"The craftiest of interviewers will do more than look for hidden clues; they will create situations where a candidate will reveal his or her personality."

Comments

[Pinky]

hurried and aggressive, or courteous and careful?

Then which to select, yes?

[Fred Boness]

Missing a few key concepts:

While they are interviewing me, I am interviewing them. Pull this crap with me and they fail teh the interview. Go ahead and call me pretending to be a telemarketer. I have caller ID.

People don't disappear after interviews. They go to work for competitors, vendors, and customers. They will remember how they were treated.

Hiring is hard and there is no way around that. Too clever by half is not a compliment.

[Chris]

You know this is still a buyer's market when a major newspaper publishes an article implicitly celebrating the humiliation of job candidates. What does it say about the employer that plays mind games and is willing to lie or even vandalize the candidate's clothing? What does it say about the employer's intelligence that they somehow think dealing with a telemarketer can tell them how a candidate will deal with a client (at best it could tell them how someone deals with a potential vendor - not even an existing vendor - and not even someone selling something they can actually use).

I wouldn't want to work in such an environment, and I would fear for that company's future when they foster this kind of behavior. This is not "crafty" interviewing - it is asinine.

[JAG]

There are plenty of ethical ways to get some awareness
like this about a candidate without playing idiotic games.

Professionals don't need to resort to garbage like this and,
as noted above, someone with integrity and intelligence
(someone you'd like to hire presumably) will catch on and
WON'T accept an offer from simple minded manipulators like
these.