Q&complAints #145: Bad Job Interview

What is a sure sign that a job interview is going badly?

Post your answer in the LEAVE A COMMENT section below. I’m not the boss of you, though. Don’t write anything for all I care! There are no right or wrong answers.
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. . .here are my thoughts.

What is a sure sign that a job interview is going badly?

I was once asked the seemingly straightforward question in an interview: “How do you motivate people?” A job interview is officially going poorly when the interviewer is akin to a lawyer asking leading questions, trying to coax any semblance of an answer from you.

“Isn’t it true the defendant is a big jerk and looks like the kind of person who would snitch on his own mother to save himself?”

“Objection, your Honor! Leading. And hearsay. And—”

“Sustained.”

I literally couldn’t formulate an answer. How do I motivate others? I couldn’t even express how I motivate myself. The longer I was quiet—my mouth agape with the occasional “Umm—” or “Well—”—the further from an answer I ventured. I remember zero about anything past that point. We both knew any remaining time spent chatting was a formality leading to the rejection letter that should rightfully have included only the rhetorical question: “How do you deliver bad news?” So, after decades of consideration, how do I motivate people? Via success. Remind them of their goals, thus encouraging them toward self-motivation. Better late than never, I suppose.

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