I Went Prepared, But They Came with Riddles...
- mentallurgical
- 15 hours ago
- 2 min read
I recently walked out of a couple of interviews feeling weird and confused. It was not like I did not prepare but somehow I never really got the chance to say what I had prepared.
I had studied the job description carefully and I had gone in ready. I thought deeply about how my experience connects with the role, knew exactly why I am a strong fit and what I wanted to achieve in that position. However, the interview did not go the way I wanted.
Instead, it became a rapid fire round of hypothetical questions. "What would you do in this situation? How would you handle that problem." At one point the interviewer asked, "Explain in 2 sentences a problem that you had to deeply investigate and came out with a solution and how did you present that to the client?" I wanted to tell him that your question itself is about 3 lines and you expect an answer in 2 lines...really?? Some of them did not even connect clearly with what I have actually done in my career. It felt less like a conversation and more like a test where the interviewer already had a fixed script.
Because of these vague questions, I found myself trying to twist my answers to bring in my actual strengths. In fact, I was trying to somehow connect their questions to what I really wanted to say. In that process, I ended up sounding long winded, even though I had clear and relevant points in mind. It was frustrating because I knew I had better things to share but the format did not allow it.
In that situation, I realized that I am not being evaluated on who I am and what I bring. Instead, I am being evaluated on how well I can guess what answer the interviewer wants to hear. Honestly, it felt one sided.
I believe it is time and interviews need to evolve. A candidate should get space to tell their story and explain how their skills, experience and ambitions align with the role (Of course, the interviewers have the liberty to disagree to the candidates narrative as they know the requirement better). This is where the real value is. Then of course the interviewer can ask deeper questions based on that story and that would make it a meaningful discussion rather than a guessing game.
Right now, many times it feels like the interviewers are trying to prove how smart they are by asking tricky questions. But that does not help either side. It only blocks genuine conversation.
A good interview should feel like two professionals trying to understand if they can build something together and not like one side setting traps.
Perhaps, it is time we change the way we interview.
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