Be Hard To Be Good
When you sense that the candidate is afraid of exposing a flaw, you might not want to cause her pain and, therefore, refuse to press her for clear answers.
Or, when she is getting angry because you are pressing her for information, you might panic at the thought of being thought a bad guy and back off.
Look at it this way:
a) Imagine the candidate is a doctor who wants to operate on your child.
Would you have the guts to check her credentials thoroughly then?
b) If you pamper the candidate and present someone with unexamined flaws, what's it going to do for your credibility?
You have a choice. Are you going to take care of the candidate, who is bound to be exposed in the end. Or are you going to take care of you?
It's a 'her or me' situation.
And if you call me brother now,
Forgive me if I inquire,
"Just according to whose plan?"
When it all comes down to dust,
I will kill you if I must,
I will help you if I can.
-- Leonard Cohen, The Story of Isaac
Bobby Merrill has an a la carte menu of interview questions at Good Recruits.
