I must confess I do not understand the appeal of Mr Chomsky. But he came up in the context of one of the more annoying interviews I have ever had in my life, and one that I later learned is quite representative of how interviews are conducted in corporate Pakistan. https://twitter.com/HabibUniversity/status/1327916359301423104

The interview in question was for admission to the LUMS MBA program. There were three interviewers on the panel, and at least two of them had the "I'm going to be an asshole for no apparent reason" approach to interviewing. The third person seemed quite nice, though.

The following is my best memory of how the conversation went with one of the interviewers on the panel.

Interviewer: You majored in international political economy?

Me: Yes, I did.

Interviewer: So that is a political science major?

Me: No, it's international political economy

Interviewer: So how would you compare the political philosophy of Karl Marx with Noam Chomsky.

Me: I wouldn't. Noam Chomsky is not a political philosopher.

Interviewer: You majored in political science and you cannot tell the difference between two major philosophers?

Me: Again, I majored in international political economy, which is not the same as political science. And Noam Chomsky is not a political philosopher.

This interviewer kept getting agitated for some reason and was clearly looking for me to say something, but I have no idea what.

At this point, mercifully, one of the other interviewers (the nice guy, and one whom I think was heading the panel) stepped in and said: "This has nothing to do with admission to an MBA program. Let's move on."

So, anyway, I have no idea why people like Mr Chomsky so much.

But what I don't understand is the hostile "I am going to test you and make you look stupid" attitude. It turns out the guy did not know much and I was annoyed enough to not take him seriously, but why do interviewers in corporate Pakistan think this is a good strategy?

I have been a hiring manager myself, and I like asking questions that people find intellectually challenging, but I have never felt the need to insult an interviewee, or to start testing them about academic concepts. What good does that do to anyone?

I'd love to hear your interviewee stories, both good and bad. What were some things you liked about interviews you have had, or things you did not like, or both? Looking for stories from corporate Pakistan specifically.