To be surprised that people conducting job interviews dislike them too?

[WryJadeWren]

I was talking to a colleague who is involved in recruitment and she mentioned that she hates conducting interviews. She also said that the people interviewing candidates often don’t particularly want to be there either.

I was quite surprised by this. I completely understand why candidates dislike interviews, given that they’re the ones being assessed, scrutinised and having to prove themselves.

But why would someone sitting on the interview panel actively dislike the experience when they’re not the ones under scrutiny?

I did ask her why but she just said “I just don’t like it.”

I’m genuinely curious. For those of you who conduct interviews, do you dislike them too? And if so, why?

I hate it. I only do second interviews so most of the truly unsuitable candidates have been weeded out. But, SO MANY will just tell you whatever you want to hear when it’s blatantly obvious they don’t mean it/don’t actually have the experience or expertise when you truly drill down. It is boring, a waste of my time and theirs!
Occasional gems absolutely do pop up and we take them on, immediately.

I hate it. Like PP it's very dull & repetitive, it's awful for everyone when ppl do terrible interviews and often there are 2 maybe 3 ppl who could do the job and so you know you are making some good ppls day miserable by not appointing them

20+ years in HR. There are only so many times you can hear “I’m such a perfectionist” in response to a question about weaknesses………

I conduct interviews regularly. I actually enjoy it and volunteer every times we're asked if we can help. You get to meet interesting new people, often I learn something, and I can help ensure future colleagues have the right skills.

I’ve only done it for an day and I was the junior person so I was just taking notes. I can see why people don’t like them as you’re often dealing with people who are nervous. Also it requires a lot of concentration as I work for civil service so it’s quite strict on grading questions etc. Some people can come across well but they don’t answer the question well enough.

I enjoy it and genuinely put effort into balanced and fair feedback if requested.

Interviewing great candidates is really interesting. Interviewing awful candidates or wrong candidates is a pain in the proverbial. I can often tell whether a candidate is going to be shortlisted within 10 minutes but you have to go through the motions of an hour's interview. I try to avoid Interviewing these days as I just don't have the patience to sit through hours of Interviewing knowing that it is often a waste of time.

I find it depressing because most of the candidates are awful. And on the rare occasions that they are any good, probably they'll get a better offer elsewhere 🙄

In my first career (20 years ago) I used to interview lots of people. My role was about recruiting part time staff, usually uni students and actors and such. It was (usually) great. They would be wide ranging things, one question sparking off the previous answer and, with luck, the whole thing turning into more of a conversation than anything like a drilling. It put people at ease and meant that you could start to pull out their potential and get to know them.

Now, in a completely different career and industry (where HR departments exist and tie things up in red tape), interviewing (and the whole process of job ads and such) is awful. You have to score CVs based upon very tight criteria. Then at the interview stage you have to create questions as a panel. You then have to get these questions vetted by the HR team. And you have to ask all the questions (or at least score them) - so even if someone has just answered that question in the previous answer the next member of the panel isn’t allowed to skip it and say, I was going to but won’t. And you can’t veer off. Something might interest you in what they just said, or you might see something in the person and desperately want to try and pull it out, but you can’t.
It’s more like invigilating an exam than meeting a potential new colleague.

I absolutely understand the reasoning - it’s about giving everyone the same opportunity. But the reality is nonsense. It benefits people who are good at applying for jobs it doesn’t find the best person. Many potentially great people fall at the first or second hurdles because what’s on their application or what they say doesn’t tick the right boxes and in the right way. Transferable skills and potential ignored. Marvellous potential spoilt by an unthinking box ticking exercise that is far more about protecting the company from being sued than about enabling fairness. No trust in the interviewer. Hate it.

It's very time consuming and you can't do it half arsed, you have to make sure your bullshit detector is switched on at all times.
One thing I'll say, though - interviewers aren't out to get you. I genuinely want you to interview well and be the person I'm looking for. I'll try to get the best out of you if I think you have what it takes, it's in my interest.

Yes, usuallly very boring especially if you have a lot. I got tired of giving the same spiel at the start and hearing the same things.

God I hate hate hate it

we regularly draw straws on who has to do it

we have such strict criteria on scoring shortlisting so we always end up interviewing a large number of people. By the time you’ve heard 10 people tell you why they are the right person for the job it is very difficult to stay focused

I feel awkward for them when they’re nervous, I feel awkward for them when they get the answer horribly wrong

But mostly I am so surprised everytime when people DONT LISTEN and answer a completely different question than you’ve asked .

No I absolutely love interviewing people.

I don’t enjoy it.

I find it really boring.

Not everyone hates it. Perhaps if you do loads and it becomes boring? I've done it as part of my job and really enjoyed it, but it is only part of my role and I did about 10 interviews over a month or two.

I like listening to people and finding out what they can offer, and genuinely felt most candidates were strong.

It’s a bit weird if you work in recruitment. But I’ve conducted interviews (hiring for a position within my team, I don’t work in HR/recruitment), and I definitely don’t love doing them.

No interviews go especially well. Every one is awkward or cringey in some way. And we were all always afraid of making a mistake (not allowed to deviate from the script at all, which is stressful!).

I do technical interviews (basically observing them do a coding exercise, supporting where needed). Probably one of easier types of interview to assess. It's ok, but can feel like a waste of time (especially when you get several in a row that are getting nowhere with it!) when you have other things you need to get done too!

It’s exhausting and means I’m tied up all day with emails coming in I have to catch up on the next day. You have to be fully listening to each candidate, looking for clues as to whether they would be right - a bad pick can be hugely detrimental to a team. Then you have to call with the bad news - I like to give useful feedback (if they want it) but recent ones were hard because 5 out of 6 were all amazing. We had 94 viable candidates all with the right qualifications to go through and had to log reasons in each for not moving them to interview. 5 years ago we would have had 20 applications for the same job. Recruitment in 2026 is horrific.

I feel just as nervous interviewing candidates as I do being interviewed. No idea why 😆

I really enjoy interviewing people and finding the right candidate who is enthusiastic about the job and a good fit personality wise. I’m not in HR so only do it when one of my team leaves. I used to enjoy being interviewed too, so perhaps I like talking. And listening.

They have to do so many tick boxy things, meaning they get the person who can bs best, instead of teh best person.

It’s boring, if you’re interviewing along side a superior your interviewing technique is also being scrutinised etc. Injust hate it

I used to really enjoy it.

I enjoy interviewing but I've only done it a few times.

The ones I don't enjoy are where I get a gut feeling early on in the interview that they're not right for the job but you have to go through the whole interview. It's also hard sometimes making a decision especially when you have 2 or 3 strong candidates to choose between.

I do t his so much its become a dislike. Pushing a job through authorisation takes weeks in my place then have to shortlist every candidate by going through scoring criteria. Can take days, literally. Even if I have interviewed them the week before and they arent appointable I cant mark them down on anything and HAVE to invite for ANOTHER interview. Then you get the clear AI applications and the ones that dont fill it out correctly. Then setting up interviews and trying to book a room for it. Interview day. Half of them dont turn up, a quarter cancel. We sit twiddling our thumbs just waiting...or listening to some blah on reading the company values rather than actually telling us their experience and giving examples. All while my work is piling up!