When a Candidate Reads From a Script During a Job Interview

Here’s a roundup of answers to three questions from readers.

1. A candidate read all his interview answers from a script

Last month, I had a video interview with a candidate that caught me off guard. It was a second-round interview, and I was tasked with asking some deeper questions and providing some more technical context to the role.

It became clear quite quickly, since we were on video, that the candidate was reading from prepared notes on his screen. And not just quick references to projects or previous work, but actually reading it like a script. Even when I tried to ask some follow-up questions that he could not have prepared for, he gave a brief answer before reverting back to the script.

I’ve experienced this with candidates before, but never to this extent. It felt less like a conversational interview and more like a performance. I was tempted to interrupt and ask him to ditch the notes, but second-guessed myself. He was clearly nervous, and I didn’t want to make it worse. But should I have said something?

Green responds:

I would have. You were looking for a conversation with real back and forth, not pre-written answers read aloud to you. Otherwise, you could have just sent over written questions and asked for written responses — but you didn’t because you presumably need to get a sense of what the person’s communication skills will be like on the job (when he presumably will not be able to always rely on prepared scripts). Moreover, you don’t have any way of knowing who wrote those answers — anyone could have written themin which case you’re not getting anything useful from the interview.