For those who think that there is a skills shortage, let me tell you about my Google job interview

[On the Road]

156. I Appreciate What You're Saying About the Simplicity of the Questions,

but asking ridiculously basic questions does not automatically mean the interview was a sham. I have had interviews which I know were not fake but which included absurdly easy questions. I have had other interviews, like one with IBM, which I completely blew as a result of not realizing what qualities they were looking for until chatting with other interviewees afterwards.

It may indeed true be that the interview was a sham and that there was never a chance you would get the job. The EEOC complaint was good in that regard -- if the entire campaign is being conducted that way, there should be a lot of those complaints.

There is also a chance that the interviewer was looking for something else. It might have been some concealed interviewing strategy as some other posters have suggested. Or it could simply be that everyone on the list was assumed to be competent, and the interviewer was simply trying to find the person he was most comfortable working with.