Good Interview Questions

What would you do if you found you had to complete an Ironman tomorrow?

Yeah, that's the best one so far!

Gawd, I HATE interviewing.  Once a year or so we have to go on campus and I do like 18 interviews in one day.  Some of them are dreafully painful, especially when, like you say, you know within the first 5 minutes it ain't happening.

Plus no one is saying anything real, they're all just telling you what they think you want to hear.

So you're saying that if someone told you something "real", but it was also something that you didn't want to hear, you'd be more interested in hiring that person than someone who wasn't being honest?  

Two I use frequently:

Describe yourself as an informercial

and

sell me this pen without saying pen in 1 minute. Go! 

Got nothing to do with what I want to hear, but the facts.  To answer your question directly, no, but it certainly makes the interview mor real, and it tells me - and them -- whether they really might be interested in working for us.  If I ask what area of law someone might be interested in practicing, and they've wanted to practice patent law all their lives, or criminal law, or environmental, or .....   -- which we don't do -- I would much rather have them say that than lie and say they want to do litigation just to land a job.  it doesn't do us any good, and doesn't do them any good.  It's a waste of our time and money and they'll be stuck doing something they don't like.

Totally agree - that's why I usually talk about their interests or find out what they are like as a person.   Everyone most some OK hardly any we interview can more or less "do the job"

9 man

Why would you waste your time and the candidate's time if you knew weren't going to hire them in the first place?

Uh oh, who are you cheering for tomorrow???

On a related topic, I did interview and ex Raiderette whe went to law school.  That interview wasn't so painful (she didn't get an offer, however)

As a newly unemployed person, you guys are freakin' me out!!! AHHHH! I hate interviewing -- especially after working 20 some odd years and being at the mercy of (many times) younger hiring people.

I had one interview (years ago) who asked: What's your favorite song and why? Threw me for a loop.

I really dread the droll questions about where do you see yourself in 5 years, what's your greatest accomplishment, what's your weakness etc.. All so contrived.

I like who's your idol and why? If you won the lottery what would you do? stuff to give insight into people and what makes them tick. Maybe it's because of the position (or lack of one) I"m in now but I really believe that someone's drive, interest, personality, and desire to learn can not only be the determining factor in hiring but also can be more important than textbook style question/answers of what they have or have not done.

I asked one bloke (interviewing for an accounting position) to tell me about an interesting experience in his life and he told me that he spent four weeks camping in Yosemite national park.

I asked him what he learned from the experience (with a view to hearing something relevant to the position he was applying for - perhaps about planning, teamwork, attention to detail etc).

His answer?

To keep my food in trees during the night otherwise the bears might get it.

Perhaps that falls into the "attention to detail" category.  Heh!