I hate nearly every one of those questions, with a few exceptions which are excellent.
It comes down to this:
I am not willing to be psychoanalyzed by my future coworkers.
Most of those questions would test my ability to come up with diplomatic answers or straight up lies about the past (or my willingness to prepare those sorts of things). Some of them I am straight up unwilling to answer; no, I'm not going to dig deep and tell you how I feel about my personal flaws and the failings of the people around me.
If you're not willing to hire someone without putting them through that and I'm not willing to work for anyone who wants that from candidates, we've both figured out something quite useful.
Some people have protectable disabilities which those kinds of questions would very well filter out. Do they have to ask for reasonable accommodation that their job interview be about things directly related to the position?
Absolutely, nothing wrong with diplomacy or decorum.
There is something wrong with constant -- forgive the lack of decorum -- bullshit. That is a problem which I think is pervasive after "a certain point in your career". That is, bullshit masquerading as diplomacy.
All of our casual interactions are based on bullshit and cultural expectations. For example, when someone asks how you are doing, you’re not expected to say anything meaningful in response.
If anything about the interview was honest, when the interviewer asked you “why do you want this job?”, the answer would usually either be.
- “I’m passionate about paying my mortgage” or
- “The stingy assholes at my current company won’t pay me market rate and I want more money”
But instead we all give some banal answer about “new challenges” and “being excited about the technology/company’s mission” even it is just another software as a service CRUD app.
It comes down to this:
I am not willing to be psychoanalyzed by my future coworkers.
Most of those questions would test my ability to come up with diplomatic answers or straight up lies about the past (or my willingness to prepare those sorts of things). Some of them I am straight up unwilling to answer; no, I'm not going to dig deep and tell you how I feel about my personal flaws and the failings of the people around me.
If you're not willing to hire someone without putting them through that and I'm not willing to work for anyone who wants that from candidates, we've both figured out something quite useful.
Some people have protectable disabilities which those kinds of questions would very well filter out. Do they have to ask for reasonable accommodation that their job interview be about things directly related to the position?