Ask Lemmy

Why is answering a simple question lying? This is why you can learn something from asking any question. You see the candidates’ attitude, communication skills, and critical thinking skills through pretty much any question. We need to have a conversation during the interview, and the questions are markers that path out that conversation. If you come across as just lying or bullshitting, that’s a signal too. Of course there are better and more awkward questions to ask. But what is so hard about just responding to them like a decent, polite, smart person?
Reading this thread, I guess the problem for some folks stuck on the job market is that they think the hiring manager wants to know: “should I give this guy a job? Do they deserve a chance?”. But that is not the case. They want to know: “Should I fill the position with this candidate or that other one?”. Going in the interview not understanding that they need to be able to differentiate between candidates is just a bad start, and you will only ever get the job if there is no other qualified candidate.

Or - they are selecting for people that are good at understanding how to reframe. Which is probably one of the most important skills you can have in life.

Like, if they ask "why do you want this job?" And your answer is "because I want money" then you will not get the job. Not because you lied or failed to lie, but because you failed to acknowledge the context of the question. The interviewer wants to know why you won't be a miserable sack of shit while working there, because they don't want to deal with that in a coworker. And it is useful to consider the framing that leads to the answer "because I want money" - it is the assumption that jobs and money are scarce for you, and you desperately need any job right now. And this is the type of person most employers are desperate not to hire - which is why you hate this question. Because it outs you as someone people don't want to hire.

The better framing is that you are confident that you can get any number of jobs, that you are looking for one that will pay you, of course, but that you also care about a number of other things like the day to day tasks you'll be doing, the people you'll be working with, and the impact you'll be having on others.

And neither of these framings are untrue. Your desperation to get a job is a function of your emotional state. Sure, you can want to get a job sooner rather than later - but all you have to do is realize that things will still be okay if it takes a bit longer to get the job you want than you would really like it to. And we can observe this to be true - that everything will be okay - because it has been true every other time in your life (you're still here, aren't you) and in others' lives.