How do I interview hardened or evasive subjects?

You have learned to run a solid interview. What still beats you are the hard ones, the people who have been through this before and give you nothing, or slide around every question. That is not a failure. It is the advanced part of the craft, and it defeats most people for a long time. Hardened and evasive people are not won by pressure. Pressure is what they expect and what they are built to resist. They are moved by patience, by being read accurately, and by the sense that you are not in a hurry. The one who stays calm and curious longer usually gets further than the one who pushes. After your next difficult interview, review it like film. Where did they shut down, and what had you just done. Look for the moment you reached for control and lost them. Study a few of these and you will start to see the pattern. The hard subjects do not require you to be tougher. They require you to be steadier and more patient than they are.