Hiring Manager Uses Clever Test to Decide on Unsuspecting Job Candidates
Interviewers are known to use several tricks and tests to help evaluate potential employees. Some of these candidates pass with flying colors. Some have no idea they’re being tested and fail miserably.
One of the more popular strategies is silence. The interviewer will remain silent to see how the candidate reacts.
Another is being overly friendly. This causes the candidate to feel more comfortable and maybe reveal something that they may not normally share in an interview.
Then there’s the one where they leave you sitting with the receptionist. This accomplishes two things. One is to see how patient you are, and the other is to see if you share anything with the receptionist that you may not share with the interviewer. Some interviewers will eavesdrop on the candidate and receptionist’s conversation to gather helpful information.
Here’s one that you may not have heard about. Glasgow Live recently reported a strategy that a boss uses called the “Coffee Cup Test.” He administers this test to potential employees at his former company Xero.
When he was Managing Director, Trent Innis said, “I will always take you for a walk down to one of our kitchens and somehow you always end up walking away with a drink. Then we take that back, and have our interview. One of the things I’m always looking for at the end of the interview is does the person want to take that empty cup back to the kitchen.”
He shared how people can develop skills, gain knowledge and experience, but attitude is what’s really important. “The attitude that we talk a lot about is the concept of ‘wash your coffee cup’.”
The kitchens are almost always clean and sparkling at Xero. He says that it’s very much the concept of washing your coffee cup.
He does this test to make sure that they’re actually going to fit into the culture, and really take on everything that they should be doing.
Trent Innes claims he would never hire anyone who failed his coffee test. He believes it shows more about a person’s attitude than any interview question possibly could.
You and I may agree or disagree with him and his method. However, one thing we can all agree on is that since this technique has gone viral, he going to have to find another trick.
Innis is now Chief Growth Officer at SiteMinder.
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