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Comment by TameAntelope | Hacker News Reader

Meh, I definitely want to filter out people who can't handle situations like this, because honestly they come up all the time. Uncertainty in ownership, data not matching up, clarity lacking; how people behave in these scenarios is basically how they'll behave at their job.

I don't think it's an "asshole" behavior to induce stress during an interview and observe results. What else are you supposed to do?

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It isn't just inducing stress that tells me they are an asshole. Interviews are inherently stressful, there is little need to intentionally add extra stress on top. The dishonesty is also a problem. Interviews are a two-way street. The first impression this gives candidates is that their employer will think nothing of lying to their face and employees will so regularly be under stress that handling stress well is one of the traits they find most important. No thanks.

It's a tricky problem because of the observer effect. You can't just say to candidates "we're testing your behavioral approach to problem solving" because then candidates will simply realize the goal is "don't go ballistic for an hour", despite perhaps revealing their true character once they are on the payroll.

At least in this environment you know you are being observed. Different from a company finding some embarrasing social media post in a bad time of your life.

Agreed! I would only want to work with people for whom this test isn't a big deal. No thanks indeed.

> The first impression this gives candidates is that their employer will think nothing of lying to their face

I would just assume that about any employer anyway.

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