Why grill candidates on why they’re looking for a job? What do employers hope to learn from this?

The weird thing about companies looking for desperate candidates like this is in general you end up with crap employees. I’ll never come work for you if the interview goes this way. It’s a red flag that the job and the people there will be insufferable.

I really do think companies care about mediocrity, predictability and controllability more than they do about hiring anyone who is actually extremely capable. I’m none of those first three things and I’m also often 10x as good as the types with that trifecta of traits. It’s clear that the average company and particularly the average MBA just wants someone who will mutely follow whatever crap some clown in a suit orders — that this hire will just do stupid stuff because someone says to do so.

And I am not that person.