And the thing about salesmen is that in the interview they're selling themselves. Of course he said what Rajiv wanted to hear! That's what he does for a living!
This is why you can't tell an interviewee what you want in an employee. You need to hold your cards close to your chest and get THEM to tell you what they deliver.
If it doesn't fit then you need to consider finding someone else.
The worst thing you can do is bring in someone for an interview, tell them what you want to hear, and then allow them to echo back to you what you want to hear. Which is what most humans will do.
> "This is why you can't tell an interviewee what you want in an employee"
I disagree. If a company cannot clearly state what is expected of an employee then how can it expect to attract/retain great people? The interviewee should also be assessing their potential employer so being reluctant to share relevant information probably wouldn't come across well (at least not to me).
Interviewing is a skill and a good interviewer needs to be able to inform applicants about the job requirements while also probing to ensure that the candidate actually does possess the necessary skills. It is not easy.
Easy. In the interview you present the candidate with scenarios and let them run with them. In an interview you are rarely looking for specific facts; rather you want to discern the candidates thought process.
> "Of course he said what Rajiv wanted to hear! That's what he does for a living!"
In my mind, that marks out a bad salesman. Telling people what they want to hear is not sales. At best, it's inept and at worst it's deceiving. Simply put, you shouldn't sell something you don't have.[1]
[1] If sales people are 'selling' before a product is finished then it should be clear that it's the vision they're pedalling, not the product.
