Evil Kraig F (6/13/2011)
Revenant (6/13/2011)
Good point, Steve. All too often the prospective employer already knows who will get the job but they have to go through the hoops and "interview" a certain number of candidates. They need reasons to turn them down.Just like you, I have been around long enough not to play this game.
Yeah, I hate it when they interview you for the "Job for Bob".
I don't mind the open ended riddles, like the infamous "Mt. Fuji". It helps me to understand how a candidate thinks and approaches a problem. If I need a designer I don't want a troubleshooting methodology, or vice versa. Riddles with a single answer are basically useless.
If you can't think at all that'll come out. Dealing with someone in a high pressure situation who needs to have functional critical thinking is expected (DBA work at 3 AM, for example). Dealing with someone who's stressed out, worried to disappoint, and handing them a Sphinxian Riddle is just silly.
Don't know where I heard this one: At an interview a person was asked how to solve a particular issue, when their own team was stumped for a considerable time (weeks+). The reply was to ask the interviewers what expectation they had for the solution to be correct in only 30 seconds of thought.