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Topics: Jobs
Jess Battison
“What’s your greatest strength?”, “What’s your weakness?” and “Tell me a time you overcame a challenge.” Just some of the many run-of-the-mill dreaded things you hear in a job interview.
But then, even worse, there’s the questions and scenarios they come out with to throw you off. Or perhaps they’re like Steve Jobs who had a ‘beer test’ for interviewing people.
One man has revealed a ‘sneaky’ interview test employers use to find the cream of the crop, not hiring candidates who fail.
Yep, apparently someone at the Reserve Officers’ Training Crops (ROTC) Nuclear Power School over in the US is quite the stickler for it.
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A man claimed to the Mirror US that those going for interviews at the school are truly put to the test – often without even realising.
He explained: “My brother was in ROTC in college, and he told me this story.
“An applicant for ROTC Nuclear Power school would sit the chair in front of the desk of the interviewing officer during the interview.”
Apparently, there would be a ‘second/similar’ chair available in the room for the applicant to sit, just positioned ‘off to the side’. And it was there for a very, very specific reason.
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“The chair in front of the desk for the applicant had one leg of chair – cut shorter – so the person sitting in the chair would wobble – during the interview,” the person continued.
“The successful test was to see if the applicant would be bold enough to stop the interview for a moment – to request to exchange his chair, for second/other chair - so they did not wobble.”
I mean, it’s fair to say a lot of us in that situation – especially us notoriously too polite Brits – wouldn’t say a thing.
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We’d simply grin and bear it out of politeness, probably even apologising ourselves for the chair being wobbly.
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Let’s be honest, most of us wouldn’t be getting a second job interview after that, would we?
And if you’re now worrying about sitting in a wobbly chair in your next job interview, here’s something else for you to worry about – the ‘reception test’.
Yep, job-hunters have been warned about a recruitment technique they could fail within just the first moments of arriving.
The story was shared on Reddit’s ‘Life Pro Tips’ forum, and said: “Today, a candidate blew his interview in the first 5 minutes after he entered the building.
“He was dismissive of the receptionist. She greeted him and he barely made eye contact. She tried to engage him in conversation. Again, no eye contact, no interest in speaking with her.”
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Even worse, turns out the receptionist wasn’t the receptionist, it was the hiring manager. So while you might not want to be so polite you don't swap chairs, remember to be polite to people, lads.