An aspect of corporate life which always had me baffled?
The interview process.
Job descriptions so full of jargon that you’d be forgiven for thinking you’re applying for the Manhattan Project…
The 12 steps to get from application to offer...
And the 7 weeks it takes to hear if your application has even been received.
And that’s before I even get started on the questions!
Competency based interviews are bad enough.
But today I want to focus on the Microsoft-style interview questions which now seem to be popping up everywhere.
I’m talking about questions like:
Tell me how you’d determine how many house painters there are in the UK?
When you go on holiday, when do you pack your case?
Why are manhole covers round rather than square?
And, my favourite of
all:
If you were a salad, what dressing would you be drizzled in?
So how would you answer this last one?
I think I’d start talking about my favourite salad. Chicken and pasta with juicy tomatoes, crunchy celery, bitter radish and the humble cucumber.
But when it comes to
the dressing, it’s a whole different ballgame.
I do enjoy my Nando’s sauces and I usually have a bottle in the fridge. Having said that, Levi Roots’ jerk sauce is also delicious.
And depending on the chicken, there may already be enough sauciness going on which means I don’t need to add any extra.
So is this the sort of answer the interviewer is looking for?
Really??
Nothing particularly creative and original there!
And unless you’re looking for a glimpse of my daily routine and culinary preferences, I struggle to see how ANY answer would help an interviewer get a sense of how suitable (or not) someone is for a job.
Anyway…
I’m not really sure where I’m going with all this today.
I haven’t got a pithy one-liner or tip for you to take away.
All I’ve got is my general bafflement and my bottle of peri-peri sauce.
So I think I’ll leave it there.
That’s all for
today.
- Tom
p.s. what's the craziest question you’ve even been asked in an interview?
Feel free to hit reply and let me know