The job market can be particularly tough for many. Whether it’s looking for your first job after uni or wanting a career switch-up, it can take months of work and hundreds of applications to even get an interview – and that’s often only the first step. When it comes to interview preparation, people can spend hours and hours preparing for all sorts of professional questions. What’s your greatest weakness? What’s your greatest achievement? What sets you apart from the rest?
But after all that work, one recruiter has shared her secret technique to throw a curve ball into the mix, that many candidates have never prepared for – something designed to expose who you really are. Posting on Reddit, one man shared his recruiter wife’s secrets of the trade. She posted: “She avoided most of the standard bull*** questions because everyone has a pre-planned answer for those, and usually caught interviewees off-guard on the unexpected topics”.
According to The Mirror, the question she most loved to ask was, “What do you do in your spare time?”, with their answer supposedly giving some background to what’s really going on outside of work.
They explained: “Great question to uncover any unexpected habits or conflicting activities – such as hobbies or commitments that interfered with supposed ‘open availability’.”
In his post, he also warned interviewees to be careful, as what may seem like innocent small talk could actually uncover if you’re the right fit, and see if you’re actually invested in the company.
He continued: “She found out that one candidate used to be a plus-sized model and had lost a lot of weight, so her real passion in life was to get back into that career, whereas the position she was interviewing for was a compromise for the meantime.”
It was also revealed that she used to play almost a moral game with her candidates, with their answer potentially instantly writing them off. He revealed his wife would often ask her candidate if they would willingly sell a product to someone if they knew it would harm them.
He added: “Being a morally upright person and having a company policy of caring for the customers’ needs, saying you would screw over the customer for profit was an automatic disqualification.
“Overall, I would say that one should be cautious of even shoot-the-breeze type of questions during the conversations, because if the interviewer is anything like my wife, they are sizing up the candidates’ entire personality and character far beyond their work history or resumé.
“According to her, making sure the candidate fit with the staff, management, and the company’s goal was just as important as (if not more than) the candidate’s work history.”
But many replying to the post were shocked at the kind of games the hirer seemed to be playing. One commented: “Maybe it’s just me, but I would really hate working in a place that played little games like this. If I’m the best person for the job, give it to me. If I’m not, don’t.”
