RE: Vague interview openers redux

I think I have to disagree with Andy at least based on the nutshell version
of his thesis.

An interview is the time to figure out the intersection of you wanting the
job and them wanting you.  Of those two, the first is clearly the more
important.  If you figure out that you in fact don't want the job, whether
or not they want you isn't interesting.

My nutshell version would be something more like:

This interview could affect where you're going to work for the next several
years.  Use the time to figure out what you'll actually be doing (virtually
never the same thing as the written job description that you've probably
seen up to this point) and if that matches what you want to be doing.  If
the two match, make sure that what you tell them about what you can do and
how you can do it mesh with what they're looking for.

It's primarily a question of attitude; I'm much more concerned with what I
want rather than with what the company wants.  Interviews are the time to
turn selfishness into a virtue -- if what's good for you is also good for
the company, then that's a place you want to be.  If not, you've used the
interview process to save both sides potential years of grief.

-- James