# Are job interviews a waste of everyone's time? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 18, 2015, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-job-interviews-a-waste-of-everyones-time/720318 "2015-05-18T18:49:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2015, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-job-interviews-a-waste-of-everyones-time/720318/81 "2015-05-23T22:14:32Z")
An interesting approach, but it may leave him open to litigation if he first hires and then tries to un-hire based on things knowable before the hiring. Were these questions about the work or about life philosophy? I could see this getting ugly real fast. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2015, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-job-interviews-a-waste-of-everyones-time/720318/82 "2015-05-24T01:27:59Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > My Boss asked me a few questions and told me to come in on Monday. I was amazed. > > About a month later, he asked me to help him make a display, and started asking me questions while we were doing it. About a half hour into it, I realized that was the real interview. In short, he first saw if I had the skills to do the job, them found out about me. > > I bet he saves a lot of time and patience with that system. That’s a great technique. I’d do it if wasn’t for the fact I can’t tell candidates anything useful without an NDA. When I interviewed at Intel someone asked me a design question, which I responded to by asking for all kinds of information one would need to make a decent decision. Not what they expected. I got the job anyway, unfortunately. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2015, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-job-interviews-a-waste-of-everyones-time/720318/83 "2015-05-24T01:30:34Z")
> [@usedtobe](#): > > An interesting approach, but it may leave him open to litigation if he first hires and then tries to un-hire based on things knowable before the hiring. > Were these questions about the work or about life philosophy? > I could see this getting ugly real fast. I don’t think she got hired. Some editing jobs require that the applicant edit a sample piece. That would be unethical if they planned on publishing the edited piece, but also stupid, since they have no way of know if the applicant did a good job. There is nothing wrong with asking someone to do a sample job which won’t make the company any money. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2015, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-job-interviews-a-waste-of-everyones-time/720318/84 "2015-05-24T15:09:19Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > You must think hiring managers have nothing to do all day but conduct interviews. Interviewing candidates takes a great deal of time and costs the hiring manager a great deal if he makes the wrong choice. I just noticed that what I said was ambiguous. What I meant is that businesses are usually pretty good at not scheduling interviews that they think will be a waste of time, but people looking for work are sometimes willing to schedule interviews that they think will be a waste of time (on the theory of “you can’t win the lottery if you don’t buy a ticket”). ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2015, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-job-interviews-a-waste-of-everyones-time/720318/85 "2015-05-24T15:23:26Z")
There’s also the value of practicing being interviewed. And learning first hand what the currently stylish BS questions are. As well, you’ll know more about that company and those people going out than you did going in. Which may be advantageous if this opening doesn’t match your skills well, but the next one might. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2015, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-job-interviews-a-waste-of-everyones-time/720318/86 "2015-05-24T18:08:48Z")
> [@usedtobe](#): > > An interesting approach, but it may leave him open to litigation if he first hires and then tries to un-hire based on things knowable before the hiring. > Were these questions about the work or about life philosophy? > I could see this getting ugly real fast. The initial hiring was for a temporary, seasonal position as a store cashier. The questions were about what I’d done in my previous employment and where I thought my life was headed. Retail stores hire a lot of temporary workers over the end-of-year holidays. If they don’t work out, they have every legal right to terminate them: Sorry, but the holiday season is over, so we don’t need you anymore. The good ones get to stay on 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-job-interviews-a-waste-of-everyones-time/720318.md?page=4)