By JS Alexa
When appearing for a job interview, the applicant will naturally
train for some conventional questions. They are likely to be asked about
tasks pertaining to their existing post, skills and expertise they may
be offering for the post applied and what their supreme limitation might
be. What the candidate does not expect is a query that may be put
forward to him regarding his or her favorite sporting team.
This article relates a story about an employer who actually added the question regarding the employers much loved baseball sporting team to the end of the form for application. The idea was for candidate to guess his preferred sporting team without any hint or detail offered on the matter. In turn, he used it as an important judgment tool before qualifying interns for the designated job.
The employer found out that over 60% of the candidates didn't even attempt to respond to the inquiry. They either skipped it or overlooked its importance. They did not attempt to guess or suggest anything. Interestingly, the potential candidate who didn't answer didn't have the required credentials to be taken into service. They were immediately disqualified from the scenario.
One third of the candidates misinterpreted the question. They offered their own preferences, answered incorrectly or came up with random or amusing responses recommending to the employer what his desired team should be. A few of these candidates were shortlisted based on the other prerequisites of employment; they did not reach the final round.
Only about 5% of the candidate attempted the question correctly. They were able to determine that he was a diehard Red sSx fan. Their judgment was based on a little research on the internet, the use of social networking tools as well as looking up his pictures on the recent past. The employer recognized that they would have access to information regarding where he lived and was brought up, where schooling took place and previous employment history with which they could easily search out the answer of that question.
The lessons from this little experiment extend in many directions.
For those who are looking for opportunities, remember that there may be more to question than what meets the eye. Logical reasoning as to why you think you were asked that question is of particular importance.
For those who are looking to employ someone, the design of a question put forward should be such that is uses the skill you want in that worker.
This article relates a story about an employer who actually added the question regarding the employers much loved baseball sporting team to the end of the form for application. The idea was for candidate to guess his preferred sporting team without any hint or detail offered on the matter. In turn, he used it as an important judgment tool before qualifying interns for the designated job.
The employer found out that over 60% of the candidates didn't even attempt to respond to the inquiry. They either skipped it or overlooked its importance. They did not attempt to guess or suggest anything. Interestingly, the potential candidate who didn't answer didn't have the required credentials to be taken into service. They were immediately disqualified from the scenario.
One third of the candidates misinterpreted the question. They offered their own preferences, answered incorrectly or came up with random or amusing responses recommending to the employer what his desired team should be. A few of these candidates were shortlisted based on the other prerequisites of employment; they did not reach the final round.
Only about 5% of the candidate attempted the question correctly. They were able to determine that he was a diehard Red sSx fan. Their judgment was based on a little research on the internet, the use of social networking tools as well as looking up his pictures on the recent past. The employer recognized that they would have access to information regarding where he lived and was brought up, where schooling took place and previous employment history with which they could easily search out the answer of that question.
The lessons from this little experiment extend in many directions.
For those who are looking for opportunities, remember that there may be more to question than what meets the eye. Logical reasoning as to why you think you were asked that question is of particular importance.
For those who are looking to employ someone, the design of a question put forward should be such that is uses the skill you want in that worker.