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Some years ago, I interviewed with a massive retail chain. I had recently left a job that had made me miserable for more than ten years, and I swore I'd never get trapped in such a nightmare again. One of the interviewers seized on my recent departure and asked me about it. I answered that the organization had changed radically from what it was when I had first joined, and that I was being overworked and underappreciated and that I had finally had enough. He responded by asking me why I thought he should inherit some other company's troubles by hiring a guy who apparently couldn't get along with the management. After I explained that I had been with the company for almost 20 years and that I had exhausted every option for a satisfactory outcome before I left, I answered his question directly: "Maybe you shouldn't."

With that, I got up and left the interview. The other interviewer (it was a team) ran after me and said "Don't pay any attention to him. He's just that way." To which I replied "Save the good cop/bad cop routine for someone else. If you have to play games with your candidate, I wouldn't want to work here anyway."

There were 10 candidates for three positions. I came in fourth. The lesson? Sometimes honesty may hurt your chances, but you have to weigh the risks of not getting the job against the risk of GETTING it!

you have to weigh the risks of not getting the job against the risk of GETTING it!

Yep.

Setting this snarky article aside (I can't believe that it's actually serious.....) an interview cuts two ways. You're interviewing the company as much as the company is interviewing you.

For critical (usually senior) hires, I like to take the people out to lunch. You learn a lot about a person by what they do in an informal setting.....more often than not, people are on their best behavior in the office, then change completely once they're at the restaurant.

How they choose where to go - setting allergies/restrictions aside, the correct answer to what's suggested is "Sure", particularly since I'm going to suggest something tasty and fairly generic to begin with.

How do they treat the server? That's the fastest way to strike out, right there. What do they order? If they grill the waitress harder than an overdone steak about the menu......Forget it. I don't want to work with a PITA who likes his water "Tepid, with lemon, and light on the ice" and so on.

Also, if they can't make a choice (I've sat across from people who dithered over a choice of sandwiches for 8-10 minutes. It's a SANDWICH for pete's sake! Order it, and deal with it....) then that that's strike three, as well.

And so on. That's just my $0.02.