I’m currently interviewing people for another round in our restructure, and it’s making me compare some of the answers to my own attempts over the years.

It’s of course easier for me as I’ve a marking matrix and suggested topics for answers but leaving that to one side it continues to fascinate me how different people approach the same questions in different ways.

Perhaps it’s also a mark of my age and experience now that I’m intrigued when people struggle unexpectedly with questions that I’ve breezed past before. I fully acknowledge that in those moments I am a horrible person, but I temper it with wanting people to succeed, to pull back their marks as they think through whatever has made them stumble and work it out in front of me.

Seeing that process and battle and resulting success makes my day, even as I wonder if I was ever that off the mark with interviews.

The quick answer is: of course I was, sometimes for years at a time.