[rubayeet]

The author of the article assumes too much on the interviewers’ ability to deeply reflect on open ended questions, and clearly articulate the response (in a short period of time, because tables are turned when there is only few minutes left on the clock).

As a tangent, when I am interviewing someone, I try to find additional signals about the candidates communication skills / behavioural traits as well as their motivation in seeking the role.

Candidate: “how is this role going to change in X years?” Me (internally): This person is likely growth oriented, and their growth may have stalled at their current role.

Candidate: “How is the on-call load?” Me: This person may be burning out and looking for a place with some stability.

Of course, these are only assumptions and I try to be self-aware not to be biased in my decision by them.

[btilly]

The author also assumes too much of the interviewer's honesty. A vague question can easily get a misleading response.

    Tell me about the last 3 people to leave the company.

That will reveal volumes about the company culture. And often they are volumes that the interviewer didn't want to reveal.

[soared]

I can’t imagine anyone would actually answer that question, seems inappropriate to even ask

[joezydeco]

If I'm interviewing someone and I call their old HR for a reference, they will never say anything other than employment dates to avoid lawsuits. This tracks along the same lines. I can't imagine actually getting a response to this.

[sib]

I imagine most hiring managers don't have a close enough working relationship with the last 3 people to leave the company to give good, clear, insightful, unbiased information.

Putting aside whether the company's policies would allow them to do so.

[hiatus]

Has this worked for you? Employee separation is a personnel issue so I would be surprised if any company would elaborate on that.

[btilly]

It definitely has. Just general statements with no way to track back to the people. But the color of how they felt was invaluable.

[JoshTriplett]

> Candidate: “How is the on-call load?” Me: This person may be burning out and looking for a place with some stability.

Or this person has encountered companies that massively overwork people and is looking for a place that isn't constantly in emergency crunch mode. Hearing this question, I wouldn't assume a person who's burned out; I'd assume a person who has been burned or knows someone who has.

[eschneider]

Or, I dunno, they want to know what the on-call load is like because that tells one a lot about the level of problems in an org (though not so much about the cause.)

[parpfish]

Yeah, for some of these open ended questions that you’ve never thought about its unlikely to reveal anything useful or accurate with an improvised response.

Any answer to “What kind of people succeed here?” Is more likely to reveal how well the interviewer can BS business speak than anything