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The problem is: interviews shouldn't be a mini-GCSE. If I have 20 years of experience and you want to ask me about something I did 10 years ago, I probably can't reproduce it on the spot, but does that mean I'm incompetent?

The idea of "do your homework" for interviews trivializes professionals down to meaningless data points where real experience and past accomplishments are all rendered as null.

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I've worked with people who have had 20 years experience and could tell you some detailed stuff about the projects they worked on. Problem was, other people on the project did all the heavy lifting.

If something's on your resume, I consider it fair game for asking about.

So, testing someone's long term memory will reveal something about their job skills?

I never press for details, but if something's on a resume it's because the applicant wants me to consider that in my hiring decisions, and therefore should be prepared to back it up.

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