I thought about this more, I think if the candidate hasn’t been raving about how excited they are to work at the company, chances are they are just interested to test the waters, so you already have your answer to the spirit of the question, “ why did you apply”

Suppose you went on a blind date. You heard about this person from your friend but you don’t really know too much about them, you went on the date to get to know them. Wouldn’t it be kind of egotistical if your date, within the first few minutes asked “so, why did you ask to go on a date with me?” And then expected you to rant and rave about how awesome they are and how much you wanted to be with them for years. Mind you this is also before negotiations, you’re kind of expecting candidates to bow down.

Shrug, devs learn to play the games and jump through the hoops. Can’t say I agree that it’s disrespectful if they don’t answer the way you want.

That’s what i don’t get. Suppose someone’s first choice is to work at Google but they would be equally happy working almost anywhere else. If Google rejects them should they just quit being a software engineer to avoid working for a place that would be a second choice?

I have friends that are working at their first choice place, but I would say most of the people I know are passionate about coding and are content not to work at their first choice which rejected them.

I’m curious, does that pov, change yours or am I missing some greater point?