What do you do if somebody gets mad during your interview? Obviously, if it’s a safety issue in the meeting, you get out of there or you end the meeting. If not, short of being a safety issue, ask the person why they’re getting agitated. Could be that you’re on the crux of hitting the good information, or it could be that you’re touching on old wounds or that your interview process is particularly annoying to them or you feel like your questions are belittling. At the end of the day, I think you can just notice, “Hey, seems like you get mad. I think I’ve got three big substantive questions left and always want to ask about details, but, but could you stick with me for a little bit more?” I think overall, you generally don’t really need to denote that the person is angry and make sure that they know that you know that they’re angry and ask them why they’re getting so mad. If nothing else it’s feedback to help you be a better investigator.
