Interviewing Part 2

Interviews can be a lonely business.

 

Just back from Europe, and it’s time to post part 2 on interviewing!

Lying: You might think “Whaaaat? Who would lie in an interview?” It sounds crazy, right? But the drive to lie is subtle, and it can sneak up on you. No one goes into an interview and says “I designed a game called ‘Sid Meier’s Civilization’, maybe you’ve heard of it?” (Except Sid Meier, I guess. But what’s he doing in a job interview?)

This is how you end up lying:

     Me: I’d like to find a game that we both played so we can dissect the story. Did you play wildly-popular-game-from-last-year-X?

     You: Oh damn, I played a lot of games last year but not that one. It was Playstation exclusive and I’m a PC gamer.

     Me: Okay,what about wildly-popular-PC-game-from-two-years-ago-Y?

     You think: Jeeeez, why does he keep picking games I haven’t played?

Now you’re getting desperate, because you think this is a test that you’re failing.

     Me: What about Game-Z?

And it’s bad, because all your friends played X, Y, and Z, but you haven’t played any of them. This is going straight to hell. Now, rationally, you know that hundreds of games come out every year, and that if you were at the water cooler talking to a friend, there’d be no shame in admitting you hadn’t played some game. You have other games that you’ve played, your cred is intact. But this is not a casual conversation, it’s a job interview and you’re convinced you’re crashing-and-burning.

     Me: What about Paladins of Justice?

Okay, so you played the first ten minutes of that. And you read the Wikipedia entry on it, including story. Success!

     You: Yes! I played that! I played the shit out of that!

     Me: And you finished it?

Well crap, what do you do now? It’d look really bad to admit you hadn’t finished the game you just enthused about playing, right?

     You: Uh, yeah, I uh, finished it.

So I start asking you questions about it. I’m not trying to catch you in a lie – I was seriously looking for a game that we had both played so we could deconstruct the story. But two or three questions in, it’s obvious that you haven’t played it, don’t know the story or characters that well, and now it really is awkward – because the interview is effectively over. We might have 10 more minutes, but I just want to get out of there.

So, that’s one very specific scenario (one I’ve seen a few times,) but the point is, you over-analyze everything and start to freak out that you’re doing something wrong, then you take a small step away from the truth. Then you’re trapped and have to take a second step… and a third. Eventually – disaster.

Go back to the beginning of that scenario. I was trying to find a game that we’d both played. I kept throwing out titles you hadn’t played. Do you believe that each time you said “No”, I thought “Jeez, this person doesn’t play games”? No, I was occupied thinking of what other games to ask about. And really, you should have started suggesting games that you had played. Then I’d be the one explaining that no, I hadn’t played Paladins of Justice II: The Anarchy of Solace.

Honesty: So this one seems pretty self-evident — tell the truth. But I’d like to expand on it just a bit. There really is something to be said for a person who looks you in the eye and says “I haven’t played much of X, or read any of Y,” etc. That person has just taken a negative and made it a positive. Now the message of the conversation has become “I am a truth teller, even when it’s to my detriment. You can count on me in those situations to be honest.” Great! What was the question again? Who cares, this is good to know!

So own your failures – you will always look better.

Note: If you’re interviewing for a specific game (like say Diablo,) and your honest answer is: “I haven’t’ played any Diablo games. I don’t really like them.” then you should still definitely say that – as we covered above, lying will always end in horrible failure. But you should also know that your honesty in that particular case will be appreciated – but will not save you.

As I mentioned in my “How to Get into Game Writing” blog, I might believe you’re a good enough writer to “fake it until you make it” in terms of Diablo sensibilities – but I’m probably going to find an equivalently skilled writer who loves and knows Diablo. So, there’s that.

Additional Note: I always appreciate people who go to the trouble of preparing for an interview by playing games made by the team they’re interviewing with. Even if they haven’t finished the game, the fact that they tried to prepare says a great deal.