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Ask HN: Why are interviewers not playing the game?

2 points by bsvalley ↗ HN
I often hear people saying that a candidate should always ask clarifying questions to the interviewer. On paper it sounds wonderful but I often noticed that at least 50% of the interviewers don't open up. Asking clarifying questions is seen has "well, obviously you're not answer my original question" instead of "sure let's narrow down the scope so you don't waste too much time on unnecessary things".

In other words, it feels like for at least half of the interviewers, asking questions is a sign of not performing so well versus performing well and really playing the game to turn the interview into a nice technical conversation, rather than a question/answer type of thing. Why is that?

1 comment

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otras
I don't think it's safe to say that half of all interviewers interpret clarifying questions as bad performance. Interviewing a potential candidate is a skill that can vary widely from individual to individual, and you may have gotten a selection that had that view.

What is your sample size? What kind of companies were you interviewing at, and what kind of clarifying questions were you asking? I understand if you can't give the specific questions, but something analogous would be helpful to try to see it from their side. Furthermore, are those direct quotes or the general feeling you got from the interviewer?