Story#37
Interview
After showing off my smartness as an interviewer, I asked the candidate Mr.Anand, who was sitting opposite to me.
“You have answered almost all questions well. We will definitely consider you after carefully evaluating four other profiles qualified after the interview process. However, I want to ask you this question. We already have five profiles for this position; including yours. Tell me, why should I prefer you over other four?”
I am 20 years experienced in Information Technology and I have conducted at least 2000 interviews in my career. I was revered as one of the best interviewers in my company who is capable of seeing the unseen and hearing the unheard from the candidates. After so many interviews, that skill will come automatically to you. Just by talking 5 minutes, I will know whether the candidate is genuine.
This interview was not different. We were looking for a 8 year experienced business analyst for my company. After profile screening and three rounds of interviews, we shortlisted 5 candidates. Anand was the fifth one. Anand answered all questions confidently and I was inclined to take him. That is when I fired the final question to him. But I was in for greatest surprise of my life.
“What if I say, I am smarter than you?” asked Anand in response.
I was taken aback by the answer. My ego kicked in and I was in a rage. But, as a professional environment, I am not supposed to show my emotions.
“What did you say just now? Could you please repeat?” I asked slowly.
This time Anand said slowly “I said, what if I say, I am smarter than you? Is that a valid reason to prefer me over others?”.
I looked into his eyes. They were calm and they were firmly looking into my eyes. Suddenly I had a feeling that, he is seeing the inside of my brain. I felt uneasy. But, I picked up my composure quickly and said.
“Of course! If you can prove me that, you are smarter than me”.
“That is easy” said Anand. Then he opened his file and took out a printed sheet and handed over to me saying,
“That sheet is my preparation for the interview. You can go through it.”
I went through the sheet and I was stunned. I understood that, I was decoded. The sheet had exactly the same questions I had asked Anand.
“Are you an illusionist? You cannot play such tricks in professional environment. I will sue you” I almost shouted. I was so angry.
“No! I can explain you how I went about it. Then you will understand how simple is this” Anand was cool and confident.
“You better do” I said.
“OK. What is the first question you asked? You asked me to introduce myself. That is normally the first question every interviewer will ask. But, if you remember, I played a fool when I was ending that answer. I told you that, ‘challenges in the Trade Banking based on the latest RBI rules is an area of concern for me. There are lot of complications'” Anand paused.
“Yes, I remember” I said.
“So, I guided you to your next question – I know your next question will be ‘What all complications?'” Said Anand.
“Yes, I asked you that.” I said.
“That was my area of expertise. So, I explained all things which I know about Trade banking and latest RBI rules and how banks are implementing them. I didn’t allow you to speak in between. Then I left you another clue. I ended my talk with ‘But, even with all the precautions, there are loop holes through which the investors can still cheat banks'” said Anand.
“Yes you did” I said.
“So, your next natural question is ‘What are those loop holes’? And you asked me exactly the same” Said Anand.
“Yes” I said. I was increasingly becoming uncomfortable. It was embarrassing to know that, it was so simple…
Anand continued …
“And I explained you the loop holes and during that conversation, I took you to your next question saying ‘On top of these loop holes, we have the cyber attacks especially on the Trade Banking’. Which made you to ask me ‘What cyber attacks and what are the mechanisms for preventing?'” said Anand.
“Yes, I did. But, I don’t think it was that simple to make me ask the questions you want to answer” I resisted.
“Agree! It was not that simple. Do you remember you commenting that, ‘triple DES security algorithm is also not fool proof’? I suddenly realized that, you may ask more questions on that. I was not prepared for that. So, I told you ‘I will come to that in a minute’ and continued for one more minute on what I was saying. Then I distracted you by making a wrong statement. Your attention went to correcting my wrong statement and hence you forgot to continue on your previous thread. Then I lead you to my next question” said Anand.
Yes, I remember. All the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle fell in place. He made me to ask the questions he want to answer by leaving clues for my next question. I played into his game. In fact, he was the interviewer and I was the candidate.
I felt horrible. My 20 years of experience in interviewing went in smoke. I am so predictable.
Anand continued “Hence I proved that, I am smarter than you. I hope you will give this job to me”.
I thought for a while. Took a pause and said,
“Sorry Anand, I cant hire you. I agree you are smarter than me. But, I cant put you in front of the customer. Instead of listening to the customer, you will misguide the customer and sell the solutions which customer actually don’t need.”
Anand looked at me with a smile and left.
After a while the security guard form the reception came to me an gave me a piece of paper saying the last candidate asked him to give it to me.
Eagerly I unfolded the paper and read. The message was loud and clear..
“Sir, the reason you told is not correct. I know why you didn’t hire me. You were worried that, what if you have to do my appraisal? Knowing that, I understood you completely, you will not be able to break my arguments and that will put you in a difficult spot. I will walk away with whatever I want.
Also, having me around will be a problem for you because, you already started feeling inferior to me. It will affect your confidence and I will be able to influence you in all your decisions. It is OK. I have two other offers. Best of luck sir!”
I stood there, dumbfounded..
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Biju Vargheese (Pazhayedathu Paramban)
