hiring managers". That's the problem right there. What the hell are they going to know about the position if they're not in it?

You are the hiring manager if you are a manager who is responsible for hiring someone.

I've worked with a lot of managers and sat on lots of hiring panels. Managers who think they are going to play some mind game to get a purer view of someone are always bad interviewers who place huge amounts of stock in some arbitrary reaction to their mind game.