Reading the Interviewer

How to Process

This week, I got several questions about how to handle interviewers who seem disruptive—or the opposite, completely disengaged. Let’s break it down.

Two Confusing Approaches

At a high level, interviewers often fall into two extremes: Disengaged or Highly Engaged. Both can be good or bad for you—and you usually won’t know which until the interview ends. But you need to be ready for either.

Disengaged

Very common in Meta product-sense interviews. The interviewer may look completely checked out. Sometimes that means they don’t care. Other times, it means they’re so focused they don’t want to interrupt your thinking.

Highly Engaged

This often feels disruptive. It can mean the interviewer is genuinely curious and wants to dig deeper. Or it can mean you’re missing the mark and they’re stepping in to redirect you.

The Happy Medium

The best interviewers push back occasionally to test your ability to handle new information and defend your logic.

• Occasional challenges = you’re doing fine.

• Constant challenges = you’re probably off-track.

The catch: during a stressful interview, fewer than 2% of candidates can tell which is which in the moment.

Be Careful with Mocks

Mock partners often try to mimic what they experienced in real interviews—but they can overdo it. Some get too aggressive, others ask leading questions instead of probing ones.

• Leading questions usually mean the interviewer thinks you’re struggling and is trying to help.

• Probing or argumentative questions usually mean they’re testing your ability to adapt, which is normal.

If you’re running mocks, aim for balance. Give your partner practice being interrupted, but avoid “nudging” them with too many hints. If you are unsure, keep the probing questions to around 3 or 4. If you are skilled at asking probing questions and don’t tend to veer into nudging, you can safely ask more questions to give your partner practice honing pushback techniques.

Think Before You Speak

If you left an interview feeling blindsided by questions, don’t assume all interviews will be the same. One person’s style isn’t universal.

In mocks:

• Ask about logic (e.g., “Why focus on single vs. group travel?”).

• If they don’t bring up risks by the time they’ve presented their solution, ask about it.

• If they lean too hard on generic pain points, challenge them to prioritize or distinguish between overlapping ones (e.g., usability issues that apply across all user segments).

Bottom Line

Don’t over-interpret interviewer behavior. Disengaged or hyper-engaged can both be fine—or fatal. What matters is how you stay composed, handle interruptions, and show structured thinking under stress.