[simonw]

It's pretty easy as an interviewer to spot when a candidate is hedging on a question, and it's the kind of thing that might get discussed in the post-interview debrief.

"Wouldn't give a straight answer on question X" isn't an instant no-hire, but it's not a positive signal.

[ipaddr]

This doesn't make sense in practice. He hedged so not sure need to look at other factors vs he picked a side and he selected the opposite of what we wanted no-hire or he answered what we wanted small positive signal need to look at other factors.

[airstrike]

ironically, I'd understand people not giving a straight answer on this particular topic

[knollimar]

I just interviewed a guy and all three interviewers asked him functionally the same question. He hedged 3 times and we just wanted an honest answer...

[onraglanroad]

The guy wanted a job, didn't know what answer you wanted for the job, and you guys were being assholes.

If you can accept that then you've learnt something.

[sebzim4500]

On the other side of this though, the third time the guy should have realized that hedging wasn't working and committed to the truth or a lie.

[knollimar]

It was a question of the form trying to figure out how you deal with "X", and he denied X having ever happened, despite that being a core part of his current role.

He was an internal candidate, we were interviewing him to see if we could trust him with more responsibility (more X specifically), since the new role shouldn't cover up X when it happens. The role involved doing X for himself AND for other people.

Similar to the form of "tell me about your biggest weakness" and you responding with "I have no weakness".

[onraglanroad]

I guess it's a bit different when it's an internal candidate.

I've been on the recieving end of clueless folk trying to make me feel small when I've just been looking for a job, so I might be a bit sensitive about it! Sorry for any offense given. Thankfully I'm beyond that craziness now and can just do what I want for work.

[staticautomatic]

You can’t interview effectively by limiting yourself to questions where the applicant knows what you want them to say.

[yen223]

> you guys were being assholes

Where was this coming from?

[knollimar]

instead of telling him out loud, "hey we see you're hedging and applying bullshit interview speak, your answer isn't sufficient", we asking in increasingly obvious but different ways.

It was an internal candidate so it would be awkward to tell him to his face he was floundering.

[Geezus_42]

And he probably just wants to pay his bills so he can continue to survive.

[emodendroket]

I mean, let's be real here. There is such a thing as too honest in an interview.

[LtWorf]

"The candidate is mature and doesn't engage in bikeshedding"