Senior execs that do this belong a long way from the interview process (and probably a long way from a senior exec role, because if they haven't figured out that interviews are a two-way process and unnecessary rudeness isn't a good first impression to leave they're not really management material)

The earlier interviews were fine. I was fairly green, but I seemed to get the basics of the position, was very eager to learn, and had the recommendation of my (large) department's management up to VP. They asked me technical questions which I did pretty well on. Then the Director comes in and immediately starts blasting my resume, my lack of real-world experience, asked why I was wasting his time and literally questioned whether I was worthy of being on the Help Desk at all.

I was shaken to my core. I spent the next three days questioning my abilities and feeling like I was letting the company down somehow. On the fourth day someone told me that this was his "interview style" and he was doing it to "stress test" interviewees. At that point I was pretty thrilled I didn't get the job and left the company shortly after for an entry-level SysAdmin job. I couldn't believe he would lay into a coworker (even a very subordinate one in a different department) like that without at least telling them why at the end.

I'm still shaken up by that interview to this day. Technical interviews scare the shit out of me.

I tell my "underlings" to breathe (with their diaphragm), to take their time, and to carry their voice.

[1] http://www.amazon.com/Crucial-Conversations-Talking-Stakes-S...

IT is so pervasive now, there is almost always another job.

...and that's in the book! ;-)

edit: I think the key is that there's a dominant technique, regardless of whether you're getting trolled.

Or... at least e-mail the internal candidates afterwards (there were 3 of us, none of us got the job) and let us know why. Or tell our managers and let them tell us. Something besides beating us down and letting us flap in the wind.

Sounds like wannabes trying to imitate Admiral Rickover's interview style for the Navy's nuclear-propulsion program [0]. Forty-plus years on I can still recite my interview with the Kindly Old Gentleman [sic] practically verbatim.

[0] E.g., http://the-military-guide.com/sea-story-the-admiral-rickover...

The word "controversial" is used a lot with respect to Rickover, but that word is so clichéd today that virtually anyone that gets things done can be so labeled. However, Rickover truly seems to deserve that categorization. Beyond the Wikipedia article and "Rickover: Controversy and Genius", are there any other sources you and dctoedt would recommend to learn more about him?

Fanboyism toward Steve Jobs causes me to reflexively cringe because of the extent to which the ends were viewed as justifying the means in his management philosophy. Not to mention something approaching a sadistic streak. It would seem that a similar lens should apply toward Rickover.

Did he call it "extreme negative feedback"?

It has to be the worst way of detecting "how does this person deal with stress?". It's so artificial.

well, they do, but basically only in crappy interview situations.