I doubt it. You can ask them what projects they worked on before, and how they planned the projects and whether the deliverables came in on time, and if not, why not, and what they did about it. You can get a sense of the honesty of the person when they tell you these things. If it’s all positive, then that’s a strike against them. No one is perfect all the time. You get a sense for who is sincere and passionate, and who is just phoning it in. But the only real way to test out someone is to have them work on real work. Some interview situations set up a test where the person has to face a problem and describe how they would work on it. But really, there is no instant judging. There’s no magic bullet. People are complex. They have good days and bad ones. They may be inarticulate or downcast in an interview and yet be really good workers. Ask them to tell you stories—with details, about past projects. If the details feel real, then I think you can begin to trust their perceptions of themselves. On your side, be genuinely curious and interested in what they have worked on. You can draw people out more this way. Many interviewers are amateur, and ask dumb questions like “tell me about your strengths and weaknesses.” If someone asked me that in an interview, I’d get up and walk out right then, because that would tell me that they have no idea what they are doing. I don’t want to work for someone like that. Anyway, the more you get away from what you think an interview should be, and you get towards talking as you would to someone from work or life that you are really interested in, the better the information you get will be. Work is real. Interviews should be, too.