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Some people are really smart, kick ass on the job, and would be an asset to any company they join -- but they happen to be terrible interviewees. Maybe they're shy. Maybe they've had a rough flight out to BigCo the previous day. Maybe they've got bitchy resting face. Etc. Traditional interviews are unfair to these people. But it goes the other way, too. Some really smart, hard working, great hiring managers are really bad at interviewing people. Maybe they're distracted by work. Maybe they don't have a lot of time to be doing interviews, and a giant stack of candidates to go through. Maybe they dislike the script they're being asked to follow as much as the person they're interviewing dislikes it. Etc. Traditional interviews are unfair to these people, too. This is why turning the interview into a conversation, to whatever extent possible, is an imperative. As the interviewee, you have to jump through the necessary hoops to establish your qualifications. You have to check the boxes the HRbots demand. But once you've done that, you should steer the dialogue off-script (in a friendly and polite way, of course). Once you and your interviewer are ad libbing, shooting the shit, being honest with each other, you do each other a favor. You're allowing one another to get a real sense for the role and the fit. In that phase of the conversation, someone on the other side with "[no] interest in having an actual conversation" will very quickly reveal as much. But just maybe, he or she will surprise you. |